Jesse Jackson: Phil Robertson More Offensive Than Rosa Parks' Bus Driver
The Reverend Jesse Jackson has weighed in on the never-ending Duck Dynasty controversy, and true to form the reverend pulled no punches. Said Jackson:
These statements uttered by Robertson are more offensive than the bus driver in Montgomery, Alabama, more than 59 years ago. At least the bus driver, who ordered Rosa Parks to surrender her seat to a white person, was following state law. Robertson’s statements were uttered freely and openly without cover of the law, within a context of what he seemed to believe was ‘white privilege.’
Jackson, his Rainbow PUSH Coalition, and GLAAD are wanting to meet with A&E and Cracker Barrel execs to discuss Robertson's continued suspension as well as the future of Duck Dynasty merchandise and future content of the show, saying that it's not right for someone with such toxic views to benefit from the substantial public platform that they have been given.
Yay! Finally someone freaking out about the race crap that man said.
Posted by: Fenrox | Dec 26, 2013 1:21:23 PM
Hear, hear.
Posted by: Sean | Dec 26, 2013 1:29:13 PM
Yes, he did speak out about it, but if you think that will change anything, then you greatly underestimate how much middle America's dislike of Jessie Jackson outweighs their dislike of racism.
Posted by: Frank | Dec 26, 2013 1:44:44 PM
At last, somebody put light to the racist part of Phil's interview.
I want to see how all the rightwingers dismiss his racism the same way they did with his homophobia.
Posted by: jjose712 | Dec 26, 2013 1:48:33 PM
When Phil Robertson was 20 he was going out with a 14-year-old, so he's basically a paedophile too.
Posted by: danswon | Dec 26, 2013 1:55:44 PM
http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/jesse-jackson-phil-robertson-39-more-offensive-39-161659097--abc-news-celebrities.html
@jjose712 This is how they dismiss it. Just read to comments under this article
Posted by: Frank | Dec 26, 2013 1:58:29 PM
bad strategy to keep pushing for continuous suspension. when you're in a hole, stop digging. robertson already won. and the more you try to censure him with punitive action like this, the bigger he wins.
Posted by: Jaker | Dec 26, 2013 2:15:03 PM
the right-wing troll has returned
Posted by: litper | Dec 26, 2013 2:23:13 PM
@ JAKER :
Are you serious ?
Posted by: JackFknTwist | Dec 26, 2013 2:28:30 PM
deadly serious. the constant push for punishment will just amp up his victimhood and hero status, which is already monumental.
someone got to speak sensible strategy around here.
and only an ideologically blind moron would see my statements as right wing trolling.
we lost this one, cut our losses short and move on to better and wiser battles.
Posted by: Jaker | Dec 26, 2013 2:40:07 PM
Just because the fight may be taking a turn for the worse that is no reason to quit the field.
In fact it is all the more reason to show up these bigots and their backers for what they are.
They may think they have won, but that is short term. We are in this fight for the long term.
Posted by: JackFknTwist | Dec 26, 2013 2:55:46 PM
Yeah, you're not a right-winger at all, Jaker. That's why you're basically Judy telling us to give up. I do recall in a previous post you defending Phil Robertson? Interesting strategy...you're progressive colors just shine right through.
Posted by: Travis | Dec 26, 2013 2:56:06 PM
Robertson is the loser. He's the last great hope of a shrinking base of fundamentalists trying to use 'religion' as a cover for discrimination. They're pushing a narrative of racism & bigotry as a right of religious liberty that most Christians have abandoned. Their base is steadily shrinking, public opinion in an informed society recognizes them for what they are behind the rhetoric and says no thanks. In desperation and rage they grab at any chance to portray themselves as the victim. And when each cry of victimization gets a spot light shown on it to illuminate the reality more of society turns away from them.
