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.