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Baisden Apologizes, Displaces Blame

After ColorofChange went on the defensive this week in response to Michael Baisden's campaign of insinuations and false accusations that they stole money raised for the defense of the Jena 6, he has apologized bringing Jena-Gate, the stupidest scandal of the year, to a close.

From the letter of apology (some of which he read on air only moments ago):

"The Michael Baisden show and staff were given inaccurate information regarding donations made by the public and David Bowie. We apologize to our listeners and to ColorofChange for not seeking more reliable sources. According to documentation provided by the organization through their web site, all the funds collected by ColorofChange have been distributed to the families as promised."

It was right to apologize.  How could he not?  This story was blowing up. 

But rather than take full responsibility for publicly airing lies to discredit an organization he knew to be innocent he's thrown Marcus Jones (father of Mychal Bell) under the bus for providing false information.  Yes, the information was false, but most of the documentation Baisden has today, he had last week before he started this mess.  He's on the show now patting himself on the back for being "man" enough to apologize, but it doesn't seem very honorable to displace blame on someone you exploited to create your afternoon scandal-of-the-week.

Anyway, I am  gonna call this a victory for the Black netroots.  I read some great posts from Eddie Griffin, Jack&Jill, AAPolitical Pundit, Friends of Justice, Savvy Sister, Afro-Netizen and many more... 

Michael Baisden's "Jena-Gate" a Sham for Ratings

And this is why Black folks can't get ahead.

After ColorofChange.org helped drive the Black netroots toward the Jena 6 campaign and worked non-stop to turn that campaign into national news, radio host Michael Baisden has dragged some disgruntled family member on the air to accuse the non-profit org of "stealing" money.  On Monday and again on Tuesday Marcus Jones, the father of Mychal Bell of the Jena 6, came on Baisden's show hurling accusations ranging from the sketchy (a letter allegedly signed by other family members asking people to stop sending money) to outright lies (that Color of Change ran off with a $10,000 donation from David Bowie - it was widely reported that the NAACP, in fact, took that donation).

In fact, Color of Change, bucking non-profit tradition, actually has a rigorously documented trail of every penny they've received, quite literally.  According to their response, they raised $212,039.90 and have disbursed $210,809.90.  You can even check out the deposited checks paid to the legal teams and authorizations signed by the families including Marcus Jones.  That's a lot of transparency for a "shady" organization trying to get rich off of online organizing.  According to my math, it looks like they've pocketed a grand total of $1,230.    Oh wait.  That's still in the bank and if the families need it for legal fees, they can get it exactly the same way they got the rest.

And that, I think, is exactly Marcus Jones' real issue.  Color of Change, to protect themselves and the families from exactly these kind of ugly accusations, set up a system where the money collected for legal defense is distributed exclusively for legal defense.  That means when Mychal Bell's lawyer files an invoice for doing his job, he gets paid.  Marcus Jones?  Not a Penny in His Pocket.  Axe. 2. Grind.  Maybe Mr. Jones doesn't like Color of Change or its director, but these accusations are simply unfounded.  In fact, Michael Baisden seems to be the only one willing to give them a platform.

For weeks Baisden has been baiting listeners with a salacious "breaking news" story about the thieves of the Jena 6.  He billed the whole thing like he was breaking "Jena Gate": "Tune in tomorrow.  I'm gonna name names!"  (I bet the advertisers and up and ups at ABC Networks who distributes the show nationally just loooved that shameless ratings grab). 

But what held him up?  He said on Monday's show he's been talking to Jones for months.  Why hold this story?  Why not bring the vigilantes to justice?  Of course, it was the facts that actually slowed him down.  All the documentation I mentioned above was available to Baisden and the show's producers.  They had the paper trail and other family members tried to talk to them and dispute the claims.  They knew Jena-Gate was a lie when they let Jones on the air this week. But they simply didn't care.  This isn't Black politics.  On "Love, Lust and Lies"  it's all Black entertainment.

When I listened closely, I realized that Baisden never actually verbalized the accusations himself.  While he spoke in vague condemnations, he let Marcus Jones actually do the naming of names he'd talked up.  So, while the ethics department may be out to lunch, we can rest assured that the lawyers at ABC radio are paying enough attention to make sure that Baisden didn't get slapped with a libel suit.  At least not right away...

This is a bit of a rant, but I think it's important to make this story clear because it actually isn't only about defending Color of Change.  I do support their work around Jena and beyond and think they're serious about building a base of engaged Black people with a progressive vision.  Much more so than the usual civil rights suspects.  But I also hear the bell tolling around a larger fight:  Through Baisden, the corporate media is pimping a fake scandal for ratings at the expense of a serious, progressive Black political agenda - all while claiming to be the authentic, if not only, voice for the community. 