Posted by: SERIOUSLY | Dec 26, 2013 3:16:38 PM
@travis. nope, never defended the bigot robertson, go find the post if you can. maybe you misinterpreted defending his right to his views with defending the views themselves. common pc left authoritarian mistake. it's like rabid conservatives calling every republican who dissents from conservative orthodoxy a "rino". it just looks stupid to rational sensible people.
you dont need to be a rightwinger to see how backfiring the whole suspension strategy has been. mountain out of a molehill, and a mountain that robertson has no problem or risk defending, whatever the attacks may be.
only upside to this i can see is that the antigay and racially clueless right will overplay their hand in turn by turning this dude into some kind of messiah that will spark a revolution to turn back our progress. bc that's how many delusional regressives are seeing this guy. we'll see i guess.
meantime our side has taken the hit. i have a feeling influential people in the gay rights movt are taking notes from this debacle. i hope so at least. bc a just cause is only as successful as how one smartly plays it. and that means persuading the middle, looking at the long game and avoiding unforced errors like this one.
Posted by: Jaker | Dec 26, 2013 3:20:54 PM
@seriously. in the long term, the right wing base is inevitably a loser. in the short term it wins from this with increased energy, money and "victim" status.
and robertson has nothing to lose and everything to gain from this kerfuffle. he will die a rich, "happy happy happy" and "heroic" man. everything from this point forward is gravy to him.
Posted by: Jaker | Dec 26, 2013 3:27:14 PM
The right wing is so pathetic. Every couple of months they say they've found their savior who is going to open everyone's eyes and be a tipping point in the "culture war". Joe the plumber? WWII vets? Dan Cathy? and of course the perpetually victimized Caribou Barbie. But guess what? We keep on winning. Your freak sideshows like Robertson just rile up the bigoted, hateful base. They don't win them any converts. It is sad, but inevitable as the dying, bloated corpse of Christian extremism goes through its death spasms. Thankfully, it will all be over soon.
Posted by: gaylib | Dec 26, 2013 3:38:49 PM
Showing how fake the show is and how poorly they represent their best customers is probably the best strategy. After all, everything about this controversy assumes that what we see on the show is somehow "real", even though it's not. Everyone plays along as if this family was acting out of conviction and not just self-interest. Nonsense. They are country-club golf players that hang out with their fellow millionaires. Their fellow millionaires down south might also think blacks used to be better off or that gays are icky, or that their personal fortune stems from public piety, but they're all too cynical to be particularly religious, or to say or do things that would hurt their social standing.
Posted by: anon | Dec 26, 2013 3:47:48 PM
As Jack said 'we're in this for the long game'.
There was no short term swing in favor of Robertson. The 'free speech' war cry was debunked by EVERYONE including Faux and abandoned quicker than ever. The narrative was changed to 'religious liberty' quicker than Faux heads could turn and the battle was lost. Now they've got to try and find a way to excuse Robertson's racism.
That's what happens when you face up to bigots & racists. That's why we do it.
Jindal has gone into hiding, Palin admitted she never even read the article, other videos of Robertson 'preaching' hate have surfaced that clearly show him as not just 'quoting the Bible'. Rubio & Paul never even opened their mouths. Other than cracker Barrel letting profits determine their corporate stance on embracing hate this DD debacle has been huge neocon fail.
Posted by: SERIOUSLY | Dec 26, 2013 3:49:19 PM
Jaker, I don't think you're right-wing trolling, but I still think you're wrong. Phil Robertson and Duck Dynasty haven't won anything.
It just seems that way because their supporters are incredibly noisy. Every time an article about him is posted somewhere, like Bieber fans they all swarm those articles with hysterical comments. But like every passing fad, it will die down soon enough.
And no one's mind will have been changed.
Posted by: crispy | Dec 26, 2013 3:55:20 PM
@crispy. i might be wrong, wouldn't be the first time and i hope i am. just seems our support in polls will go down after this, while reigniting the fire on the right. it did after l'affaire prejean. question is how strong and for how long. regardless many moderates who we need on our side thinks glaad, and by extension, the lgbt community overplayed this. if we glaad and the left hadnt demanded suspension while also giving equal attention to the racial comments, i suspect the while situation would be vastly different.
Posted by: Jaker | Dec 26, 2013 4:49:44 PM
Jesse is right. He is just a bus driver. The media and right-wing made him to be the Governor of Alabama.
