| Author |
Message |
    
Roxie
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Roxie
Post Number: 816
Registered: 06-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, April 30, 2006 - 09:59 am: | 
|
USATODAY.com
From BET to hotels to banking, Johnson keeps moving forward
Wednesday April 12, 12:38 am ET
BET founder Robert Louis Johnson is calling the next phase of his career his "second act." If it's anything like the first, it'll be worth tuning in.
Johnson, who became the nation's first African-American billionaire when he sold the BET media empire for $3 billion to media giant Viacom in 2000, has made a number of big purchases in the past few years, seeking out areas of the economy that have largely been untapped by African-Americans.
He's now the biggest black hotelier in the country. He's started hedge and private equity funds to invest in businesses and to provide investment vehicles for pension funds and others.
And in 2002 he became the first African-American to wholly own a professional sports team when he bought the NBA franchise in Charlotte.
Johnson, who left BET in January and now owns RLJ Cos., announced last month that he is starting a bank. Urban Trust Bank will be geared mainly toward African-Americans and other minorities, providing mortgages, investment opportunities, student loans and other banking options.
Johnson, 60, the great-grandson of a freed slave, says his success has helped open doors for other minorities. Yet he makes no apologies that his main focus is building the bottom line.
"I'm in business to make money," says Johnson in a wide-ranging interview in his new offices in this Washington, D.C., suburb. "You can do well and do good. But at first, you have to focus on the blocking and tackling of running a good business."
That attitude has made Johnson an overwhelming business success. When he took BET public, it was the first black-owned company on the New York Stock Exchange.
But his stance has frustrated and angered some African-Americans, such as Raleigh, N.C., News & Observer newspaper columnist Barry Saunders, who say Johnson flourished by selling low-cost programming that focused on sex and violence rather than quality shows that explored more enriching areas of black culture. "His history of exploiting African-Americans means he is going to have to prove himself," Saunders says.
Johnson, who goes by Bob, says he never started BET to be anything more than a money-making entertainment channel. "I never really embraced that notion that BET was an heirloom that belonged to the greater black society," Johnson says. "BET was a business that had a great impact on African-American society, but it didn't belong to it. And so, my thing is that we want to contribute, we want to add value. But we have to operate according to the philosophy that you have to exist in a world where business decisions have to be made based on business, not on political notions or social agendas."
Says friend and Essence magazine founder Edward Lewis: "He's living the absolute American dream. ... He's a quintessential American who happens to be black."
As visitors walk in, Johnson is fumbling with the TV remote that controls the three flat-panel TVs in his earth-tone office. He finally finds what he is looking for: a spring-training baseball game between the Atlanta Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals. The other TVs are tuned to NBC and CNBC.
Johnson, dressed in a black suit with white pinstripes and wearing a black-and-white checked tie, casually sits on a leather couch in his office that is so new the carpet still has that straight-from-the-factory smell. Pictures of his two children, Paige and Brett, adorn his clutter-free desk that has a nameplate from the Charlotte Bobcats reading "Bob Johnson."
Modest origins
The nameplate seems a bit out of place. After all, there's no question that Johnson, although somewhat unassuming, doesn't need to identify himself here. This is, after all, his empire.
That's a far cry from Johnson's modest upbringing.
Johnson was born in Hickory, Miss., the ninth of 10 children to Edna and Archie. His family soon moved to Freeport, Ill., where Johnson grew up and his dad worked at the local battery factory. It was in Illinois where he had his first job, delivering the Rockford Morning Star when he was 10 or 11 years old.
"I failed miserably," Johnson says. "I couldn't get up in the morning. Still can't."
Johnson says growing up in such a large family taught him a key lesson early on.
"I knew that if we had a box of cookies in the house, you made sure you got yours fast," he says, laughing. "What it did is it made you make decisions quick. ... If you talk to anyone from a large family, the tendency is you want to chart your own course, because otherwise how would you get recognized?"
Johnson became the first member of his family to go to college, graduating from the University of Illinois with a degree in social studies in 1968. In 1972, he received a master's from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
He soon moved to Washington, D.C., and after a stint on Capitol Hill, he became a lobbyist for the National Cable Television Association, since renamed the National Cable & Telecommunications Association. After accompanying a businessman with an idea to start a channel devoted to the elderly, Johnson came up with his own plan to start a channel geared toward African-Americans.
He had $15,000, but needed $500,000 more. He turned to John Malone, then with Tele-Communications Inc. cable company and now chairman of Liberty Media. Malone agreed to a part-loan, part-equity deal, giving Johnson the money he needed to start BET.
