Elvis vs Jacko

[Legend]

Why bring a picture of your mother into all this?

[beatmaker]

Beatmaker, I don't know if you're responding to me or Bella....

As for you Silc69, that unsubstantiated quote attributed to Elvis was refuted by him in a 1957 article in JET magazine!!!

As a Black man, beatmaker, my only point about Elvis was that it's popular in certain segments of the Black community to label him a racist out of hand with no evidence whatsover, when the reality of his career points to just the opposite point of view.

I don't think any of us knew the man personally, and I don't know why groups like Public Enemy and Living Colour felt the need to brand him as such, but IMHO, from what I've seen and read, to call him a straight out 'racist' is off the mark.

Giavanni, I was actually was talking to Atlantaguy. I can discuss this issue with you, because you're stating your opinion intelligently without name calling like Legend.

Anyway, I never said Elvis was a racist, nor do I think he was as liberal on race related issues as people think. People don't realize that Bobby Kennedy pushed his brother JFK on race and equality issues, even though JFK had gone down in history, as this great opponent of Jim Crow racism. Abraham Lincoln thought slavery was wrong, but he really wanted to end slavery because it would break the economy of the South and weaken them to the point where their resistance to joining the American Union would be futile and it worked. Lincoln also wanted to deport slaves back to Africa, Liberia specifically. I say this all to say, Elvis appreciated Black music and culture, but he was never outpsoken about the bigotry of that era, to get my respect as someone who truly considered Blacks his friends and equal. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it, but I politely respect your opinion to disagree with me sir. When it comes to race, there is a lot of gray area, not everyone is this flaming liberal or hardcore racist, there is a lot of mixed emotions in-between. I've seen guys on HA lust after Black and Latina transsexuals, then turn right around and make racially insensitive comments about those groups in another HA thread, so things aren't always what they seem.

[LTR_Seeker]

Elvis is number 1 in my book

[darklord68]

Elvis rules supreme in my opinion

[beatmaker]

**********

Keep posting that message from five years ago an see if i care, i apologized to ruby because it was childish and immature and she has forgiven me and that is all that matters to me i can care less how some random cock bandit or whiner like you thinks of me.Letting stuff go is something you can't seem to do because you keep bringing up race in everything from escorts to jacko, you only bring up race when its unnecessary but when "real" racial issues come around your no where to be seen.I think it is f**king laughable that you would even compare dr. king to media whores like shapton and jackson.

You do realize that Jesse Jackson was one of Dr. King's right hand men in the Civil Rights Movement of the 60's and he was actually at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis with Dr. King, when he was assassinated. However, with that said, I think Jesse "use to be" a man with the character of Dr. King, but since Blacks are so disunified and unable to rally for any sustained and meaningful protest nowadays, as we have become content, apathetic and complacent, I guess he just said "fuck it" and started to use his bully pulpit to get ahead and curry political favor. However, make no mistake the young Jesse Jackson was about his business. As far as Al Sharpton, I highly disagree with your assessment wholeheartedly. He made a very good point in a NYC 1 interview I saw several years ago. He said the media and some in the White community always accuse him of "race baiting" and only supporting Black against White issues, but those same people never cover all the stuff he does for unions, poor people and disenfranchised workers outside of the Black community. The media doesn't cover this, because it would deflate the image they have erected of him, as some reverse racist, kill Whitey loudmouth, which sells newpapers. Many weak-minded, bamboozled Blacks have fallen victim to this character assassination also. For all the celebrity friends and political clout Al Sharpton has, he lives in a modest home, his "National Action Network" offices are located in an old fitness gym in Harlem, on 145th St in the heart of the community. When he ran for state office and the Presidency, he had less than 250K in his campaign coffiers, yet held his own with all the seasoned Presidential candidates in the debates on the issues facing America, not just Black America. Yet, Sarah Palin had the whole force of the GOP behind her with debate coaches and advisors 24/7, yet she still sucked in interviews and debates about simple stuff you learn in a H.S Civics class. On the otherhand, Jesse Jackson has a cushy downtown NYC office, a big home, cheated on his wife and has used his position to leverage for the financial gain of him and his family (i.e a Budweiser distributorship in Maryland, I think Baltimore). So, I can't defend the Jesse Jackson of today, as he has fallen victim to the trappings of power and influence and has become of the "poverty pimp", many Whites and the media has characterized him as for all these years. Yet, I know my history and know he "use to be" an honorable man of conviction, but somehow lost his way over the years. As they say, power corrupts! Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson may both be the preeminent Civil Rights leaders in the Black community, but they are not adjoined at the hip and are not of the same moral fiber, irrespective of what you think Legend.

