Michael ‘crab bucket’ Baisden attacks of Color of Change

November 12, 2007

What’s up fam,

Popular talk radio host Michael Baisden should be commended for his efforts raising attention to the Jena 6 but he foolishly squandered all that when he got involved in the same old crabs in a bucket mentality that consistently cripples the efforts of Black folk to do good. I can not put it better than Jack and Jill Politics, “For reasons that appear at best, self-serving, he and another DJ have gone on the attack against the laudable leadership Color of Change has shown in bringing needed attention to the plight of the Jena 6 families.” The SuperSpade enthusiastically supports the work of Color of Change because they have four characteristics that are sorely missing in traditional Black leadership model; principled, transparent, bold, and accountable. I challenge you to go to their site and tell me what you disagree with.

Color of Change explains how Marcus Jones - the father of Mychal Bell, one of the Jena 6 - was a guest on Michael Baisden’s syndicated radio show on Monday, November 5th. Marcus Jones and Michael Baisden used the occasion to attack and slander ColorOfChange.org and our executive director. Baisden continued to do so on November 6th. Both Baisden and Jones made several false and misleading statements which have raised the concern of many of our members.

From What about our Daughters, “Well apparently the Jena 6 families want the money to be used for purposes other than getting their children out of the clank and they collaborated with consummate attention whore and smutty book writer turned prognostitute and talk show “personality”, Michael “Baby Oil” Baisden to bite the hand that fed them. Better yet, they just bit off the hand of Color of Change completely. Listen to the audio of the calls. Micahel Bell’s Daddy ( the one who can’t stop his child from repeatedly violating parole), gets on the Michael Baisden show and says he doesn’t know WHO Color of Change is and then goes on to slander ALL Black activists online. Baisden goes on to call Color of Change “Shady.”

Of course this is before Baisden promotes his own fundraiser for the Jena 6, trying to raise $1 million dollars after all the legal fees have been taken care of. In other words, Baisden used Marcus Jones to prop-up himself as the only trusted source for donations. So then when Baisden gets called out for his BS, he puts out a half-ass apology in the form of a statement but there was no on-air apology clearing the name of Color of Change. You can’t attack an organization based off misinformation by your staff and then refuse to correct this wrong in the same spirit and medium it was originally made.

The bigger issue for me though is that I am trying to figure out why Marcus Jones would want to deny money that is being raised by Color of Change to cover the legal costs to get the Jena Six out of jail? I hate to be bitter but for real, how many people do you know that would get upset because OTHER people are raising money to help you with an expensive legal case? Marcus is upset because he doesn’t know them (Color of Change). SO WHAT!!! That can not be the real reason but I won’t speculate.

I will however, refer to Gina from What about our Daughters, (A fantastic blog btw.) writes and I concur,

Dear fellow diplomatic and tactful Black bloggers, I know that y’all want to temper your public outrage for fear of creating a chasm in some coalition you believe now exists as a result of the Jena 6, but let me make it plain as moi is prone to do. THIS WAS AN ATTACK ON BLACK ONLINE ACTIVISTS IN GENERAL. It was a calculated attack. Baisden worked on this attack for weeks and knew EXACTLY WHAT HE WAS DOING. Y’all can be all “We Are the World” if you want to, but it is what it is. Old media is terrified of Black bloggers. The Black Elite Establishment, of which smutty book writing Baisden wants to belong, views bloggers with suspicion and disdain and since I love hyperbole… they don’t have a problem destroying what they cannot control and they can’t control Black bloggers…Folks let’s move on. New Orleans is still in shambles, folks in Dunbar Village are still living in fear, a WHOLE BUNCH of Black folks are actually SITTING IN JAIL, and the Entertainment Industrial Complex is still cranking out multimedia crack aimed at destroying Black America. The Jena 6 and their families want a DIVORCE from the Black Blogosphere. Give it to them already!

Remember the Iron Rule: “Never do for others what they can do for themselves.” There ain’t nothing left for y’all to do for those families that they can’t do for themselves.

I founded a coalition of Black bloggers known as blacknetaction and there is another coalition known as Afrosphere. I am willing to bet that the majority of breaking Black news you digest was birthed from a Black blogger. When you see forwarded emails that have the subject line; ‘YOU WON’T BELIEVE THIS,’ those emails are inspired by Black bloggers who are not tied to corporate advertising dollars and can speak truth to power weeks and months before mainstream media would even think to cover the stories we write. Even Baisden has said on numerous occasions that he would not have known about Jena 6 were it not for Black bloggers. So here is a tip to any Black “leader” that decides to unfairly crap on Black bloggers, we talk.

Check out the letter Eddie Griffin wrote to Baisden.

Stay up fam,

Brandon Q.

Posted by Brandon Q.
Filed Under Issues and Politics
Tags: Activism, Black Issues, Media, Race

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One Response to “Michael ‘crab bucket’ Baisden attacks of Color of Change”

The SuperSpade » Article » Garlin’s interview on the Color of Change - Michael Baisden situation on November 15th, 2007 10:45 am

[...] stated our position here, and this interview was a chance to communicate it on another platform. The issue to me is about [...]

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