This story is about corporate media, fronted with Black faces, undermining not  only an organization, but a successful attempt to change the conversation about race, criminalization and Black communities.  Baisden is exploiting Black peoples' reasonable  skepticism around institutions - every one in this country has hustled us in one way or another -  to make us feel like when we stood up for something profound and won a real victory, we'd simply been had. Our contribution made in vain.  So when the next campaign comes around and legal defense is needed, he'll have helped turn the bit of optimism generated by Jena to a jaded, empty cynicism.  And for what?  A larger share of the drive-time audience? 

Thankfully, Baisden does have a solution.  You can give him your money.  Next week he's setting up a fund so his one million listeners can raise  $1,000,000 in one day to go into his own coffers. 

I'll be surprised if we can view his canceled checks online...

Michael Jackson's Face is Performance Art

It may not come as a surprise, but when I started this post I found it impossible to logically place Michael's face in any of the 20 categories that exist on this blog. 

"Hilarity"?
"People I Like"?
"Art"?
"Black and Gay"?!...

So, as many before, I put him in a category all his own.

Read on for more about the King of Pop's new Ebony cover story celebrating Thriller's 25th anniversay.... (yes, you're getting old.)  My e-buddy Steven Fullwood also offers some enjoyable reading on it.

Do you know that album sold 104 million copies?  Art, indeed.

Must-Read: The Irrelevant Rev. Sharpton

This is the one I've been waiting for.

Just as the good Revs prepares to preside over "nigger" loving Dog the Bounty Hunter's racial cleansing,  New York based writer Ta-Nehisi Coates has quite tidily excoriated the  "President of Black America" in this piece from the Washington Post:

"There's another reason why the media have elected the reverend president of black America. For cable networks, Sharpton is the gift that keeps on giving. He provides an easily disposable villain, a simple out for his most loyal constituency: white racists. For those who already doubted the humanity of black folks, who believe that we spend our days counting the ways white people owe us, who think we chant "Reparations now!" at least once every seven minutes, the bombastic Sharpton is a perfect confirmation.

Sharpton ceded the high ground long ago. When he becomes the face of often legitimate racial injustices, his critics are then free to snort, "Yeah, but it's Al Sharpton." Sure, that's unfair to the cause. But the reverend is no victim. Largely lacking mass traction with black America outside of New York, Sharpton needs the media to keep up the illusion of his relevance. The pact is simple: He gets a platform, and the media get great television."

Though the hateration is fierce, it's warranted.  Maybe you'll disagree... Only one way to find out.

Barack's Gay Gospel Scandal

The Progressive Media Project asked me to weigh in on the scandal around the gospel tour organized by the Obama camp that featured controversial "ex-gay" minister (and Grammy award winner) Donnie McClurkin... Check below for what I came up with.  I focused less on the scandal itself and more on Obama's inability to capitalize on it.  I think Hilary's strength in the campaign so far is that her team has been able to make a gallon of lemonade out of every lemon tossed her way.   Similarly, Obama might have used this as a moment to define the vision and savvy of his campaign as opposed to underscoring its general mediocrity at politics as usual.

Also check out my friend Kenyon's take on it if you're hungry for more...

Sen. Barack Obama needs to draw the right lessons from his recent gay gospel scandal.

The Obama campaign announced a few days ago the lineup for "Embrace the Change," a series of gospel concerts in South Carolina designed to woo African-American votes in a state holding one of the nation's early, attention-grabbing primaries. What the campaign thought would be a popular event with superstar gospel acts turned into a political and PR nightmare when it was revealed that the roster included gospel star, minister and avowed "ex-gay" Donnie McClurkin.

The Grammy award-winning McClurkin has come under sharp criticism for his position that LGBT people have made a choice that goes against God.  This teaching is underscored by his description of his own life — after 20 years living in the shadows as a closeted gay man, he argues that God gave him the "wherewithal" to become a heterosexual.

The Obama team was put on the defensive. The senator claimed he didn't know about the minister's anti-gay views and that his staff had not properly vetted him.

What should really concern us about this campaign misstep isn't the initial mistake. If this was a simple error, the Obama team could have pulled McClurkin, citing a clear difference of opinion. But a recent poll by Winthrop University shows that 74 percent of African-Americans in South Carolina find "homosexuality" to be "unacceptable." Thus the campaign saw itself on the opposite side of this issue than its constituency. So, McClurkin was allowed to remain on the tour, alongside Mary Mary, a popular duo that has compared being gay to being a "murderer" or a "prostitute."

The Obama team felt caught between alienating the LGBT community, in particular the largely white institutions that the campaign is close to, and being seen as out of step with a black community on the fence between Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton.