[beatmaker]

Tell them what? That they were downtrodden? These guys were stars in their own right & had huge hits. They were emulated. There were racial tensions at the time because the Klan was at it's zenith in the '50s, but there were white artists doing covers so they could still get their residuals from places where they couldn't get on the radio & sell records. Covers were a workaround, not a ripoff.

I don't know why all this racial animosity. Seems to me that it's just a bunch of foolishness chasing stupid. Regardless of the pre-civil rights movement crap that went on in America, none of that touched Michael Jackson's career. The Jackson 5 were on TV as soon as they got air play. Everybody said "oh, aren't those negro Osmond-Cowsills cute?".

I disagree. Look at how his sister Janet, a megastar in her own right has been damn near blackballed after the Super Bowl "Nipplegate" incident, while Justin Timberlake's career hasn't experienced a ripple. You do realize that his brilliant work from "Off The Wall" was not played on MTV. Maybe it was too R&B. It took tens of millions of albums and the groundbreaking videos, that accompanied "Thriller" for Michael to break the color barrier at MTV, so the Pollyana assumption that his skin color never hindered him, is misguided. Especially, since you didn't know or talk to him personally to know what he may or may not have had to deal with on his rise to mega-stardom. You had big Motown acts who couldn't stay at the hotels they performed at, couldn't swim in their pools or even eat at the restaurants. I'm sure Joe Jackson could recount some stories from the Jackson 5 days, that Michael may have been too young to really understand or remember.

Pretending thing didn't happen or exist, won't solve things either. It just allows things to fester and simmer under the surface, until things boil over. I remember Michael saying a White woman came up to him in his teen years and said "You used to be so cute, want happened to you", so MJ has encountered some of the bullshyt. I'll admit his father's and sibling's criticism of his nose and features, probably stung more, than those that came from that insensitive fan in the grand scheme of things.

[jjhill]

Did all the older people vote for Elvis, and all the young people like myself vote for MJ?

[LTR_Seeker]

Im only 35 voted for elvis

[sugdaddie69]

Did all the older people vote for Elvis, and all the young people like myself vote for MJ?

Naw,I voted for MJ

[Legend]

Beatmaker, I don't know if you're responding to me or Bella....

As for you Silc69, that unsubstantiated quote attributed to Elvis was refuted by him in a 1957 article in JET magazine!!!

As a Black man, beatmaker, my only point about Elvis was that it's popular in certain segments of the Black community to label him a racist out of hand with no evidence whatsover, when the reality of his career points to just the opposite point of view.

I don't think any of us knew the man personally, and I don't know why groups like Public Enemy and Living Colour felt the need to brand him as such, but IMHO, from what I've seen and read, to call him a straight out 'racist' is off the mark.

Giavanni, I was actually was talking to Atlantaguy. I can discuss this issue with you, because you're stating your opinion intelligently without name calling like Legend.

Anyway, I never said Elvis was a racist, nor do I think he was as liberal on race related issues as people think. People don't realize that Bobby Kennedy pushed his brother JFK on race and equality issues, even though JFK had gone down in history, as this great opponent of Jim Crow racism. Abraham Lincoln thought slavery was wrong, but he really wanted to end slavery because it would break the economy of the South and weaken them to the point where their resistance to joining the American Union would be futile and it worked. Lincoln also wanted to deport slaves back to Africa, Liberia specifically. I say this all to say, Elvis appreciated Black music and culture, but he was never outpsoken about the bigotry of that era, to get my respect as someone who truly considered Blacks his friends and equal. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it, but I politely respect your opinion to disagree with me sir. When it comes to race, there is a lot of gray area, not everyone is this flaming liberal or hardcore racist, there is a lot of mixed emotions in-between. I've seen guys on HA lust after Black and Latina transsexuals, then turn right around and make racially insensitive comments about those groups in another HA thread, so things aren't always what they seem.

Your one of the biggest frauds on hungangels, you are always so vocal about race in all these celebrity gossip/escorts threads but real racial issues come up your no where to be seen.You're like the sharpton/jackson of hungangels, your an attention whore and rather then helping the racial tension, you make it worse.God never,ever put those two race baiting clowns jackson and sharpton in the same sentence with dr. king ever again.


TIME FOR JACKSON, SHARPTON
TO STEP DOWN.
By JASON WHITLOCK

I'm calling for Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, the president and vice president of Black America, to step down. Their leadership is stale. Their ideas are outdated. And they don't give a crap about us.



We need to take a cue from White America and re-elect our leadership every four years. White folks realize that power corrupts. That's why they placed term limits on the presidency. They know if you leave a man in power too long he quits looking out for the interest of his constituency and starts looking out for his own best interest. We've turned Jesse and Al into Supreme Court justices. They get to speak for us for a lifetime. Why?

