Rev. Jackson faults Cavs owner's LeBron comments

[Hawksquawk]

The Rev. Jesse Jackson says Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert sees LeBron James as a "runaway slave" and that his comments after the forward decided to join the Miami Heat put the player in danger.

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[thecampster]

The Rev. Jesse Jackson says Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert sees LeBron James as a "runaway slave" and that his comments after the forward decided to join the Miami Heat put the player in danger.

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Yeah.....Lebron is being defended by Jesse Jackson. One more reason to root against Miami.

[Admin]

WTF??? Runaway slave?? I wish that Jackson and Sharpton would just fall of the face of the earth with their bullsh*t racist remarks that they continue to get away with.

[DreamChaser]

Can he let the non Lebron fans enjoy this? :line dance:

[AHF]

Clearly ex-wife or jilted lover are not nearly as good an analogy as master/slave for the relationship between Lebron and Gilbert and Gilbert's reaction to Lebron's televised departure. Thank you for providing the key insight that when a player tells your fans that they have the edge to resign you and then crushes their hearts on national television, any owner that reacts emotionally must be a slave owner oppressing the poor, powerless Lebron James.

[volman]

This guy doesn't say a WORD about the New Black Panthers and what they've been saying recently (kill all "Cracker" women, children, babies) but will attack Gilbert regarding this situation.

What a joke!

[DrReality]

He is one tired and powerless old man who has squandered what little power he's had by sticking his nose into situations where he has no business. SOB

[AHF]

He is one tired and powerless old man who has squandered what little power he's had by sticking his nose into situations where he has no business. SOB

It is really a shame that his message of trying to fabricate racial issues out of any context that will bring him press coverage is mistaken for the message of the African-American community in recent years. He doesn't hurt the Dan Gilberts of the world with an absurd message like this. He hurts the community he used to represent and that many people still feel he represents today.

[Swatguy]

The "Slave-Mentality" does not have to be racist. But is interesting that many attach Jackson's assertion to racism. Maybe those disagree(with Jackson) have race colored glasses.

The guy (Cav's owner) have made a fortune (as slave owners did) on the back of millions of foreclosures. He has billions of ill-gotten dollars and obviously bent on controlling his wants. Is it really racism?

Gilbert is the scum in this story. But youse cover up his scum calling Jackson a racist. He just mentions what is obvious. Gilbert and his ilk are worse than racist. They choke the life of people and cry out for more.

[Watchman]

The "Slave-Mentality" does not have to be racist. But is interesting that many attach Jackson's assertion to racism. Maybe those disagree(with Jackson) have race colored glasses.

The guy (Cav's owner) have made a fortune (as slave owners did) on the back of millions of foreclosures. He has billions of ill-gotten dollars and obviously bent on controlling his wants. Is it really racism?

Gilbert is the scum in this story. But youse cover up his scum calling Jackson a racist. He just mentions what is obvious. Gilbert and his ilk are worse than racist. They choke the life of people and cry out for more.

A 100+ million dollar slave????

[Swatguy]

A 100+ million dollar slave????

You seem to miss the point. 100 mil makes no difference. All Slaves have worth to the "Slave-Master". The mentality is towards "what the worth produces" and the sinnister control factor.

[lethalweapon3]

LeBron disses Cleveland and moves to Miami... the world (outside of South Florida) groans.

Cleveland's owner rants and sticks his foot in his mouth... the sports world groans.

Jesse sticks his nose in... the world groans.

By my watch, there's a Bin Laden tape critiquing Jesse on the way any minute now.

I'm with The Good Reverend on this one. Assuming Dan Gilbert's hurt feelings were indeed genuine, the letter he should have issued to fans would have been two months earlier, right after LeBron took off his jersey, and should have said:

"LeBron quit on us, Cleveland! Just look at the tapes from Games X, Y, and Z and you'll see. Cleveland fans, you don't deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal supported by my paychecks. We won't stand for this here. I don't care how much profit he's turning out for me. We won't entertain re-signing a player who quits under a little adversity. I personally guarantee we will sign championship-quality players who genuinely want to play here and excel every time out on the floor for you."

Or, it could have come in the past few weeks, in the form of:

"Despite my personal belief that LeBron quit on us in the playoffs, Cleveland fans (just look at the tapes and you'll see), even a quitting LeBron makes more money for me than a fully-committed Anthony Parker. So we're willing to pay up. Unfortunately, I'm sorry to report that for whatever reasons, by the end of the season LeBron cut off all communication with our management team, and the best we can do is send messages via some dudes named Worldwide and Maverick. It has become clear that LeBron has lost all interest in returning to Cleveland, and quite frankly, we won't waste our time chasing him. We are committed to bringing a championship franchise to this great city with or without LeBron. You have my personal guarantee."

