Did any readers catch my interview last Sunday on Pundit Review Radio? The handful of radio interviews I’ve done have been friendly: conservative or conservative Christian hosts and callers who agreed with me. One day I’ll be faced with a hostile host and a hostile audience. I got a taste of it Sunday night.
One of Jesse Jackson’s sheeple (a black man) called in to complain about my harsh treatment of “Reverends” Jackson and Al Sharpton. It turned into a mini-shouting match, to my chagrin. The caller said that he was glad people like Jackson and Sharpton were out there speaking up for “African Americans” and that I needed to lay off.
I told him the liberal media propped up those clowns (I didn’t use that word on the air) because it’s easier to get quotes and sound bites from so-called black leaders speaking for a group than it is to actually deal with blacks as individuals.
In response, the caller said as a person of African descent, he appreciates what Jackson and Sharpton do. I interrupted him (rude, I know) and said as someone also of African descent, I did not, and I resented the white media’s perception that such men represent me and my interests. I asked:
Are we sheep? Why don’t other racial groups have leaders? Why only blacks? Are we children who can’t think for ourselves and be responsible for our own lives?
I don’t think he answered me, and the questions were rhetorical anyway. I thought the exchange was blogworthy, and since I’m way more interesting to myself than to anyone else, I wondered if you heard it. Unfortunately there’s no audio file of the show to download.
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Are we sheep? Why don’t other racial groups have leaders? Why only blacks? Are we children who can’t think for ourselves and be responsible for our own lives?
That’s the first time I think I have seen it put that way. Why are WE the only group that feels we need a babysitter (a not very good ones) to take care of us? How come these “babysitters” have produced no good fruit? I guess the day we stop being emotional getting bent out of shape every time the Liberals cry racism, racism) and start thinking for ourselves (and using those brains God gave us), we might actually get somewhere.
And I was having a good morning
What can I say? You go Girl !! Recently, I saw Rev Jackson’s name spelled thusly:
Je$$e Jack$on
I think that says it all! The man is a gold digger who uses the “Race card” to make himself a ton of moola!! Nuf Said !!
Anyone read “Shakedown”? It was an interesting look into the Revrund’s life and history.
Good on ya’ll!
I think the best question above is why are individuals who claim leadership not evaluated for their ‘FRUIT’.
I don’t have a problem with Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton in theory although I think the liberal leadership (IE black caucus, NAACP, Jesse, not so much Al) have lost touch with the grassroots black American.
White people do have leaders, they are called RUSH, BILL O’REILLY, among others. They are stated to represent a large subsegment of a particular ‘group’. Other ethnicities are insultated in many ways by stronger and more homogenistic cultural traits. Black America is no different, the fundamental flaw with Jesse & Al, is not their so called leadership status, but their overall ineffectiveness at mobilizing blacks to create quality change. But it is a catch 22. What blacks need is not found in either party, yet if you divorce yourself from a party base, the ability to mobilize the political resources to create legislative change will is difficult.
So you have a culture where black ‘leadership’ moves in the path of least resistance, and merges with the liberal elitist who never had any intention of truly solving the ‘black’ problem, only keeping them as a base for votes.
Like someone said on another message board.
“The left extorts us, the right ignores us”…
Pick your poison.
I listened to the entire hour, and you did not come across half as “hostile” as it may have appeared from your vantage point. You smacked that caller from Detroit down, WWE-style, so effectively that I half-suspected that he was a “plant” who set you up to let you score points, which you certainly did. Yet he retained enough wind to continue bloviating, didn’t he? You made your points loud and clear, and you had to interrupt because he was making a speech which would have continued indefinitely if you hadn’t interjected when you did. In addition, your indignation at his central point came across as very genuine when it burst forth in that sudden fashion. It’s not surprising that he not only didn’t get it, but didn’t get it that he didn’t get it. We’ve seen liberal commenters on this blog suffer from the same problem. All-in-all, I thought you did an excellent job.
Don’t let it bother you. As long as you didn’t allow yourself to be dragged down to ad hominem insults, you’re doing fine handling the type of person this sounds like.
It’s just an indication of the mindset that has to be overcome in order to make real progress. When a person admires someone who will jump on nearly any excuse to make something into a race issue, then they don’t want to exercise the intellectual capacity to understand the issues themselves.
La Shawn:
Hang in there. You handled this nonsense just fine.
PS – As a Rich White Male, I do have a “group representative and spokesman” – his name is President George W Bush.
I listened for the entire hour and I was quite impressed.
Your handling of the situation with that caller was extraordinary, and I commend you for your “restraint”.
Good for you La Shawn! You put it very well.
Jackson & Sharpton are as much Christian ministers as Bush is a Texan.
All these guys do are exploit black people. They care no more for the people than Mugabe does for his. Certainly neither guy has taken a vow of poverty. They are unelected, self-opinionated racists.
I listened to the exchange you had with that “gentleman”. The impression I got was that the “gentleman” was “planted” to make you sound good.
The “gentleman” didn’t seem to have an intellectual, coherent or reasoned argument. I hope he should rejoined the herd of sheeple before it got dark.
Oh! I forgot, you were excellent on Pundit Review.
You used a term for “Affirmative Action” which I can’t recall but was intriguing.
Thanks, Ripama. I called it what it is: skin color preferences.
“The left extorts us, the right ignores usâ€â€¦
I find that laughable. As a Black Gentlemen said last year during the election (Taken from FoxNews, thanks!)
“I think that the Democrats want us to come to the table to eat the crumbs, but Republicans want us to come and eat at the banquet,” said Geraldine Sam of Lamarque, Texas, who is one of 20 black Republicans in the Texas delegation this year.
