Response to Russell Simmons re Don Lemon CNN

With all due respect Russell Simmons, you are wrong. When we rocked Afro’s and dashikis or platform shoes in the ’60s and ’70s, we were connecting to our African Heritage. We were recognizing that we were descendants of Kings. We were attempting to create our own culture and definition of ourselves in America since we only could go back to slavery before our memories and stories were stripped and diluted. You are wrong to label Don Lemon as a modern day Uncle Tom (Inferring that he reflected Fox News or O’Reily and Hannity. By the way, Hannity and Limbaugh are similar, I do not always agree with O’Reily but he is not in that grouping. ) Black Americans have always had to swim uphill in America since we were dragged to this continent. But we are currently robbing ourselves, killing ourselves, and disrespecting ourselves. When you and I were green saplings, standing on corners, we shut our mouths and nodded our heads when a Black Mother or Grandmother walked by. The women in our neighborhoods were not afraid to get off late from work and walk home. Our styles was creative, but were not reflective of prison life. In "Pryor Convictions," Pryor said that he left Africa "regretting ever having uttered the word 'nigger' on a stage or off it. That was 1979. I acknowledge that, even today it is hard and unfair to be a Black Person in America. That is a conversation we need to have. We are behind in America due to our unfair burden financially socially and psychologically. Also a conversation we need to have. But we have to stop letting ourselves off the hook. Creative expression, I am all for that. But emulating prison society by sagging our pants, and then excusing it by comparing it to African dashikis. Really? Objecting to people speaking out against our girls having unwed babies. Really?  Respecting our own neighborhoods, not vandalizing where you live, or stealing from a small business trying to provide a service in the you hood, or throwing trash on the sidewalk where you live. Really?  Finish school, get an education, have a foundation of basic intelligence. Really? I disagree that being a proud Black Man, which I am means having to embrace the negative. Or excuse it. 

Paula Deen

In our private lives, we have all walked our walk. The circle that we intersect is what we have to be concerned with. Our friends, family, loved ones. When we become/create a public persona, that persona has increased cause/effect and responsibility. The individual Paula Hiers Deen and the Brand Paula Deen are separate entities. The Brand is what has taken the hit. The Food Network (another Brand) had to decide, do we want to be associated with behavior and values that some find offensive. The Food Network Brand decided that, financially, it was not worth the investment of assets. That is completely fair and reasonable. When you create a Brand that is based on your personal persona (Paula Deen, Martha Stewart, Oprah, Rachel Ray) you always run the risk of crossover. Remember the BP oil spill? People were so upset with the behavior of the company they wanted to boycott BP. Suddenly there was a marketing campaign to make people aware that the local gas station, while “Franchised” by BP, was actually owned by your neighbor, employing local people. Persona Brands are more difficult to separate.

When asked if she had ever used the N word, Paula Deen calmly stated that she had. There was no immediate follow up about a change in beliefs or behavior. There was no remorse. She then went on to describe a scenario where she envisioned a, quote, pre-civil war, unquote, reception where Black men dressed in white tuxedos were serving and tending to her and her family. When asked, quote, as if they were slaves, unquote, she said "yes”.

We know that the N word started off as just a descriptor, “negro,” with no value attached to it. Then the word “negro” evolved to “nigger” as intentionally derogatory, representing meanings that were deeply insulting and were used when the speaker deliberately wished to cause great offense. It has never been able to shed that baggage since then—even when black people talk about appropriating it. The poison is still there. The word is inextricably linked with violence and brutality on black psyches and derogatory aspersions cast on black bodies. No degree of appropriating can rid it of that blood-soaked history. Young people today, especially in the urban/rap industry believe if you could keep the word within the context of an intimate environment [among friends], then you could potentially own the word and control it. I believe that premise is wrong because the word takes on a life of its own if it’s not in that environment. This is what causes America to be confused, and rightfully so. What non Black people miss in the modern use of the word is you cannot be included in the “intimate environment” attempting to appropriate the word because you were never the target of the word. Specifically, white people should not use the word because it was created by white people deliberately wishing to cause the greatest offense. So generally there is no way for the listener to disdain the user’s intent if the user’s linage created the word to harm to begin with.

I as a consumer would choose not to support someone who harbored Paula Deen’s point of view by purchasing their products or any associated products. Other consumers can choose to continue patronizing her company. None of us are wrong in making our individual choice in this matter. The Food Network Channel is not wrong for deciding losing business with me or others who share my view was not a path they wanted to take. It is not a deliberate destruction of a pseudo deity. It is just freedom of choice in the marketplace.