Monday, July 12th, 2010 at 9:00 am  |  57 responses

Jesse Jackson Has an Opinion on the LeBron/Gilbert Mess

Sigh. Jackson introduces the slavery card in the Gilbert letter fiasco following LeBron’s departure from Cleveland: “Jesse Jackson criticized Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert on Sunday, saying Gilbert sees LeBron James as a ‘runaway slave’ and that the owner’s comments after the free-agent forward decided to join the Miami Heat put the player in danger. Jackson said Gilbert’s comments were ‘mean, arrogant and presumptuous. He speaks as an owner of LeBron and not the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers,’ the reverend said in a release from his Chicago-based civil rights group, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. ‘His feelings of betrayal personify a slave master mentality. He sees LeBron as a runaway slave. This is an owner employee relationship — between business partners — and LeBron honored his contract.”‘

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  • JTaylor21

    You guys need to stop with all the bible talk. There’s a time and place for everything. Also eboy is right on everything he said, remember that he said that jesse was using it as a reference point not saying that lebron was a slave. BETCATS stop acting like you know what slavery was like. reading books and watching roots doesn’t mean you know what really happend.

  • Mr. Robinson

    Philosopher wins. The people who ran the temple were political.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Nobody knows how Gilbert feels about black folks. That’s speculation. I understand why Jesse made the speculation, but it really is just based on Jesse’s opinions of white folks. He can’t “prove” it was a master slave thing.
    That said, Gilbert didn’t just behave like a jilted boss. Jilted bosses don’t write long missives blasting former employees in public forums where they call them names and impugne their characters.
    In the “real world” that gets you sued, particularly when you’re foundation is as shaky as the one Gilbert built his argument on. In the “real world” former bosses are scared to evne give their employees bad reviews when they move on for fear of a lawsuit. That’s the “real world.”
    Gilbert did this to protect his business, as several folks mentioned.
    Jesse made his statement to protect his business.
    Lebron made his decision to protect his business.
    It’s all about business with all of these cats, and if they say anything else, it’s a freaking lie.
    Oh, and while I respect BETCATS, bring up racism isnt’ what’s making people racist. That’s another smokescreen.
    People believe what they want to believe because that’s what they want to believe. Certain folks have been claiming that racism and discrimination were myths since the 1960s, check out what Tim Wise rights about studies done at the time.
    Jesse doesn’t make anybody less likely to believe black folks with legitimate complaints of racism or discrimination. That’s just the excuse people give to justify the choice they want to make.

  • http://www.kb24.com The Seed

    Philosopher
    I respect your opinion to
    In Mark,Jesus was talking to scribes and cheif priests,not policticans, but I see you feel that these people were policticans. I see it differently, also I did not call you a racist, I said Jesse is a racist, you must of took it the wrong way. Jesse has views from his childhood he needs to let go and forgive people. Jesse uses race as his major platform, which digusts me, this is not about race. Gilbert is man, so if its the other way around, people would not say its racist. I done on this weak topic and Jesse needs to get himself together and PUSH forward.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    excuse my many typos

  • The Philosopher

    @The Seed:
    I wholly apologize for thinking you called me a racist. I must have indeed taken your statement the wrong way.
    I respect your views about The Bible, also.

  • http://theurbangriot.com The Nupe

    It bothers me that Jesse used the slavery card in saying that Gilbert acted like he owns lebron not the Cavs. I think Gilbert would have acted similarly if LBJ was white. I just don’t think that Gilbert was seeing any color other than the green money that he’s not going to be receiving next year and can take his team from one of the few that was making money to one that looses money. Honestly I’d be pissed too if I were Gilbert. Jesse brings up the question of if LeBron did quit in the playoffs and was such a pain, why did Gilbert want him back? I think the simple answer is money. Despite any ‘negatives’ that Gilbert had about LBJ, the money he earned by having LBJ on his team was worth it. With all that said, I do agree with Jesse that Gilbert should provide an apology to LeBron. As dissapointed as I’m sure he was to learn of LeBron’s decision and to realize he was about to lose so much money, I understand the feelings of anger and betrayl, however that’s no excuse to be so unprofessional and make public statements about quitting on the team when you can’t prove it.

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