Don Lemon from CNN gives advice to youths in the black community

[Josie]

[video]http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2013/07/27/nr-lemon-no-talking-points.cnn.html[/video]

Thank you, Don.

 

[opendebate]

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[video]http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2013/07/27/nr-lemon-no-talking-points.cnn.html[/video]

Thank you, Don.

That covers what they are responsible for now, what about the rest.

 

[Josie]

That covers what they are responsible for now, what about the rest.

What do you mean?

 

[CanadaJohn]

Good old boy, Uncle Tom Lemon - watch as he gets crucified.

 

[Josie]

Good old boy, Uncle Tom Lemon - watch as he gets crucified.

He already is. Don Lemon Fires Back At Critics,

 

[Josie]

Don Lemon ‏@DonLemonCNN 5h Kinda surprised the things my mom taught me in kindergarten r so controversial. Respect yourself & others. hmm. #CNN #NoTalkingPoints

Don Lemon ‏@DonLemonCNN 5h
dress nicely. use appropriate language. keep ur surroundings clean. go to school. be responsible, involved parents. That's offensive? SMH

Don Lemon ‏@DonLemonCNN 4h
#NoTalkingPoints was not about ending racism. Was about bettering oneself in spite of. ie, abused woman at some point has to leave abuser.

Don Lemon ‏@DonLemonCNN 4h
just so you know, i am not a victim. even when profiled & discriminated against, i don't look at myself as a victim. i use it as motivation.

Don Lemon ‏@DonLemonCNN 4h
FYI i didn't grow up rich, am product of unwed mother, dropped out of college, then realized i could be stuck or soar. i chose the latter.

 

[Medusa]

black usually have children out of wedlock because they dont pull up their pants

 

[Fisher]

I saw part of that when I was flipping channels. He explained what the symbolism was in having your pants hang low in prison. I think that was the part where he actually said damned as in "Pull up your damned pants." The profanity was what caught my attention.

 

[CanadaJohn]

He already is. Don Lemon Fires Back At Critics,

Didn't take long, and never does.

 

[opendebate]

What do you mean?

I mean that only addresses one side of the problem. Their communities are not in disarray because they haven't worked hard enough or taken enough responsibility, not completely anyway. You can't expect someone to pull up their pants if you're standing on their pant leg.

 

[Medusa]

I mean that only addresses one side of the problem. Their communities are not in disarray because they haven't worked hard enough or taken enough responsibility, not completely anyway. You can't expect someone to pull up their pants if you're standing on their pant leg.

any response to your comment may be " who is standing ?:lol:

 

[MaggieD]

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[video]http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2013/07/27/nr-lemon-no-talking-points.cnn.html[/video]

Thank you, Don.

Exactly. If people don't want to be judged thugs, then don't dress like them, don't talk like them, don't hang out like them. It's really pretty damned simple. If a 15-year-old doesn't know it, his parents should.

 

[Josie]

You can't expect someone to pull up their pants if you're standing on their pant leg.

Don Lemon's life and countless other black men's lives contradict that.

 

[opendebate]

Don Lemon's life and countless other black men's lives contradict that.

They are exceptions to the rule, not the rule. Just because a few people manage to beat the odds does not provide evidence that inequities don't exist. How many more would achieve this kind of success if they weren't saddled with disadvantage. Besides, what do you know about his life. He may have been raised by educated parents in a quaint suburban neighborhood.

 

[Josie]

They are exceptions to the rule, not the rule. Just because a few people manage to beat the odds does not provide evidence that inequities don't exist. How many more would achieve this kind of success if they weren't saddled with disadvantage. Besides, what do you know about his life. He may have been raised by educated parents in a quaint suburban neighborhood.

From his Twitter account:

Don Lemon ‏@DonLemonCNN 4h
FYI i didn't grow up rich, am product of unwed mother, dropped out of college, then realized i could be stuck or soar. i chose the latter.

There is also a huge population of white people that "don't pull their pants up", so to speak. This isn't a racial issue, it's a motivation and education issue.

Yes, some people are more disadvantaged than others, but that's how life is. Everyone has their struggles, not just black people. Everyone in America has the ability to pull their pants up. Everyone. And if someone is standing on your pant leg, kick them in the balls, pull 'em up and keep goin'.

 

[Superfly]

From his Twitter account:

Don Lemon ‏@DonLemonCNN 4h
FYI i didn't grow up rich, am product of unwed mother, dropped out of college, then realized i could be stuck or soar. i chose the latter.

There is also a huge population of white people that "don't pull their pants up", so to speak. This isn't a racial issue, it's a motivation and education issue.

Yes, some people are more disadvantaged than others, but that's how life is. Everyone has their struggles, not just black people. Everyone in America has the ability to pull their pants up. Everyone. And if someone is standing on your pant leg, kick them in the balls, pull 'em up and keep goin'.

Amen. There are no victims.

 

[LowDown]

They are exceptions to the rule, not the rule. Just because a few people manage to beat the odds does not provide evidence that inequities don't exist. How many more would achieve this kind of success if they weren't saddled with disadvantage. Besides, what do you know about his life. He may have been raised by educated parents in a quaint suburban neighborhood.

Meh. Excuses. How pathetic. You think black men as a whole have taken responsibility for improving the lot of young black men? Who is it that abandons them with their single mothers to live in poverty and deprivation and grow up unsupervised. Who is it that is murdering them?

White racism is the problem here? Really?

 

[Josie]

I grew up disadvantaged too. We were poor. I didn't want to be poor anymore, so I did well in school, didn't do drugs or drink, went to college, graduated with honors, got a job that just paid "meh", got promoted (more money) .... and I keep trying to better myself.

