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When LeBron James announced his decision to leave Cleveland and and head off to Miami it prompted a lot of noise, noise from the fans who were shocked this was happening, even more noise from an owner who felt his team and the city they played in were shafted by James. Dan Gilbert, Cavs principal owner, wrote what is now the infamous letter to the fans bashing the so-called King up one side and down the other. It got a lot of hype, a lot of people supported Gilbert's passion to come out and call James on the carpet for what he felt was a virtual cheap shot at the city that James not only grew up in but spent up to now his entire professional career.
Following that letter, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a man who has had a history of inserting his opinion into places where it would have been better left out of, claimed that Gilbert treated James like a "runaway slave". I know, pretty ridiculous huh? Unless of course you know slaves who pulled in 7-8 digit salaries not including endorsement deals. Instead of Jackson looking at this for what it was like everyone else, he chose to do what he does best, insert the race card to get himself and the NAACP some additional PR. The only thing that shocked me here was that Al Sharpton didn't come out and second the motion leveled by Jackson, usually where you see one, you see the other, the virtual tag-team of racial innuendo and self-promotion.
I've come to the conclusion that the Rev. Jackson seems much more concerned with maintaining division between races than he is seeing that we all live happily as one. I can't see how any of these comments do any good for the African-American community, the only thing they do is enrage and inflame a situation that in essence needs no stoking. Another thing I'd like to say about Jackson, have you ever noticed he doesn't apologize for anything...accept of course his "himeytown" comment but he was running for President then, big difference, he had damage control to do, and how well did that work out for him?
For Jackson to come out and use Gilbert's words against him like this was irresponsible, but that's never stopped him before. I almost hit the floor when David Stern, the lame-ass Commish of the NBA said following Gilbert's fine of $100K, quote; "Equally imprudent, I believe, are the remarks by my good friend, Jesse Jackson, which purport to make this into a racial matter,” Stern said during a press conference. “And I find that to be however well meaning Jesse may be in the premises, on this one, as he rarely is, mistaken".
I had no idea the two were so close, but if Jackson wants to compare anyone to a slave owner he should go after his good friend Stern, he's pulling down 10 million a year to sit in the NBA offices and watch a league dominated by blacks and profits off their sweat but I haven't heard a peep out of him about that. Maybe there's a kickback we don't know about or a charitable donation. As for Jackson being rarely mistaken, well I don't know where David Stern's been but it's obvious he doesn't read the newspaper's or watch the news, Jackson has been mistaken numerous times. By the way, isn't Stern Jewish?
At any rate, these comments about slavery and Gilbert being a slave owner have garnered the good Reverend another honor for his collection, the honor of this week's YGS Tool of the Week! I see no reason to let Rev. Jackson's efforts go unrewarded, it takes a lot of work being irresponsible and keeping the flames of racism burning the eternal flame. My congratulations to this outstanding role model and public...err, servant.
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