This is disappointing. There have been persistent rumors that James Earl Jones had conservative leanings. But on a radio show this past Sunday, he admits that he spends a lot of time watching MSNBC and that he believes the Tea Party is racist.
JAMES EARL JONES: I think I have figured out the Tea Party I think I I do understand racism because I was taught to be one by my grandmother. My grandmother was part [tribal affiliation] Indian part black, she hated everybody and she taught all of her children and grandchildren to be racist to hate white people and to distrust black people.
DR CORNEL WEST: Who does she love then?
JAMES EARL JONES: Nobody
WEST: Nobody at all.
JAMES EARL JONES: But that allowed me to figure it out for myself. And I think I know what racism is better than anyone who has ever been a racist.
Jones searched his feelings and accuses people he doesn’t know and who are obviously motivated by fiscal issues, of being racists. Besides being intolerant, Jones’ take just doesn’t make a lick of sense.
Unrelated, but funny if you’re in the right mood: The Vader Sessions. Lines from other James Earl Jones movies dubbed into scenes from Star Wars. I can’t get through the scene on the bridge of the Death Star without laughing. Language warning, by the way.
Disappointing but not at all surprising. A self-admitted (yet curiously, non-reformed) racist accusing others of the same but without the first shred of evidence to back up his claim.
Sorry, James Earl, but you’ve permanently lost a fan.
How much evidence is necessary before it can be considered “the first shred”?
I’m only asking that rhetorically because, as I’ve found out since this started in 2009, no matter how many examples are presented (and the examples are plentiful) they are immediately dismissed.
Do attendees at Tea Party rallies with posters of President Obama as a cannibal with a bone through his nose qualify as racist? Of course not!
Would Inge Marler making the following “hilarious joke” at the annual rally of the Ozark Tea Party to APPLAUSE qualify?
“A black kid asks his mom, ‘Mama, what’s a democracy?’
“‘Well, son, that be when white folks work every day so us po’ folks can get all our benefits.’
“‘But mama, don’t the white folk get mad about that?’
“‘They sho do, son. They sho do. And that’s called racism.’”
Of course, that’s not a shred of evidence either!
What about the Tea Party of Hutchinson, Kansas who had a poster depicting President Obama as a skunk with the words “It is half black, half white, and almost everything it does, stinks”
Nothing racist about that!
Whether the vile, grotesque nature of the racist sentiment at Tea Party rallies actually doesn’t register with some of it’s members as “racist” or whether they just couldn’t care less that their disgisting racist bile is offensive, is hard to say.
But, what isn’t hard to say, is that no matter how many egregious examples are shown – time & time again – there will ALWAYS be those who say reflexively, “there’s not a shred of evidence”.
Just goes to show that actors aren’t any smarter than anyone else, and often are much, much dumber. Mr. Jones joins the ranks of Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee, and Chris Rock. I thought Mr. Jones had some class. Instead, he is as ignorant as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson and, dare I say it, Barack Obama.
Don’t forget Morgan Freeman. The guy who I thought had class when he told that silly lib reporter (when she asked what needed to be done about race relations), “Just don’t talk about it.”
Then he turned around and called people racists if they didn’t support obummer.
Don’t forget Morgan Freeman. The guy who I thought had class when he told that silly lib reporter (when she asked what needed to be done about race relations), “Just don’t talk about it.”
–
That “silly lib reporter” was Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes.
Jones, Freeman, Jackson and pretty much everyone else in Hollyweird is paid to recite lines written by someone else. If they look classy, macho, BMF, what-have-you on film it is not because they are like that in real life.
As Ordell Robbie might have said; “What happened to you, James? Yo’ @$$ used to be beautiful!”
WOW he is OFF MY WATCH list and list of great black men in USA- he has now joint the Crap Weasel List with Colin Powel, Danny Glover, Alec Baldwin, Clooney etc
Nothing more pathetic than an old broken down actor “speaking” his/her mind. They are a sad, bitter bunch even though they’re still way better off then most of the people they despise.
Jones joins Belafonte, Roseanne, Cher, Whoopie — and the list goes on.
If you are a conservative, you’re going to be called a racist no matter what. Don’t let it bother you. It’s an admission of failure on the part of the socialists. They can’t logically defeat your arguments so they’re relying on emotion to beat you. Be better than that. Focus on facts and logic. Make your case with a smile. They’re behaving like children – treat them as such.
Don’t just smile. Laugh at them. When I listen to them or read their rants I can’t help but laugh.
I didn’t think James Earl Jones would feel that way. I’m shocked. I liked his movie the one with the bookstore in it.
You have to give the benefit to older actors like Glover, and maybe Samuel L. Jackson because of the time period that they grew up in. I know James Earl Jones is probably older than those 2 but I did think he was different. Younger guys like Chris Rock or Spike Lee I can’t give that benefit to since they are younger.
Mr. Jones – I hope you read this article and all the comments that go with it.
You don’t know me from Adam – same for me pertaining to you – I only know you from your work. Having said that you feel free to call me a racist without one iota of knowledge about me. I’m a Tea Party supporter and I make no apologies for that and on that basis – and that alone in your opinion I’m a racist! FINE. You sir are – in my opinion a loud mouthed ignorant man. You see I know something you don’t – many people know me and none have ever accused me of being racist – even the ones of color. Your blanket statement is the hight of ignorance.
You know, there is a reason why there is the phrase “them there’s fighting words”.
I’m not sure I care to be in the same commonweal as James Earl Jones. One of us is going to have to lose and play no more role in American life, it would seem. I vote him, because he has already voted me.
Well, years of respect for Mr. Jones just flew out the window.
I still haven’t figured out how one can be racist against someone who is bi-racial.
Oh, I get it now… The white TEA Party members are racist to his black half, and the black TEA Party members are racist to his white half.
Isn’t that convenient for the left?
How too bad!!! I just got my own DVD copy of “Cry, the Beloved Country” with James Earl Jones and Richard Harris, a moving presentation of Alan Paton’s book on apartheid and healing in South Africa. Even though actors only SAY the lines given them, it’s hard to imagine someone putting in such a compelling performance could do so without gaining some depth of understanding of the human condition. Instead, Jones reveals himself in this interaction with Cornel West to be shallow as a mud puddle. Very disappointing.
Accusations of raaaaaaaaaaaaacism only come up when liberals lose the argument of why liberalism should even exist in a healthy democracy. Of course, the argument that liberalism should even be allowed to exist is unwinnable, so that’s why all liberals eventually play the raaaaaaaaaaaacism card.
By the progressive definition the tea parties ARE racist. Their definition of racism is any opinion that disagrees with the Afro-American leadership’s viewpoint. Therefore by that definition the tea parties are racist, although it escapes me why this is a bad thing or why they should care.
As someone else called him on another site: Thulsa Dumb.