"The concept was a good concept," Malone says. "We rapidly saw that Bob ... was trustworthy, (financially) conservative, not in it for a quick buck."
BET, originally Black Entertainment Television, hit the airwaves in 1980, at first just a few hours a day. After struggling for several years, BET began to focus primarily on showing music videos gladly given to BET from the music labels to promote their artists. BET quickly became a hit. About 364,000 households watch BET every day, according to Nielsen Media Research.
'E' for entertainment
Johnson expanded the brand to include magazines, radio, books and a variety of TV channels, and eventually took the company public. But even after all the wealth and prestige, Johnson faced racism. Malone says he once saw Johnson mistaken for a chauffeur at a meeting of cable executives.
"There is an inherent lack of belief or lack of trust ... and he had to overcome that," Malone said.
Johnson's critics dogged him.
BET was criticized for concentrating on music videos that were too violent and sexual. Comedians protested that Johnson paid below-market rates to those who appeared on his channel.
In a 2002 piece that has been widely quoted since, Saunders, the Raleigh News & Observer columnist, compared BET programming to crack cocaine. "He has to do a whole lot to make up for what he did with BET," Saunders says. "There is a whole lot about Bob Johnson to admire: his persistence and his ambition and what he's accomplished. But the way he accomplished it, going for the cheap goods, that is always going to taint his image."
Such criticism did not deter Johnson, who points out that the "E" in BET stands for entertainment.
Ed Gordon, who was an anchor at BET and hosted BET Tonight, says he sometimes clashed with Johnson about content but says Johnson was often held to a higher standard than someone who was white. And he says Johnson made some good moves he doesn't get credit for, such as covering the Million Man March live in October 1995 despite the risk of getting heat from advertisers for breaking away from the typical entertainment programming.
"Bob Johnson doesn't come out of his BET era unscathed," says Gordon, who is now a host on NPR. "Did he make mistakes? Absolutely. Could he have done perhaps a better job with programming? Definitely. But is he an American icon, business leader, hero? Absolutely."
New business ventures
In 2000, Johnson sold BET for $3 billion to Viacom, the biggest deal to involve a black-owned company.
"It was bittersweet," says Jim Winston, executive director of the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters. He says that although blacks were proud that Johnson's company commanded such a huge price tag, they were disappointed to see it sold to a white-owned company.
While he stayed at BET until January, Johnson was rapidly getting involved in a variety of other businesses. Even though Johnson defends BET by saying financial decisions should be divorced from social concerns, his new business ventures are based, in part, on convincing universities, state pension funds and others that they need to be racially inclusive.
"State pension funds get their money from teachers, firemen, policemen; many of those people are African-American. And those same African-Americans have worked their way, have sent their sons and daughters to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Wharton," says Johnson.
With a money-management team that includes many of these smart black professionals, Johnson has a simple question for institutions with large portfolios to manage: "How can you tell them they can't do it?"
At the same time Johnson was making changes in his professional life, he experienced turmoil in his personal life, with a divorce from his wife, Sheila Johnson, whom he met in college. The two were married for more than 30 years.
She has used the large settlement from the divorce to start her own business ventures, including a proposed hotel and spa near her home in Virginia horse country. She has also started a charitable foundation and is part-owner of the Washington Mystics women's professional basketball team.
Building a sports franchise
Robert Johnson's foray into professional sports is a work in progress. The Charlotte Bobcats, hit by a rash of injuries this season, have one of the worst records in the NBA this year. In an effort to boost attendance, Johnson has announced that he will reduce many season ticket prices for the 2006-07 season. RLJ officials call the moves normal growing pains of any new franchise, particularly one in a new arena with no pricing history.
Johnson also may be battling public skepticism, given that the previous owner of the Charlotte franchise moved the team to New Orleans despite high attendance.
"He went into a place with a more of a 'wait-and-see attitude' than he might have met in a city without an NBA history," says NBA Commissioner David Stern, calling Johnson a great owner who understands the community, entertainment and product branding.
Johnson, while not offering a financial forecast, predicts that the Bobcats will be a playoff contender within a couple of years and says the team provides a host of intangible benefits - including keeping his name recognition high. In the end, he's not worried about profitability.
"No one has ever lost money on an NBA franchise, and I don't think anybody ever will. There are only 30 of them, and there will always be a greater fool out there looking to buy," Johnson says.
In his latest move, Johnson last month announced he was buying controlling interest in a tiny Florida savings and loan. Metro Bank FSB lost money last year, but it is attractive given its Florida location and national charter, allowing for expansion. Johnson renamed it Urban Trust Bank, will keep the Orlando location and open a branch in downtown Washington by fall.
