The Atlantic - Latest Comments in Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

Re: Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

andrea — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:13:25 -0000

Perhaps Juan Williams and Fox know this will generate publicity, all the better for their viewership. And it should help bring in conservatives for a group therapy session. We should tun our collective backs on this mindless blather, or call for a boycott of the show.

Re: Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

Juhudi Tolbert — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:45:57 -0000

Harry Truman had it right when he threatened to punch a piano critic in the nose! Williams needs to take a long walk off a short pier.

Re: Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

Colette — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:17:54 -0000

Apologies if I missed the explanation somewhere else, but I cannot for the life of me figure out where the "angry" part in the Angry Black Woman characterization of Michelle came from. I've never - not once - heard or read of her saying something that even hinted at anger, victimization (real or faux), or resentment. What have I missed? The Stokely Carmichael thing is so far removed from the reality of her public persona that I would have assumed it was a joke if I hadn't watch the JW video. The only thing I can think of is that "proud of my country for the first time" statement, but whatever one's take on that (and I thought TNC unpacked it pretty well), it didn't sound angry. Can anybody explain this? Or do these clowns think that "angry" is just part of the phrase "black woman" in the same way that "male" goes with "chauvinist pig" and "commie" prefaces "pinko bastard"?

Re: Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

texascowgirl — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:39:20 -0000

"Keep your forked tongue behind you teeth. I have not passed through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a witless worm.

I would stay still, if I were you..."

Beautiful, just beautiful.

Re: Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

Xanthippas — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:32:04 -0000

That is the most awesomely appropriate quoting of Gandalf I've ever seen.

Seriously, what is Juan Williams' deal?

Love her or hate her, Hillary Clinton is a lousy choice for a cautionary tale about the dire fate that awaits a woman who's too aggressive.

Also awesome.

Re: Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

stonetools — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:28:51 -0000

Hey, its a black man trying to make money by saying what his pay masters want him to say, so what's new?

Here is my take. Juan Williams is out there reinforcing the meme that MO is some black militant mamma because that's how he makes money. We've got to bust his chops for that.

OTOH, these so-called gangsta rappers are out there reinforcing the meme that black women are all hos and bitches because that's how THEY get paid. We've got to bust THEIR chops for that too.

Either way, because JW won't stop talking and the gangsta rappers won't stop rapping, we will all have plenty of chops busting to do in future.

Re: Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

CitizenE — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:38:04 -0000

Obtusity, so what else is new. Apparently Mr. Williams has a poor track record with women, a fundamental lack of judgment in speaking to or about them, which he has veiled with a critique of popular music. But there's also this so called post racial attitude that any gripes Michelle Obama might have with America are subversive. It might be so, after all Joseph Lowery suggesting that red people ought to get ahead and whites embrace right seemed to set off the closet cucumber sandwich eating mentality. Stokely Carmichael? CORE? SNCC? Freedom rider? Husband of the recently mourned world wide Miriam Makeba? Of course, there is nothing in Michelle Obama's bio that is anything like that, but it also shows how far to the right America has drifted when a liberal like Williams marginalizes and takes out of context the whole fabric and feeling of the 60s and 70s in which Carmichael often was a heroic figure.

Re: Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

osmond — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 08:28:48 -0000

I was just over at JJP and some of the postes said Juan was on Tom Joyner talking to Roland Martin and Juan was simply trying to protect her from the vibe she gives off and keep her from making that mistake. Ha yeah right

Re: Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

lever — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 08:05:37 -0000

Mr. Coates: I certainly appreciate your blogging on this. However, I submit that you male pundits speak directly to J.W. He is a misogynist who has long specialized in hatred of Black women and has been too long propped up by others as a positive role model, simply because he is not a felon and has a job. I submit that Black male pundits who care about Black women -- because all seem to care dearly about each other/Black men, who hand out free passes to each other left and right for all sorts of tomfoolery -- need to speak directly, harshly, definitely, and unapologetically to him. Don't stick around in the hazy, shadowed safety of "Amen Corners," i.e., blogs and barbershops. Perhaps, heretofore, culture and code has required Black male pundits (I wouldn't know; I'm merely curious) to be silent, given America's history of racial discrimination and violence. However, given the relative privilege of the actors involved today (pundits, J.W.), I wonder why there is a dearth of Black male pundits to speak in tones of outrage? Thank you.

Re: Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

Persia — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 07:44:25 -0000

C'mon, man. This is beneath you, right?

Funny, I was thinking the same thing of Juan Williams. And it's nice to know the First Lady can get slapped in the face on national television and someone will call it 'boring.'

Re: Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

deep*3000 — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 07:33:34 -0000

I haven't been checking in on the blog in a while, but you're winning me back, TNC.

As for JW: you sonned him.

Re: Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

Evan — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 05:21:52 -0000

Women can be deeply frightening, in a way. I think Juan Williams is speaking from a position of deep fear for what Michelle represents. I've had some ignorant friends before and watched them sucker girl after girl who didn't know better until one day they go after the type that does, and i've seen how it changes them. They do their dance and that girl sees right through them and they know the jig is up. These are men who date weak women, and I don't want to insinuate that Williams' partner, whoever they may be, is weak but that this is what comes to mind when I read stuff like this.

