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The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of AllHipHop.com. This editorial originally appeared on www.yourblackworld.net.
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Here’s the deal: We have a serious problem with Don Lemon. Not that he was ever all that likeable in the past, but to us, he was just fine as another talking head on TV. But when he somehow decided to provide impromptu black social commentary, we became saddened and disgusted by the way he used his platform to spread half-truths about the black community. Don might be more equipped to criticize the gay or journalistic communities, but going after black people has become a fashion statement.
So, let’s be clear – Don Lemon needs to be fired from CNN. There have been a long line of black faces removed from the network in recent months, including Soledad O’Brien, Tony Harris, Roland Martin and TJ Holmes, yet the only black face that is regularly featured on the network is the guy who enjoys chopping off the heads of black people with a smile on his face. Sorry, but we just won’t stand for it. Don’s defense of the Stop & Frisk program, which has violated the civil rights of thousands of New Yorkers, was the straw that broke the Lemon’s back.
Here are 8 reasons that CNN needs to turn Lemon into lemonade and pour his sorry behind out into the street:
1) Because he just might be a racist: People think that you can’t be a racist when you’re black. But if you work for white people and use your blackness as a tool to oppress and attack people who look like you, you are akin to the Uncle Tom in Django Unchained who hated black people more than white people do. So, Don Lemon could likely be a mild mannered version of Samuel L. Jackson’s character.
2) Because he is being used as a token: If a white guy were to say the same things that Lemon has been saying, he would never be considered to be an objective journalist. But for some reason, people think that when Lemon opens his mouth, he is allowed to sport his “negro license” as a Get-out-of-jail-free card for any ignorant thing he might say. No white guy on CNN would ever dare to say the things that Lemon says on a weekly basis.
3) Because he has lost all credibility as an objective journalist: Whatever happened to the days when a journalist reported objective news? Lemon’s diatribes make him sound more like a less intelligent version of Rush Limbaugh than a CNN anchor. Maybe he should spend his time bashing gays the way he goes after blacks. Oh, that’s right…you can’t criticize gay people on CNN, at least not the way they go after blacks.
4) Because his analysis is simple-minded: Don Lemon analyzes race in ways that would make a third-grader blush. He rarely says anything truly insightful, it just comes off as a repetition of what people are saying on Fox News. Is that what CNN wants? A Fox News parrot?
5) Because he’s (ignorant) naïve enough to think that Stop and Frisk is a good policy: Don doesn’t back up his support for the ineffective program with actual data, just the meanderings of a confused black man. Stop and Frisk has been proven in one study after another to NOT be a deterrent to crime and only serves to increase the amount of terrorism that citizens must endure at the hands of the NYPD. But, for some reason, Don Lemon thinks the program is a good one.
6) Because he’s turned CNN into the Circus News Network: Sure, Lemon has gotten people talking, but at what expense? Anderson Cooper, another CNN brand from the gay community, has been consistent, fair, intelligent and reliable. Don Lemon has been consistently auditioning for a role on Def Comedy Jam. If we’re going to criticize the buffoonery that might appear in a Tyler Perry film, then we should also speak up about the educated buffoonery that sometimes occurs when talking heads yap about things they don’t understand.
7) Because he’s a hypocrite: Right after Don expressed his passionate support for the NYPD’s Stop and Frisk program, it was revealed that Don himself sued after being the victim of racial profiling. So, while Don is asking the black community to sit back and take it, he feels that respectable negroes like himself should not be followed around like a common “n***er.”
8) Because he is spending less time elevating CNN’s brand than his own: Does Don Lemon work for CNN or for himself? Are the network’s executives comfortable with Don ranting and raving on the air, infuriating millions of black people? Maybe Don should just stick with being a CNN anchor and stop trying to become an angry white man.
Dr. Boyce Watkins and Yvette Carnell are Senior Editors for the Your Black World Network. For more information, go to www.yourblackworld.net.