You’re obviously seeing what you want to see thru years of Al Sharpton, and not the reality.
Dan
Hyphen-Nation (Haiku)
I reject the term
African-American
Hyphens un-equate
Ah I was planning on catching it but Sunday night was quite busy for me. If I did, I would have gotten the audio
Dan, you don’t know anything about me. I came up under Ken Hamblin, was and still am, a fan of Alan Keyes. I was raised a staunch pro-life Republican and believed the myopic conservative ideology that has excluded the experience of blacks in America.
And of course a ‘Republican’ Senator is going to idolize his party and demonize the other, that is called two party politics. As if this gives him enhanced credibility, and super token status.
But, since you position yourself as one with the wisdom of black social elevation, how about you tell me about this mythic banquet table the republicans have set for the black American and the plans they have in place to get them there?
“White people do have leaders, they are called RUSH, BILL O’REILLY, among others.”
I disagree. I don’t look to these people as my leaders, and other people don’t either. If there were more people like La Shawn who simply believed in non-Marxist values, then any white person would accept them. The color of the skin has nothing to do with it–the ideas do.
And white people aren’t all the same, looking for a leader–there’s a lot of diversity in that group. That’s where the “us vs them” of the black demogogues like Jackson are wrong–the root of injustice is evil, not white skin.
I think the notion that there’s a reserved spot at the banquet table is mythic indeed. That there is an open invitation to join the party at the table is not mythic. All that’s required is to show up and partake.
Most of the white folks I know would slap anyone who suggested that Rush or O’Reilly was their leader.
I’m white and I listen to Larry Elder because I like what he says. Does that make him a leader of my racial group? Interesting concept.
“White people do have leaders, they are called RUSH, BILL O’REILLY, among others.â€
The same folks that hold Jackson and Sharpton up as the voices of black America would be the first to recoil at the notion that Rush and O’Rielly speak for them. They would quickly point out that not all whites are conservative (possibly through in words like neanderthal as well).
Like the Rove attackers are learning… Crow, its what’s for dinner.
#19 heh. Whitness the many non-white male faces in the Bush cabinet, court appointments and department placements. And compare that to the last two Dem presidents’ admins.
LaShawn,
Ideology, not race and sex, determines your position on many issues. Not in the order you wrote, but conservative Christian, female, black, and outspoken, is what you wrote about yourself. Looking at townhall.com which is mostly male, but all conservative, is there not diversity of origins. Larry Elder, Michelle Malkin, etc. are what they appear, I guess, since I have not seen any of them.
JMB
I am white, my wife is black and we both draw our sustenance from the “bread of life”, He who is available to all of mankind who accept, repent and obey.
Nothing offers greater hope for unity this side of heaven. We have a “living testimony.”
James, what are you saying? That Townhall isn’t diverse enough?
Black leader? Love him! And the cool part is the only time I see him is when I go into the bathroom and look towards this big, shiny reflective thing called a mirror.
He doesn’t speak until I speak and he says exactly what I TELL him to say. A TRUE representative of the people!
Folks, How much melanin exists in the human brain? If the answer is none, than all this talk about “White” “black” “purple” LEADERS representing “us” is silly isn’t it?
I am an individual whose ancestors came from the Caucus mountains and thus could be identified as Caucasian. I consider no other person, except in some regards my wee wifey, to be my leader. Among local leadership here in Milwaukee, our sheriff, who happens to be black, comes much closer to speaking for me than our mayor, who is white.
I may be guilty of splitting hairs, but I refuse to have any “leaders” in the sense of people, elected or non-elected, giving me marching orders. This is supposed to be a nation in which the people are sovereign. We threw off kings and nobility a long time ago. Sadly, we seem to be recreating that sort of thing voluntarily. Building our own prison cells, if you will.
I was ranting around the office one day a number of years ago, complaining about something Clinton was doing. Our receptionist admonished me, and even quoted from the Bible (incorrectly and out of context) that I should have more respect for “those with authority over” me. Well, I almost lost it at that point, but managed to calmly explain to this woman how the Constitution was written, and that we are the ones with authority over Bill Clinton, not the other way around.
Our system is wonderfully conceived, with all power ultimately resting with the people through elected representatives. But we’re in danger of losing everything if we keep going in the direction of allowing “leaders” to do our thinking for us. This nation did not become great because the people followed; it became great because the people led. We cannot risk letting that slip away.
Benjamin Franklin, during the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, responded to a question about what form of government was being created by saying, “A republic, if you can keep it.” We should never forget those cautionary words.
Redbeard, well said!
#5 Dell wrote, “White people do have leaders, they are called RUSH, BILL O’REILLY, among others.”
Dell, in the sense that I do have “human” leaders (read – people that opine mostly how I agree with – not that I take any direction from them), it does not include Bill O’Reilly but does include:
Michael Medved – Jewish
Laura Ingraham – Female
Betsy Newmark – Female
La Shawn Barber – Black Female
Dennis Prager – Jewish
Sean Hannity – 1st white Christian male
El Rushbo – 2nd white Christian male
Michelle Malkin – Asian Female
Larry Elders – Black Male
Thomas Sowell – Black Male
Walter Williams – Black Male
Hugh Hewitt – 3rd white Christian male
These are people that I reference and listen to EVERY week. Hope you can update your mind’s database with the new data.
Every week I also reference people’s opinion on the left also. I simply do not agree with them and through logic and common sense am able to piece together the non-truthfullness of their story.
Bak, sounds like my group of fearless leaders.
Bill O’Reilly: “Egoirrelavantus Bloviatus”
Luther Vandrosss dead at 54: A momenty of silence please……………..Thank you!
Baklava, I like your list and your rationale for why you (and I) listen to those folks.
Every week !
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