Posted by: simon | Dec 26, 2013 5:00:14 PM
As Houston's Mayor said, why are we still talking about this irrelevant redneck wingnut?
Posted by: simon | Dec 26, 2013 7:07:52 PM
@Jaker While the Right Wing were crowning Robertson their new hero, two more states approved Gay marriages and A Colorado football coach was also suspended for uttering an anti gay slur. No one is backing down on gay rights because of what a Palin or a Malkin say. They just make a lot of noise.
The same thing happened with Chick Fil A. When they had a whole bunch of people show up for their anti gay Chicken I saw many, many Right Wing commentaries stating this meant the end of progressives & that with this many people mobilized, they were sure to win the election. As you can see they were wrong then.
They're making no more headway with public opinions than they did then.
Personally, though, I'd be happy to never hear about ducks & dynasty ever again.
Posted by: m.r. | Dec 26, 2013 7:29:22 PM
How much longer will the Democrat and Black leadership, and Liberals, keep dumbing down their following?
Now Jesse Jackson joins GLAAD and Piers morgan in this exercise of misinformation. it seems that many in the Coalition and NAACP refuse to read. To what end ... this gawking gullibility?
And why equate the legitimacy of the Black civil rights movement to the illigitimacy of gay-rights-inspired political correctness and the suppression of free speech?
Since when does GLAAD, Piers Morgan or Jesse Jackson become "experts" on what Christians believe? And when and where they must speak? And how is it that they do not recognize other persons as "experts" on the personal and social destruction that homosexuality represents? The facts, truth, detail and evidence speak volumes!
We should refer everyone to "Sexual Politics and Scientific Logic: The Issue of Homosexuality"( http://www.kidhistory.org/homopolo.html ) by Dr. Charles Socarides. Together with the section called "Hiding Dirty Laundry" in the law review "Crafting Bi/Homosexual Youth" ( http://www.drjudithreisman.com/archives/regent.pdf ) by Dr. Judith Reisman, there is an irrefutable case for a stunning indictment of gay-activism and its "supporters". Reisman literally uses police reports to predict the inevitability of Carl Herold's and Charles Dunnavant's imprisonment and sexual moleststion of their son as reported in last Thursday's Huffington Post.
Molestation, it seems, defines untreated homosexuality, and police reports are completely ignored in pro-gay analyses! Piers Morgan and Jesse Jackson should BOTH give their bombast an outlet in assessing the law review "Child Molestation and the Homosexual Movement" ( http://www.regent.edu/acad/schlaw/student_life/studentorgs/lawreview/docs/issues/v14n2/Vol.%2014,%20No.%202,%203%20Baldwin.pdf )
Like Piers Morgan's tweets, and Jesse's crude insertion, the race-baiting words offered by the Human Rights Campaign are foolishness masquerading as scholarship.
In contrast to Jesse Jackson, at this time we should return to the words of Dr. Ben Carson at the National Prayer Breakfast in February 2013 ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFb6NU1giRA ) ). The political correctness being urged by Morgan and A&E is ... dangerous ... for America! Carson's were astonishingly wise words, and scholarship and debate should settle the issue here, not an inane pandering to gay-activist gibberish.
Now another solution also presents itself should A&E listen to Jesse Jackson's "demands". A&E has made or will make ... its "business decision" ... and we must now or must then make ours! A&E should, and must, now be placed on immediate and "indefinite hiatus" relative to our money, viewership and patronage. This is a
time-honored, legal and democratic response! Every Christian, and every freedom-loving American must now join this effort! Or else A&E ridicules us all ... and works like Piers Morgan from the audacious perspective that they are guaranteed our viewership and dollars without question or condition!
This is the arrogance and foolishness that fuels gay-rights activism and a complicit media! Now Jesse Jackson expects us to follow his opportunistic pandering. Every race benefits when freedom of expression is protected! And when political correctness is rejected!
Posted by: rogerwilliams | Dec 26, 2013 8:19:57 PM
At least Phil tells the truth unlike Jesse.
Posted by: Don Holz | Dec 26, 2013 8:29:41 PM