Jim Brown

Ty Sat Dec 28, 2013 12:51 pm

I'm surprised no one had any thoughts on Jim Brown's comments on Kobe?

American Zombie Sat Dec 28, 2013 6:19 pm

I read about it..what's your take?

Ty Mon Dec 30, 2013 8:31 pm

“Jim was monstrous proud… and he got so he wouldn’t hardly notice the other niggers. Niggers would come miles to hear Jim tell about it, and he was more looked up to than any nigger in that country, Strange niggers would stand with their mouths open and look him all over, same as if he was a wonder. Niggers is always talking about witches in the dark by the kitchen fire; but whenever one was talking and letting on to know all about such things, Jim would happen in and say “Hm! What you know about witches?” and that nigger was corked up and had to take a back seat.

Mark Twain’s Adventure’s of Huck Finn

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The best way to judge a man is by his own actions and his own words. Consider Jim Brown's criticism of Kobe Bryant in the context of his own actions and comments through the years.

“I’m always amused when people say I am anti-white, when I moved to New York, instead of running into a racist world, I was embraced by a white community. Two of my biggest supporters and best friends ever are white men – Ed Walsh and Kenneth Malloy.”
“These men looked at me as much as a person as an athlete, They kept telling me to use sports to get an education. They told me I was smart, and to prove it, they gave me an IQ test. I scored high, and they said, ‘Look, that shows you can think.’ They convinced me to run for chief justice of the student body during my senior year.”
“I am skeptical of white men… because even the best of them want me to be patient, to follow Martin Luther King’s advice and turn the other cheek until God knows when.”

When quizzed on his plan for the Black Economic Union, ‘a venture launched in conjunction with Sidney Williams, the husband of Maxine Waters, with funds secured from the Ford Foundation,’ Brown's answer was

“The same goals other ethnic groups strove for in this country. The rich don’t socialize with the poor. The educated don’t socialize with the uneducated. So we want to be rich and educated.”

“America is education and economics. Set up a capital base of millions of dollars that can be controlled but with a special understanding of the needs of young entrepreneurs who have all the brainpower and can create opportunities for small businesses. Because without the ability to make loans, no community can come up. These guys are totally out of whack with progress. The doors have been opened to them and they’re not reaching back.”

“Our athletes are the most embarrassing collective group of individuals I have known since I’ve been alive,” Brown, rarely an adherent of tact, declared not so long ago. “They’re making their millions of dollars and making no real investment back into the community. And when I say, ‘investment,’ don’t go down there and say hello to the kids. Don’t go down there and visit hospitals and get your picture in the paper.

Jim's connection and sensitivity toward the black community included his backing of a venture called OG Nation Inc. The company actually promoted itself as an innovative lifestyle company dedicated to long-term success. Serving as President and Chairman of the Board was social activist Jim Brown. I found it laughable that Brown's social activism and pride didn't prevent him from promoting "OG Premium Malt Liquor," or a high grade spirits line called "Vendetta," or the "Thug Snack," line of pretzels, pork rinds and dips. Other OG Nation products included Atomic Dogg Energy Drink, Tycoon Formula and Swagger Replenishment. OG Nation Inc., later changed its name to the more respectable sounding Hall of Fame Beverages Company.

“I’m one of those niggers who ‘ought to be glad to be here.” “I make big money. I enjoy the fame and even adulation. My future is assured. Nevertheless, I am not thankful to be here, if anything, I am more angry than the Negro who can’t find work.”

Angry Jim speaks often about the 1967 conference he called which is most often portrayed as having been done in support of Muhammad Ali's decision to forgo the draft. The truth about that conference is the parties involved came together in an attempt to change Ali's mind. Brown's comments after the conference called Ali's true motives into question as many of the other conference participants announced their support of Ali's convictions Brown fed comments to the press stating cryptically that Ali's reasoning was based on something other than religious conviction.

Other Brown comments on Ali included the following.

“I have never been pressured to join the Black Muslim movement. Not by Clay, Herbert Muhammad, or anybody else. I have my religion and they have theirs. I don’t believe in the things Clay does and he doesn’t ask me to. I don’t ask him to along with my beliefs, and our relationship has been on a strictly business basis.”

“The Muslims are really a very peaceful people. They’re putting out pride and hard work. Malcolm X was not accurate in his explanation of the religion’s origins.”

When quizzed on this thoughts about the Black Economic Union and its failure to secure a role in the Ali-Frazier fight. “A sellout. And I don’t mean the box office kind. A lot of black people have been sold out. You can’t blame the gladiators. And you can’t blame the businessmen. Blame the money.”

“The yoke is mainly economic today. Our generation is pretty together, white and black. Prejudice is in its last generation. But, I feel like a lot of money is flowing out of the black community because we are known as quality buyers and not enough is flowing in. When that happens, what you get is a slum. We haven’t got enough expertise to stem the flow.”
“I’m backing a new housing project for minorities, two musical groups. ‘Friends of Distinction’ and ‘Earth, Wind and Fire.’ I’m trying to put together a production company. And I tried to get into the Ali-Frazier promotion, not for me, for our people.”

For all that Jim Brown claims to be he hasn't been particularly open about his assignment. The man Hollywood type casted as the Black Superman while he publicly pranced around the country with funds supplied by the Ford Foundation proclaiming his intent to "encourage faith based groups to invest in business and community investment corporations as a means of widening Negro participation in business." Seems one of the few things Brown has accomplished legitimately has remained obscured.

One of the few activities Brown stuck with but doesn’t recount much anymore are his military ties. “I spent four years in the ROTC while at Syracuse, and I was commissioned a second lieutenant. I put in my tour of duty at Ft. Benning, Georgia. And went on to complete four years in active reserve, coming out a captain. I feel my military activities speak for me on the subject of the draft and service to my country.”

The United States Army’s Officer Candidate School (OCS), located at Fort Benning, Georgia provided training to become a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army. Officer candidates were drawn from enlisted members, Warrant Officers, inter-service transfers, or civilian college graduates who enlisted for guaranteed attendance at OCS after the completion of Basic Combat Training (BCT). The rigorous 12-week course designed to train, assess, evaluate and develop second lieutenants for the U.S. Army’s sixteen basic branches. Completion of the OCS program was one of several methods available to become a commissioned Army officer.

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