I could've just assumed I would amount to just being a waitress or a cashier and just let myself be poor. I chose to chase the American dream. And I have it. :shrug:

 

[opendebate]

From his Twitter account:

Don Lemon ‏@DonLemonCNN 4h
FYI i didn't grow up rich, am product of unwed mother, dropped out of college, then realized i could be stuck or soar. i chose the latter.

There is also a huge population of white people that "don't pull their pants up", so to speak. This isn't a racial issue, it's a motivation and education issue.

Yes, some people are more disadvantaged than others, but that's how life is. Everyone has their struggles, not just black people. Everyone in America has the ability to pull their pants up. Everyone. And if someone is standing on your pant leg, kick them in the balls, pull 'em up and keep goin'.

That whole nonsensical "pick yourself up and keep going" mentality is so antiquated and unrealistic I long for the day when people stop cramming that nonsense down the throats of people who's struggle they have NO understanding of.

Life IS hard, it is hard enough if you are white, and pretty and healthy and have a strong, healthy family and have money. You make the assertion, once again, that it is their failings alone that have created the problem and that many of them do not have it any harder than the rest of us and that is just ignorant. They have additional obstacles. THEY DO. We can look to them to do their part but we have to do our and get out their way and stop knocking them down. Take a look at inequities in our judicial system alone and think again.

 

[DiAnna]

I've always liked Don Lemon. He's a straight shooter (figuratively, since he's also openly gay) who doesn't mince words. I can appreciate the advice he gives to the black community. Bill Cosby has been saying the same thing for years.

I do not believe, as some here may, that Lemon was saying in any back-handed way that Trayvon Martin might be alive if he'd worn different clothing. He's acknowledging that young black men are being racially profiled, but they are nonetheless responsible for their own lives, their own efforts, their own future and they are not "victims" unless they allow themselves to be. He shared the mistakes he made... dropping out of school, basically giving up... by tell others not to make those mistakes, and to take responsibility for themselves and their future.

That's a good thing. Let's not use it out of context to Zimmtard those comments... that's all I'm asking.

 

[opendebate]

Meh. Excuses. How pathetic. You think black men as a whole have taken responsibility for improving the lot of young black men? Who is it that abandons them with their single mothers to live in poverty and deprivation and grow up unsupervised. Who is it that is murdering them?

White racism is the problem here? Really?

These are not excuses these are conditions. Real conditions. Do you feel this way about the women's movement? Pull your head out of the sand and stop trying to make things so simple, and realize that there is not ONE reason things are in the mess they are, there are many. Racism being one of them.

 

[Josie]

That whole nonsensical "pick yourself up and keep going" mentality is so antiquated and unrealistic I long for the day when people stop cramming that nonsense down the throats of people who's struggle they have NO understanding of.

Life IS hard, it is hard enough if you are white, and pretty and healthy and have a strong, healthy family and have money. You make the assertion, once again, that it is their failings alone that have created the problem and that many of them do not have it any harder than the rest of us and that is just ignorant. They have additional obstacles. THEY DO. We can look to them to do their part but we have to do our and get out their way and stop knocking them down. Take a look at inequities in our judicial system alone and think again.

Do you think most of the black people in prison are not guilty?

 

[opendebate]

I've always liked Don Lemon. He's a straight shooter (figuratively, since he's also openly gay) who doesn't mince words. I can appreciate the advice he gives to the black community. Bill Cosby has been saying the same thing for years.

I do not believe, as some here may, that Lemon was saying in any back-handed way that Trayvon Martin might be alive if he'd worn different clothing. He's acknowledging that young black men are being racially profiled, but they are nonetheless responsible for their own lives, their own efforts, their own future and they are not "victims" unless they allow themselves to be. He shared the mistakes he made... dropping out of school, basically giving up... by tell others not to make those mistakes, and to take responsibility for themselves and their future.

That's a good thing. Let's not use it out of context to Zimmtard those comments... that's all I'm asking.

I don't disagree with you. I am merely pointing out the the problem is multifaceted. It's like any other social problem. There many players in both the creation of and the solution to the problem.

 

[Josie]

I don't disagree with you. I am merely pointing out the the problem is multifaceted. It's like any other social problem. There many players in both the creation of and the solution to the problem.

Who is saying it isn't multifaceted? Most things in life are complex.

 

[DiAnna]

That whole nonsensical "pick yourself up and keep going" mentality is so antiquated and unrealistic I long for the day when people stop cramming that nonsense down the throats of people who's struggle they have NO understanding of.

Life IS hard, it is hard enough if you are white, and pretty and healthy and have a strong, healthy family and have money. You make the assertion, once again, that it is their failings alone that have created the problem and that many of them do not have it any harder than the rest of us and that is just ignorant. They have additional obstacles. THEY DO. We can look to them to do their part but we have to do our and get out their way and stop knocking them down. Take a look at inequities in our judicial system alone and think again.

Yes, many blacks do have additional obstacles. So do many hispanics, Asians and poor whites. Poverty is an obstacle that is color blind. Lemon came from poverty, raised by an unwed mother, and he's trying to tell young black men that even so it is possible to make better lives for themselves.

When I was a young woman back in the day, women weren't exactly chattel, but they were openly harassed sexually in the workplace, they were employed only in menial positions, paid less than men doing the same work, couldn't think of applying for a job in a "male" workplace, etc. We were in every way "victims" of institutionalized sex discrimination. Still, we fought for independence, fairness, changes in the laws, and things are much better for women now. Well, things are much better for blacks than they were back in the same day.

Perfect? No. More that needs to accomplish between the races... and the sexes, for that matter? Absolutely. We've a long way to go to bridge the racial divide in this country. Lemon's message to black youth and the black community that they have to take responsibility for their own future is a great message. He should be applauded for that.