When you see the type of girl that you know would tear you up (figuratively), you just can't react like Williams does cause that makes you a sissy.

Re: Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

S.O.L. — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 02:23:48 -0000

I just can't stand Williams' holier than thou pronouncements. He's not interested in having a dialogue, he just wants us to bask in the World According to Juan Williams. Like he knows better than the rest of us. Boring.

Re: Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

nick t — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:05:53 -0000

Thinking it over, Juan Williams is Clarence Thomas, but without the law degree and the charm.

Re: Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

Dawn — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:58:34 -0000

"Her husband is now the most powerful man on the planet, and arguably the most powerful black man in history."

Arguably? I'm guessing Jesus, Moses and Ramses are the only others in contention.

Re: Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

Kuros — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:21:45 -0000

TNC,

Didn't you make us a promise last week that you weren't going to get all riled up by the noise on the network hooplah?

C'mon, man. This is beneath you, right? Well, I don't know. But more importantly, this Juan Williams stuff is boring. Neither does any of this help me understand anything.

Re: Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

Josephine — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:06:40 -0000

In response to Mr. Juan Williams and his latest verbal barrage I say the following:

I am of the humble opinion that First Lady Michelle Obama has made such a postive impression on the WORLD stage during this 2 year campaign process culminating with the Inguaration last week that Fox News had to crank up the propaganda machine. The entire CELEBRATION last week has frightened them. How could it be that America have young, intelligent, family oriented, respectful representatives (President and First Lady Obama) with world wide support, hope and optimism for America to rise again to it's once illustrious standing? Oh and did I mention they happen to be African American.

So what do they do, they use Juan Williams (a man of color) to attempt to demean and denigrate The First Family (people of color) by informing the uninformed that his wife, First Lady Michelle Obama, is some type of RADICAL & ANGRY African American woman by linking her to a Black Power historical figure. They are using a parsed statement {"really proud"} from a speech First Lady Obama was giving while campaigning to suggest she is some time of ticking RACIAL TIME bomb and that she is not really an asset to her husband, America, and the world at large. Once again Fox News is attempting to open up a cultural war from the sixties in America; affable Blacks (Juan Williams and President Obama) versus radical Blacks (alledgedly First Lady Obama); while simultaneously playing divide and conquer between a Black husband and wife. Moreover, it is obvious to anyone with eyes that The Obama Family (Husband, Wife and Daughters) possesses strength in each other. What is the best way to marginalize that power, attack the foundation of the family, the wife and mother. This is so "old school", one would have to go back to the Southern Plantation to reference it.

Mr. Williams, I am happy to say that your preposterous, pretense will NOT precipitate the response from President Obama and First Lady Obama that Fox News is paying you for! Furthermore, those individuals who believe that your politically negative punditry has merit and watch you daily, are lost causes anyway.

Juan Williams and Fox News need to stop with the lies and feigned outrage. Mrs. Obama is a first rate scholar, attorney, community advocate, mother, wife and daughter. The rest of the world

Re: Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

blackink — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:03:09 -0000

That was gorgeous. The link to the NY Times short was a stroke of brilliance. TNC, you just killed Juan Williams. Out in the street, they call it murder.

Re: Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

Tessa — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:49:58 -0000

"But when people talk about Michelle like this, they're talking about this universe of brilliant, accomplished black women who never seem to get their due. They're talking about the women I know; my mother, my aunts, my cousins. And it makes me furious."

Moreover, it's an insult to all women. This kind of behavior is really getting old. Pundits and politicians said the same kind of shit about Hillary. If you're a successful woman and you do more than sit quietly with your hands folded in your lap, some men see you as a liability---you're downright dangerous!---and you need to be silenced:

"She's got this Stokely Carmichael-in-a-designer-dress thing going. If she starts talking..."

He could have stopped there. We ladies understand where's he headed: Keep your mouth shut. The weird thing is, I bet you anything Juan Williams is married to a woman who is a lot like Michelle...smart and successful. So why this behavior? It bugs.

Re: Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

Wareq — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:34:24 -0000

Don't you mean "shit was SO cash"?

Re: Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

josh — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:32:45 -0000

@Lynn Gazis-Sax

Amen. Best Hillary comment ever.

Re: Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

Persia — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:17:42 -0000

Shoo, ken, the grown-ups are talking.

Yay for the New Yorker piece, and so much love for the takedown, Ta-Nehisi.

Re: Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

ken — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:08:52 -0000

Deleted. You've stumbled on to the wrong blog. If you want to contribute something, I'm all ears. If you just want to tell me how much you hate hip-hop, I'm simply bored, and would ask you to keep walking. Its just not that interesting.

Re: Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

Chris L. — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:39:46 -0000

Sorry if I screwed up the HTML,so I'll play it straight: http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2009/02/02/090202ta_talk_coates

Re: Juan Williams is a gangsta rapper

Ofay McCrackerson — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:39:18 -0000

Um.... I really have no idea what the fuck Juan is rambling about, but I don't see how he is calling her a bitch at all. Like, he seems to be saying that Michelle needs to avoid anything like a repeat of the "first time in my adult life," comment, which is kind of true. Obviously, he is going overboard in his comparison to Carmichael , but I don't see how that is an insult to black women everywhere.