But instead he waits until mere minutes after LeBron says he'll play somewhere else. Now he comes across as somebody no better than LeBron, a petulant rich guy who thinks it's all about him. Make guaranteed profits for me and you're the best thing since sliced bread; make money for anybody else when our contract ends and I'll instantly unleash every negative, disparaging thing there is to say about you. If slavery is too harsh a term, fine, go for, indentured servitude or serfdom or something. But black athletes will read Gilbert's tirade for what it is, and they don't need Rev. Jesse's help to define it for them.

Dan Gilbert (who would have no interest in purchasing this franchise were it not for the presence of ONE player), you played Cleveland along every bit as much as LeBron played him along. The only personal guarantee of significance he could have uttered was that he won't sell off the team to some Vegas casino cronies within three years. Circling the wagons after-the-fact was, like LeBron's little special, poorly timed, pitifully managed, and ill-conceived. And if you provide parting gifts like that to one of the most prominent and connected black athletes in sports (thanks to Tiger Woods, SI's "sportsman of the decade"), who, pray tell, are these championship-caliber basketball players you intend to reel in to beat LeBron to the championship punch? Maybe you can bring Danny Ferry back and suit him up? Gilbert tried to poison LeBron's well, and in the process likely poisoned his own.

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Side question: does Dan Gilbert's family live in the Cleveland metro area?

~lw3

[Watchman]

You seem to miss the point. 100 mil makes no difference. All Slaves have worth to the "Slave-Master". The mentality is towards "what the worth produces" and the sinnister control factor.

Kind of like the way my boss bills my time at 4+ times what he pays me?

Edited July 13, 2010 by Watchman

[AHF]

Lebron just did the ultimate kick in the groin to Dan Gilbert's customers when he did an hour long TV special to heighten their pain over his departure. Gilbert's response was emotional and unprofessional but Jesse is completely offbase with the slave/master analogy. If Lebron had left Cleveland with some consideration for the Cleveland ownership team and fanbase, then I could get the master/slave mentality. However, Lebron did two things that are highly unusual in this process. (1) He didn't even give his hometown team the courtesy of a phone call letting them know he was going somewhere else. He didn't do it before his interview and then had one of his lackey's do it after the fact. That is going to piss off an owner who passed on Amare Stoudamire for James, brought in Shaq for James, and did a lot to try to keep James. Would it justify Gilbert's reaction? No.

(2) He went on national television and in a premeditated show humiliated and hurt the Cleveland fan base. That is the real crime. Gilbert had every right to stand up for the fans and let them know that they were not just props to be used as part of Lebron's reality television production. He had every right to let them know that he expects players to treat them with respect in the future, that he cares about the community and the team, and that he resents the way Lebron just treated them like garbage.

Cleveland fans were burning Lebron's jersey before Gilbert's statement not because they saw Lebron as a runaway slave but because they were just hurt by both his decision and the way he rubbed salt in the wound in delivering his decision. Gilbert had every right to make an emotional reaction to that kind of stunt.

By Gilbert choosing to go over the top the way he did, Jackson had every right to criticize Gilbert for being "mean, arrogant and presumptuous." However, Jackson makes 99% of issues about race. Let's not ignore the elephant in the room. Jackson makes his living off of stirring the pot on race issues. When he then uses the master/slave analogy, it would take deliberate denial not to key on the race component of that issue. If Jackson had called Gilbert's comments "mean, arrogant and presumptuous" it would not have generated the same attention as injecting the race issue with the master/slave analogy. That is why he did it.

Stern has his issues but he nailed this one:

"I think that remarks by Dan Gilbert, catalyzed as they may have been by hurt with respect to the manner and the fact for himself, his team, and particularly for the people of Cleveland, though understandable, were ill advised and imprudent," said Stern.

Stern also criticized Rev. Jesse Jackson, who issued a statement denouncing Gilbert, saying the Cavaliers owner treated James like a "runaway slave."

"Equally imprudent, I believe, are the remarks by my good friend Jesse Jackson, which purport to make this into a racial matter," said Stern. "I find that to be, however well meaning Jesse may be in the premises on this one, he is, as he rarely is, mistaken. I would have told him so had he called me before he issued his statement."

Edited July 13, 2010 by AHF

[Swatguy]

Lebron just did the ultimate kick in the groin to Dan Gilbert's customers when he did an hour long TV special to heighten their pain over his departure. Gilbert's response was emotional and unprofessional but Jesse is completely offbase with the slave/master analogy. If Lebron had left Cleveland with some consideration for the Cleveland ownership team and fanbase, then I could get the master/slave mentality. However, Lebron did two things that are highly unusual in this process. (1) He didn't even give his hometown team the courtesy of a phone call letting them know he was going somewhere else. He didn't do it before his interview and then had one of his lackey's do it after the fact. That is going to piss off an owner who passed on Amare Stoudamire for James, brought in Shaq for James, and did a lot to try to keep James. Would it justify Gilbert's reaction? No.