The controversy presented a real opportunity, however. That 74 percent number hides a real diversity within the black community on LGBT issues. Even concert-goers surveyed by CNN who expressed support for McClurkin offered a range of explanations, including First Amendment rights and nuanced views on his positions. Here was an opportunity for Obama, who claims to be the great uniting force, to bring in some of the many black faith leaders who are actively participating in a dialogue within the church about homophobia.

Instead of calling on one of these faith leaders, the Obama team turned to a white gay minister to join the tour and put the black community on the right road.

Obama had the chance to show the nation he could take a long-standing division in the African-American community and use his power and celebrity to build a bridge that helped all move forward. However, we've gotten the usual — engaging black folks through spectacle instead of real politics and looking away from the diverse leadership in Black communities in favor of a quick fix that leaves the political crisis intact.

In the beginning, Obama offered us more than politics as usual. If he continues to let a coldly calculating campaign turn him into just another politician, the failures of the gay gospel scandal, though fleeting, will foreshadow the defeat of real leadership at the hands of cynical politics.

Must Read: Angry Black Justice

To describe Clarence Thomas as just another Black conservative is like reducing Oprah to the occupation of talk show host.  Your average talk show host isn't at the head of a billion dollar global empire and your run-of-the-mill Black conservative doesn't become one of the most Constitutionally powerful men in the nation. 

For many, Justice Thomas has served as the poster child for Black folks who work against the interest of other Black folks (and every dictum of justice and good sense) to advance their careers, or worse, their bank accounts. 

But let those Thomas-torturers lay down their weapons; the man himself has taken up a pen and done more damage to his reputation than any of us ever could.  For a guided tour of his new memoirs, you should turn to Kai Wright's genius reading of what he describes as "one of the most diminishing biographies ever penned":

Many will read My Grandfather's Son as a cynical attempt to rewrite history, and it is that, to be sure. But it is more. The reason Thomas' rage outstrips his remarkable professional and political achievements is that his confirmation shattered the thin armor he'd donned for navigating America's "paranoid color wheel" as an ambitious black man -- namely, that through unceasing toil and a blind embrace of "the rules," he could eclipse, if not defeat white supremacy.

You can find the rest on kaiwright.com or at the American Prospect....

Today, We Wear Black for Jena

Get your out your best black jeans and if you're not already in Jena, prepare for action.

As this day has approached, it's urgency seems to have reached a critical pitch.  Much is at stake for Mychal Bell, Carwin Jones, Theodore Shaw, Robert Bailey, Bryant Purvis and their friend, and that intensity has been matched by 260,000 people signing petitions, 10,000 marching on Jena, and thousands more leading their own events from coast to coast.  With a vibrant coalition kicked off by Black bloggers and ColorofChange.org gaining broad support from the netroots, and now the civil rights establishment, in just over a month, the success of the campaign makes me cautiously optimistic about the rise of a new model for activism around racial justice.

Howard Witt at the Chicago Tribune has a very smart piece on how these actors came together around the call to Free the Jena 6:

This will be a civil rights protest literally conjured out of the ether of cyberspace, of a type that has never happened before in America—a collective national mass action grown from a grassroots word-of-mouth movement spread via Internet blogs, e-mails, message boards and talk radio.

Jackson, Sharpton and other big-name civil rights figures, far from leading this movement, have had to scramble to catch up. So, too, has the national media, which has only recently noticed a story that has been agitating many black Americans for months.

Many have done much to see the tentative progress in the Jena case, but my call to action today focuses on what we'll do tomorrow.  This case is far from over.  Though a judge threw out Mychal Bell's conviction, arguing that he should not have been tried as an adult, he remains in jail.  CNN reports that a Louisiana appeals court has ruled the motion to dismiss as "premature," leaving Bell in the jail where he has already wasted a year of his life.  dNA lays it out plainly at TooSense:

Bell has been in jail for over a year now for charges that no longer exist. He was the only one of the Jena Six whose family did not have the financial means to post bail, so he is not a flight risk. He is 17, and he remains in a grown man's prison because what passes for the law in Louisiana thinks, despite the time already served for charges that have now been dismissed, he deserves to remain in jail....Today we wear black because this is far from over.

He also points out the what's happening in Jena isn't an aberration, it's the rule. 

I'm supporting the Jena 6 because they deserve their freedom and the racist criminal justice system that took it away must be indicted.  But I'm also imagining what would happen if every person who wore a t-shirt today or handed out a flyer or wrote a blog post woke up tomorrow and looked for the Mychal Bell in their own backyard.  He, or She, won't be hard to find.What if our outrage, today directed at the small Louisiana town of Jena, extended to parallel injustices in Detroit or Cincinnati or Sacramento or Miami?  What if we viewed this mobilization not as the end of a successful, innovative campaign, but as the moment that catalyzes us into broader and deeper action in every place where we are?  Inside the blogosphere and offline, locally and nationally.