If judged by the results they've produced the last 20 years, you'd have to regard their administration as a total failure. Seriously, compared to Martin [Luther King] and Malcolm [X] and the freedoms and progress their leadership produced, Jesse and Al are an embarrassment.
Their job the last two decades was to show black people how to take advantage of the opportunities Martin (Luther King) and Malcolm [X] won [for black Americans].
Have we [black Americans, taken advantage of those opportunities] at the level we should have? No.

Rather than inspire us to seize hard-earned opportunities, Jesse and Al have specialized in blackmailing white folks for profit and attention. They were at it again last week, helping to turn radio shock jock Don Imus' stupidity into a world-wide crisis that reached its crescendo Tuesday afternoon when Rutgers women's basketball coach Vivian Stringer led a massive pity party/recruiting rally. Hey, what Imus said, calling the Rutgers players "nappy-headed hos,"
was ignorant, insensitive and offensive. But so are many of the words that come out of the mouths of radio shock jocks/comedians. [Rutgers lost to Tennessee in the NCAA national championship game last week in Cleveland.]

Imus' words did no real damage. Let me tell you what damaged us this week: the sports cover of Tuesday's USA Today. This country's newspaper of record published a story about the NFL and crime and ran a picture of 41 NFL players who were arrested in 2006. By my count, 39 of those players were black. You want to talk about a damaging, powerful image, an image that went out across the globe? We're holding news conferences about Imus when the behavior of NFL players is painting us as lawless and immoral. Come on. We can do better than that. Jesse and Al are smarter than that.

Had Imus' predictably poor attempt at humor not been turned into an international incident by the deluge of media coverage, 97 percent of America would've never known what Imus said. His platform isn't that large and it has zero penetration into the sports world. Imus certainly doesn't resonate in the world frequented by college women. The insistence by these young women that they have been emotionally scarred by an old white man with no currency in their world is laughably dishonest. The Rutgers players are nothing more than pawns in a game being played by Jackson, Sharpton and Stringer [C. Vivian Stringer, the Rutgers women's basketball coach].
Jesse and Al are flexing their muscle and setting up their next sting. Bringing down Imus, despite his sincere attempts at apologizing, would serve notice to their next potential victim that it is far better to pay up than stand up to Jesse and Al James. [Jesse Jackson's long pattern of political and corporate extortion and blackmail is a matter of record. A Google search of 'jesse jackson extortion' should return plenty to keep you busy.]
Stringer just wanted her 15 minutes to make the case that she's every bit as important as Pat Summitt and Geno Auriemma [team members?]. By the time Stringer's rambling, rapping and rhyming 30-minute speech was over, you'd forgotten that Tennessee won the national championship and just assumed a racist plot had been hatched to deny the [Rutgers] Scarlet Knights credit for winning it all.

Maybe that's the real crime. Imus' ignorance has taken attention away from Candace Parker's and Summitt's incredible accomplishment. Or maybe it was Sharpton's, Stringer's and Jackson's grandstanding that moved the spotlight from Tennessee to New Jersey? None of this over-the-top grandstanding does Black America any good. We can't win the war over verbal disrespect and racism when we have so obviously and blatantly surrendered the moral high ground on the issue. Jesse and Al might win the battle with Imus and get him fired or severely neutered. But the war? We don't stand a chance in the war.

Not when everybody knows "nappy-headed hos" is a compliment compared to what we allow black rap artists to say about black women on a daily basis. We look foolish and cruel for kicking a man who went on Sharpton's radio show and apologized. Imus didn't pull a Michael Richards and schedule an interview on Letterman. Imus went to the Black vice president's house, acknowledged his mistake and asked for forgiveness. Let it go and let God [grant forgiveness].

We have more important issues to deal with than Imus. If we are unwilling to clean up the filth and disrespect we heap on each other, nothing will change with our condition. You can fire every Don Imus in the country, and our incarceration rate, fatherless-child rate, illiteracy rate and murder rate will still continue to skyrocket. A man who doesn't respect himself wastes his breath demanding that others respect him. We don't respect ourselves right now. If we did, we wouldn't call each other the N-word. If we did, we wouldn't let people with prison values define who we are in music and videos. If we did, we wouldn't call black women bitches and hos and abandon them when they have our babies. If we had the proper level of self-respect, we wouldn't act like it's only a crime when a white man disrespects us. We hold Imus to a higher standard than we hold ourselves. That's a (freaking) shame.

We need leadership that is interested in fixing the culture we've adopted. We need leadership that makes all of us take tremendous pride in educating ourselves. We need leadership that can reach professional athletes and entertainers and get them to understand that they’re ambassadors and play an important role in defining who we are and what values our culture will embrace.

It's time for Jesse and Al to step down. They've had 25 years to lead us. Other than their accountants, I'd be hard pressed to find someone who has benefited from their administration.