Michael James: CNN’s Van Jones Makes Same Mistake As Jussie Smollet
Michael James has spent more than 20 years in sports journalism as a general assignment reporter with the Detroit News, an NBA beat writer for the New York Daily News and as head writer for ESPN’s Quite Frankly With Stephen A. Smith. He has a blog called The Tribe Sports.
By Michael James
If only you had set aside your emotion and rage at all the things truly worthy of your ire in America today, and engaged your critical and analytical mind, you would have known something was off about the alleged attack on Jussie Smollett the moment you heard it.
And many of you did – as did I – but we were in the minority.
While it is true that all kinds of strange and incomprehensible crimes are possible, it never seemed realistic that a B-list, secondary character on Fox Television’s Empire would be attacked on one of the coldest nights in Chicago history in a crime that ticked all the right boxes – racism, homophobia and white nationalism.
Yet and still, Americans from all walks of life – blacks in particular – accepted this wild tale, hook, line and sinker. As did celebrities, athletes and politicians like Nancy Pelosi and 2020 presidential hopefuls Kamala Harris, Joe Biden and Cory Booker.
While the rest of the Windy City was barricaded behind warm closed doors, we were fed a tale of an assault at 2 a.m. by a pair of white Trump supporters who just happened to be carting around a noose, bleach and a MAGA hat, looking for a victim who fit the bill as tightly for their ill intent as Jussie Smollett.
Somehow, despite all the outlandish coincidences that needed to occur for this “crime” to actually happen, many suspended all disbelief, reasoning that in Trump’s America, this could plausibly happen.
Then, they took to Twitter and Facebook to vent their anger.
Even today, when apologies should be flowing like water in the aftermath of Smollett’s arrest for orchestrating the lie, some, like CNN’s Van Jones, are still engaging in ridiculous hyperbole.
In a roundtable discussion, Jones likened Smollet’s demise to the fall of an icon, the baseball player Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball’s color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
Historical Ignorance
In a stunning display of historical ignorance, Jones claimed that Smollet’s role on Empire as a beloved gay black character somehow made him an iconic figure to the black community – on par with the great Robinson.
It was a disgusting comparison which was equal only to the outrageous transgression of Smollett in believing that his hair-brained ruse would withstand the test of time.
In other words, Jones made the same mistake as Smollett: he overestimated Smollet’s importance.
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Posted: February 22nd, 2019 under News Story.
Tags: bleach, Chicago, jussie smollett, noose
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