It's just an idea, but I think it might work.

 

                                       

 

   

Remember Kenneth Foster

Last month, Kenneth Foster woke up knowing it was his last day on death row.

The manner of his exit would be death or life in prison, to be determined by the state of Texas. Sentenced to execution under a law that sanctions death for murder by association – no one, including the state, thought Kenneth guilty of killing anyone – a growing cry came up demanding his exoneration.

And on August 29th, he was saved.

With the help of a campaign led by ColorofChange.org, the Governor commuted his sentence. But he will still live out his life in prison under a law that is ridiculous, unconstitutional and grossly misapplied. Too Sense had this to say about it:

I hope Governor Rick Perry breaks his arm attempting to pat himself on the back. By commuting the death sentence of Kenneth Foster to life imprisonment, he has spared a man from being executed for a crime he did not commit only to condemn him to life in prison for that same crime.

I think that’s right, especially considering news breaking this week on the Save Kenneth campaign blog that he has been held in solitary confinement since the commutation.  His life is saved.  A victory hard won.  But it's a sad day when even our victories are enraging, as they must be when they are so dangerously incomplete.

In Texas, Kenneth Foster faced an injustice in the letter of the law (the "law of parties" being dubious at best) and that flaw allowed him to be victimized by a racist, but entirely legal, misapplication of justice that the system left him defenseless against. Denied adequate representation, his freedom stripped with the stroke of a pen, Foster's story is the story of 10,000 men falsely arrested and imprisoned under innumerable laws that we defend and in our intransigence support. The laws haven't changed and won't unless we remember that Kenneth Foster's story is an important chapter in a long and arduous novel.

So today as we prepare to march for the Jena 6, I'm trying to remember Kenneth.  He's still in jail for life with so many others Black people who don't belong there.  I'm trying to remind myself to push harder.  Because I'm tired of commutations and exonerations for the falsely charged. 

I'm trying to remind myself that the legal victories are critical, but it's 2007 and I'm in the mood for justice.

Must See: Charles Burnett at the IFC

This weekend I went to see My Brother's Wedding, the feature-length follow-up to Charles Burnett's masterful Killer of Sheep. With the re-release of both films this year (previously they'd only been seen at festivals), Mr. Burnett has solidified his reputation as one America's truly independent auteurs, finally drawn into the spotlight after a career of relative anonymity.

The film is beautifully eerie; markedly unsentimental in its realistic portrayal of Black Los Angeles and unsettling as a result.  I won't do a full review here, though you should check out this thoughtful post (thanks Ben) and A.O. Scott's 2 cents in the Times.  What I think these and other reviewers missed, however, is exactly why an artist as talented as Burnett never achieved widespread notoriety until now.

It is notable that we've never heard of My Brother's Wedding.  And we should be asking ourselves why we haven't. What struck me in the theater that night is how the film offers deep commentary on the practical and existential dilemmas faced by Black Americans  without bringing a white person into a single frame. It's a rare choice for the American filmmaker; Black people are understood as sympathetic and complex - human - in their own right, outside of the gaze of a white protagonist.  A visionary political and artistic strategy that delivers for all 81 minutes. 

Charles Burnett is truly an independent filmmaker.  In fact, as I write it, that title doesn't quite seem to do him justice.

See this film.

Finally, some Justice in Jena

Ahead of demonstrations expected to draw tens of thousands to the tiny town of Jena, LA, Mychal Bell of the now famed Jena 6 has had his conviction vacated and may go free as early as this evening.

News is breaking from Louisiana as we speak.  The Associated Press filed a story about an hour ago as defense attorneys revealed news about the successful appeal of Bell's aggravated battery conviction for fighting a white student after a string of racist violence at his high school. 

It seems that the appeal, which focuses on the dramatic misstep in charging Bell, then 16, as an adult, has been won outright.  From the AP:

A state appeals court Friday tossed out the aggravated battery conviction that could have sent a black teenager to prison for 15 years in last year's beating of a white classmate in the racially tense north Louisiana town of Jena.

Mychal Bell, who was 16 at the time of the December beating, should not have been tried as an adult on the battery charge, the state Third Circuit Court of Appeal in Lake Charles ruled late Friday.

Bell is one of six black Jena High School students charged in an attack on fellow student Justin Barker, and one of five originally charged as adults with attempted second-degree murder.

Bell's sentencing, originally set for Thursday, was set to bring tens of thousands to tiny Jena, LA and has attracted international attention.  ColorofChange, one of the lead convenors of that action, is releasing their statement on the successful appeal within the hour.  We should know more then about the Bell case, the plans for the Sept. 20 protests and hopefully some sense of how this ruling will affect the other 5 students still awaiting trial and sentencing.

It's a victory.  A big one.  But one that we should never have had to fight for in the first place.