Dear Common Black Folk,
Debra Lee wants y'all off her front lawn. Apparently having all those Black church folks around is making her nervous and she's enlisted the members of the Black Elite Establishment to remove the huddled masses parading in front of her lawn. It seems that while Ms Lee likes to pipe in violence, misogyny, and general foolishness into your homes every day, she'd prefer to keep her home free of any working class Black folks who are concerned about their children because the neighbors are beginning to to ask questions. It is hard keeping up appearances when 500 indignant Black folk are circling your compound as if it is Jericho. I mean the first week you could pass it off as a family reunion. Week two, you could tell the neighbors you were having a garage sale, but my week three, the neighborhood association is beginning to ask questions.
Her sole rebuttal to the protesters appears to be "Meet the Faith" and the Sunday line up. One small problem, BET already tried this strategy and folks are not falling for it again. Didn't BET run Bobby Jones Gospel during the SIX YEARS they ran BET Uncut? The whole, we'll run multimedia crack Monday through Saturday and then redeem ourselves on Sunday strategy just ain't working this time.
Now Courtland Malloy, no less, stuck his head out from his ivory tower to call these African Americans exercising their First Amendment right to peaceably assemble and express themselves as the Taliban. and y'all accuse me of engaging in hyperbole.
Nice try, Reverend. But we call that kind of censorship "Taliban-ing." And it doesn't sit well with the spirit of the First Amendment, either.SOURCE
Apparently Mr. Malloy believes that the First Amendment only applies to him or Rappers calling us names and promoting violence, drugs and general foolishness . I mean aren't people constantly whining about a lack of civic participation? His opposition to a peaceful demonstration, DOESN'T SIT WELL WITH THE SPIRIT OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT EITHER!
Dr. Cornell West whispered his support to the protesters outside BET's CBC reception where Viacom got to ply African American politicians with drank and vittles, but again, he is worried about all those common Black folk outside her house.
Radio host Michael Baisden said he would be there front and center this past Saturday and then he backed out.... AFTER Debra Lee agreed to do his show. What a man of his word. Principled to the bitter end ( NOT!) Well at least Enough is Enough got a valuable lesson in whose word not to trust.
Even the CEO of Viacom decided to weigh in saying that these working class Black folks were "harassing one of [his] executives at her home."
The truth is that Courtland Malloy, Cornell West, Philipe Dauman and maybe even Michael Baisden are terrified that when these common Black folk get through circling Debbie Lee's house, they are going to break camp and roll on over to someone else's house.
Well everyday all over this country Black men, women, and children get harassed by Viacom's programming. If they aren't watching it, they have to deal with the foolishness created by those who do. The reason Debra Lee is frightened of all of these common Black folks outside her gated compound is because she is out of touch and thinks that working class Black folks are like the common criminals and thugs her network chooses to present to the world as representing Black America. Relax Debbie, these are church folk, not the violent sociopaths you like to feature on BET. They all prayed up before they get to your lawn. Maybe next week you ought to have drinks and refreshments waiting for them. Serve some hot cocoa when it starts to get cold. Hand out blankets. Maybe if you came out of your tower and talked to these people you would find that most Black people are hard working folks who love their families and want to do right.
Debra Lee is worried, but what she doesn't seem to grasp is SO ARE WE! WE'RE WORRIED TOO! Folks are worried about THEIR CHILDREN TOO! I mean you would have to be motivated to show up for a month to march around some rich lady's gated palace. They need to keep marching too because she still doesn't get it as evidenced by her public statements.
That's not to say I am not sympathetic to Debra Lee. It must suck to have your your neighbors' Saturday mornings interrupted by the huddled masses therefore I have some alternative protest locations:
Phillipe Dauman's country club ( Y'all know he belongs to one)
The Homes of each of the members of the Viacom Board of Directors.
The Homes of the CEO's of BET's Largest Advertisers ( Oh THAT Ought to be Awesome!)
BET's Television Upfronts
If those are the alternatives, I think Debbie is more than happy to have her people over to the house.
"I think this is unfortunate. . . . I'm used to getting input from our audience but I've never seen anything like this. I'm disappointed that this is the tactic they've chosen. It sets a very bad precedent." Debra Lee on the gathering of large numbers of Ze' Common Black Folk Outside of her mansion
Yes, you get information, but what do you do with it? Debra Lee is right, what is happening right now is unprecedented. That is the point. Other tactics were ignored by BET for years, but these new ones at least have caught BET's attention.
Here is a report from the most recent march yesterday from the Enough is Enough Campaign. I call SHADINESS on Michael Baisden. That was just foul and wish washy on his part:
Everything for our third rally went extremely well. Another 500 people were out with us. Many more neighbors in the neighborhood seemed to come out to find out what all the fuss was about. We gave them brochures to let them know why we were in their neighborhood. Rev. Coates was on the Michael Baisden Show twice this week (Monday and Friday) to talk about the campaign and our weekly rallies. On Tuesday, Baisden announced on air that he would be at yesterday's rally. By Thursday, however, he had changed his mind. He shared with Rev. Coates on air that he made an agreement with Debra Lee that if she came on his show, he would not rally outside her house. She was on the show on Thursday.
We were also joined by a bus from New York City. On October 13, we will start Enough Is Enough rallies in New York City at a SURPRISE location to be announced. Everyone in the NYC area should stay tuned. We realize that we haven't done a good job of getting video up of the last two rallies. We are going to work on this. Everyone in the DC area should come out and join us each Saturday at 1PM.
On Tuesday evening, we also had a great rally outside the BET reception for the Congressional Black Caucus at the OYA Restaurant & Lounge in DC. It was great!!! Many who attended expressed approval for the campaign (even if they won't or can't say so publicly). The artist Talib Kweli and Professor Cornel West came over to encourage the group to continue its efforts (although, Dr. West did express some concern about rallying outside Debra Lee's residence). BET has been using the location of the rallies to distract people from the real issue. They continue to ignore and avoid the issue of the content of their programming. In her Thursday interview with Michael Baisden, Ms. Lee avoided Baisden's challenge about the content on the network by commenting on the "new programming" they are unveiling on their Sunday schedule. In his Friday interview, Rev. Coates informed Baisden that no one has been complaining about BET's Sunday line up, and that she completely ignored the issue of the content and messages of many of the videos and programs they air during the week.
Again, we'll try to get more video up on the site of our weekly rallies. We do apologize. Spread The Word,
Enough Is Enough
Enough is Enough, shake the haters off and keep stepping. You at least have them talking about it.