(2) He went on national television and in a premeditated show humiliated and hurt the Cleveland fan base. That is the real crime. Gilbert had every right to stand up for the fans and let them know that they were not just props to be used as part of Lebron's reality television production. He had every right to let them know that he expects players to treat them with respect in the future, that he cares about the community and the team, and that he resents the way Lebron just treated them like garbage.

Cleveland fans were burning Lebron's jersey before Gilbert's statement not because they saw Lebron as a runaway slave but because they were just hurt by both his decision and the way he rubbed salt in the wound in delivering his decision. Gilbert had every right to make an emotional reaction to that kind of stunt.

By Gilbert choosing to go over the top the way he did, Jackson had every right to criticize Gilbert for being "mean, arrogant and presumptuous." However, Jackson makes 99% of issues about race. Let's not ignore the elephant in the room. Jackson makes his living off of stirring the pot on race issues. When he then uses the master/slave analogy, it would take deliberate denial not to key on the race component of that issue. If Jackson had called Gilbert's comments "mean, arrogant and presumptuous" it would not have generated the same attention as injecting the race issue with the master/slave analogy. That is why he did it.

Stern has his issues but he nailed this one:

BS

Jesse didn't make it racial, youse guys did. Just as black folks didn't make slavery racist, Racist made slavery racism. Stern and whoever can suppose what Jesse intends but your minds are clearly looking and reading through race tinted shades, or you would not be calling it racism.

I'll say it again, A "slave-mentality" does not mean racist. Problem is most in America are stuck on the recent history of slavery which was racist. ie...It was because of rich White planters that created the race baiting pitting poor whites (who had no jobs anymore) against enslaved blacks (that had jobs). The economic model of the foreclosure king declaring revenge against the "runaway cash-cow" that used to be his.

[AHF]

Jesse Jackson saying a white owner mistreating a former black employee is guilty of having a master/slave mentality when the only slavery in the history of the US is the enslavement of blacks by whites has no racial element? Really???

Slavery is a racially charged term in this country when used by a civil rights leader. There are a lot of metaphors that have no racial connotations that could have been used and were passed up in favor of the reference to slavery.

We'll agree to disagree whether the reference to slavery was intended to have any racial element to it.

In either case, Lebron was out of line with his "Decision" telecast and deserved to be called out by someone on behalf of Cavs fans. He was entitled to do what he did but like any form of speech, "free speech" doesn't mean free from consequences.

[Swatguy]

Jesse Jackson saying a white owner mistreating a former black employee is guilty of having a master/slave mentality when the only slavery in the history of the US is the enslavement of blacks by whites has no racial element? Really???

Slavery is a racially charged term in this country when used by a civil rights leader. There are a lot of metaphors that have no racial connotations that could have been used and were passed up in favor of the reference to slavery.

We'll agree to disagree whether the reference to slavery was intended to have any racial element to it.

In either case, Lebron was out of line with his "Decision" telecast and deserved to be called out by someone on behalf of Cavs fans. He was entitled to do what he did but like any form of speech, "free speech" doesn't mean free from consequences.

Not true. Blacks had slaves. Indians had slaves. In the United States. World wide and in history every ethno have been enslaved. It appears you are a bit sensitive to slavery as others are. Truth is slavery was around a long long time be for it was so racially fit in america. Again. "slave-mentality" is much bigger than race. Perhaps race baiters would stop making people's issues racial to cover up the issue. The "Slave-mentality" is as much greed and pride as it is Race. But if Jesse says it it must be racial. may want to check your racism.

[Eddielives]

Not true. Blacks had slaves. Indians had slaves. In the United States. World wide and in history every ethno have been enslaved. It appears you are a bit sensitive to slavery as others are. Truth is slavery was around a long long time be for it was so racially fit in america. Again. "slave-mentality" is much bigger than race. Perhaps race baiters would stop making people's issues racial to cover up the issue. The "Slave-mentality" is as much greed and pride as it is Race. But if Jesse says it it must be racial. may want to check your racism.

Wow! You've taken a man in Jesse Jackson who is a professional race baiter and made him out to be the victim of race baiting! This is truly a historic day in wtfism.

[Swatguy]

Wow! You've taken a man in Jesse Jackson who is a professional race baiter and made him out to be the victim of race baiting! This is truly a historic day in wtfism.

I didn't do it. I stated "Slave-Mentality" is not racist. It is what it is. that is the fism.