Oprah Slammed For Comments That Blacks Lack Leadership
[su_right_ad]Oprah Winfrey is being targeted by protesters for comments she made to People magazine while promoting her movie “Selma”.
“I think it’s wonderful to march and to protest and it’s wonderful to see all across the country, people doing it,” she said in a video interview posted Thursday on the magazine’s Web site. “But what I’m looking for is some kind of leadership to come out of this to say, ‘This is what we want. This is what we want. This is what has to change, and these are the steps that we need to take to make these changes, and this is what we’re willing to do to get it.’ ”…
The sentiment provoked outrage from protest organizers, most of whom are young and who have purposefully embraced a diffuse, leaderless approach. They pushed back against the insinuation that they have not articulated any demands, and accused Winfrey of being out of touch and elitist — in typical fashion, using Twitter to convey their anger.
Once again a Black ‘celebrity’ shows just how out of touch they are. So, while @oprah searches for an outdated leadership model, #weworkin.
— BrownBlaze (@brownblaze) January 2, 2015
Once again a Black ‘celebrity’ shows just how out of touch they are. So, while @oprah searches for an outdated leadership model, #weworkin.
— BrownBlaze (@brownblaze) January 2, 2015
[su_thin_right_skyscraper_ad]The divide is not just about generational differences, but about tactics, with older activists emphasizing peaceful marches while the younger protesters preferring more confrontational actions, such as staging “die-ins” at shopping malls at the height of holiday shopping and blocking highways.
In the interview, Winfrey suggested that the protests that have unfolded in New York, Ferguson and elsewhere have so far lacked the disciplined strategy of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. “I think that what can be gleaned from our film, ‘Selma,’ is to really take note of the strategic intention required when you want real change,” she said.
crc3 January 3rd, 2015 at 10:52 am
Maybe Oprah should be that leader instead of making excuses? Just sayin’…
Mike Butkus Jr. January 3rd, 2015 at 11:45 am
Someone with a sense of humor goes a long way with me. Russell Brand is not only funny
but is very intelligent, insightful and in touch with his surroundings. He offers what people may think are radical ideas, like real change has to come from the people at the bottom not the top. Oprah needs to listen more and talk less http://youtu.be/rHjOfu3dJHk
Dwendt44 January 3rd, 2015 at 11:46 am
When Cosby was criticizing other blacks he was soundly slammed as well. Maybe some folks should listen instead of protesting.
eyelashviper January 3rd, 2015 at 12:00 pm
By such a comment, Oprah is obviously not listening.
The fact that so many people are protesting, without someone leading them, is a profound statement in itself.
rg9rts January 3rd, 2015 at 1:59 pm
Thats Cosby speaking
whatthe46 January 3rd, 2015 at 3:11 pm
sure sounds like it.
edmeyer_able January 3rd, 2015 at 2:46 pm
My goodness how can she discount Allen West and Ben Carson when they show so much charisma.
pic.twitter.com/FblgLMUaGl
Ron Jackson January 3rd, 2015 at 6:26 pm
It’s not up to this generation to recreate your childhood, They have to fight this round of the Civil rights movement in their own way
Ron Luce January 3rd, 2015 at 6:52 pm
With all due respect to Sharpton, Jackson and the Cornell Brooks, I agree with Oprah.
toncuz January 3rd, 2015 at 8:36 pm
As much as I ignore people who just talk instead of actually leading…Oprah is spot on. Mobs don’t strategize. Angry crowds DON’T THINK at all. It’s why the “occupy movement” affected nothing but traffic.
Mobs are all about the lynch-mob mentality. We’ve seen it at Ferguson. Before any real evidence was investigated or presented…the police mob immediately started defending one of their own AND the protester mob was convicting the officer. Both sides were acting completely stupid and acting on emotion.
A further case in point. The vast majority of Americans now side with the police according to polls. At first people were getting sick and tired of hearing about the police becoming more and more militarized…a real threat to democracy both progressives and conservatives agree on. Instead, we saw politicians trying to motivate the black vote by hyping race regardless that 250 white people are killed EACH year by police with nary an investigation let alone an indictment.
Race is not the issue. Bigotry…the mother of racism is everywhere. There’s just as much misogyny and homophobia in the black community as there is racism in southern white communities. A Hispanic acquaintance from South America told me to never confuse him with a Puerto Rican. My Russian girlfriend hated Ukrainians. My Ukrainian girlfriend hated Polish people.
The real problem in America is not racism, it’s bigotry. And the absolute WORSE problem of all, is not just bigotry. It’s CLASS-ism. And it’s been that way for centuries.
Ask OJ Simpson if his race got him convicted or did his money get him clever legal representation. Ask Bill Cosby if his race got him put in jail for rape or did his money protect him from justice. Ask any number of millionaire sports celebrities how their money gave them a pass as they shot people, beat up their wives or even raped people.
Ask GW Bush how he got into Yale or avoided combat during Vietnam like TENS OF THOUSANDS of other rich kids. The anti-war movement only took off AFTER the draft and rich kids began to come home in body bags.
There is no such thing as white privilege. There is only WEALTH PRIVILEGE. And as soon as we stop allowing certain politicians on the right AND left to continue to divide us on race…the wealth privilege will continue forever.
Martin Luther King would never have alienated 80% of white people with propaganda like “Black Lives Matter” slogans implying white lives don’t matter. He would be talking about police brutality against everyone. This is the way King got half his marchers to be white people…the majority…to effect change. Without those progressive white people, there would be no civil rights movement.
We don’t even hear about the heroism of white progressives who had much to lose in the apartheid America of 1960, since the “civil rights” movement has been hijacked by the worst of leadership. Either way…the only people that got motivated to vote last election…were Republicans. The “angry mob” strategy was a dumb strategy from day one.
Mike Butkus Jr. January 3rd, 2015 at 10:10 pm
“It’s CLASS-ism” I say absolutely correct! I also say there is still a big issue with the militarizing of our police force. I believe this is one way to get around “The Posse Comitatus Act.
The Posse Comitatus Act is the United States federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1385, original at 20 Stat. 152) that was passed on June 18, 1878, after the end of Reconstruction and was updated in 1981. The purpose of the act (in concert with the Insurrection Act of 1807) is to limit the powers of Federal government in using federal military personnel to enforce the state laws.
The Act does not apply to the National Guard under state authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within its home state or in an adjacent state if invited by that state’s governor. The United States Coast Guard, which operates under the Department of Homeland Security, is not covered by the Posse Comitatus Act either, primarily because although the Coast Guard is an armed service, it also has both a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency mission. While the Act does not explicitly mention the naval services (United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps), the Department of the Navy has prescribed regulations that are generally construed to give the Act force with respect to those services as well