Some analysts see long-term potential. Assets at minority-owned banks rose 14% in 2004, compared with 11% for all federally insured lenders, according to Creative Investment Research, a Minneapolis-based firm. But the expansion in minority banking was driven largely by growth at Hispanic banks. African-American income and asset growth has been stagnant, according to Federal Reserve data.
"This is Bob Johnson. It's not like this guy doesn't have a track record of excellent strategy in ethnic submarkets. You've got to respect that," says William Cunningham, CEO of Creative Investment Research.
While the bank is focused on minorities, Johnson plans to market to a broad cross-section of urban dwellers. "Urban used to be a code word for black. It's no longer a code word for black. Urban now means people who want to have an urban lifestyle," Johnson says.
But Johnson and Dwight Bush, CEO of Urban Trust, say they're particularly interested in helping increase the minority homeownership rate, which lags severely behind that of whites. They plan products from market rate to higher-cost, so-called subprime, loans to individuals with poor or no credit. Bush said the bank also plans to use alternative indicators of credit, aside from credit bureau scores, such as history of paying rent or utility bills, to cover more people. There have been discussions about branches at Wal-Mart or other stores and student loans.
Frank Hanna Jr., a millionaire businessman from Atlanta who had owned Metro Bank since 2003, has a share of the new bank, probably about 30%, Hanna says. Hanna says he will also sit on the board of the bank's holding company.
Hanna and Johnson, who met through mutual friends, had been talking for several years about a joint project, including a possible venture-capital firm. After Johnson's efforts to buy a separate minority-owned bank failed, Hanna suggested the Metro Bank deal.
"That's when we decided it would be a good idea to be partners," says Hanna, who says he is impressed with Johnson's "integrity and vision."
Hanna, who founded the debt-collection agency Nationwide Credit, now runs his own investment firm and is acquisitions director for Paladin Capital, a venture-capital fund set up shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks to invest in homeland-security-related companies.
Why not?
Those who know Johnson say they are not surprised he has chosen to continue to expand his fortune rather than take his money and fade away.
"That's Bob," says Winston of the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, who has known Johnson since his days as a lobbyist and says he should be admired for training talented African-Americans in business.
"He's always been looking for the next big deal," he says. "And I suspect he always will be."
Says Johnson: "The imperative is almost why not? It's not why should you do it, it is that it's there. It's probably the same thing that motivates people to climb high mountains or to try to break the world's record in a balloon. It's there, I think I can do it, why not?"
-------------------------------------------------
May I point out a quote from Johnson:
"I never really embraced that notion that BET was an heirloom that belonged to the greater black society,"
|
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 446
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: 
Votes: 5 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, April 30, 2006 - 10:47 am: |
|
I applaud Mr. Johnson's unprecedented success. He started with nothing and now he's a billionaire, which he achieved by parlaying his money and diversifying his interests. He is the example that other Black business owners (such as myself) should emulate. He's living proof that with perserverence, hard work and imagination - one can realize their dreams and so much more! His story only motivates me to work harder!!! |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 2407
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, April 30, 2006 - 12:31 pm: |
|
Roxie,
"I never really embraced that notion that BET was an heirloom that belonged to the greater black society,"
Un-fucking-believable. I wonder if he said that with a straight face.
The "bottom line" is he wouldn't be Bob Johnson if it weren't for blacks. He thinks he would have gotten there back in the "I want my MTV!!" days by showing that smut to whites?? Please.
|
Babygirl
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Babygirl
Post Number: 286
Registered: 04-2005
Rating:
Votes: 4 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, April 30, 2006 - 02:55 pm: |
|
I actually hope he said it with a damn smile on his face! I guess if black society was so hungup on their heirloom they should have come up with the $3 billion to keep it in the family. Bob didn't owe anyone except his creditors a damn thing. He provided a source of entertainment and service to those who accepted it for what it was worth to them. Those who worked along side him benefitted from their service and his genius but the notion that just because he's a black man with a black business he suddenly OWES the whole black race for his own hard work is absolutely ludicrious. It's this whole generational attitude that folks is OWED something for absolutely nothing that keeps individuals from acquiring their own and a body of people from making any extraordinary strides.
Keep hoping someone's going to give you yours, you may actually get what you wish for...
|
Fortified
Regular Poster
Username: Fortified
Post Number: 35
Registered: 04-2006
Rating: 
Votes: 3 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, April 30, 2006 - 06:26 pm: |
|
People, BET was BLACK-OWNED MEDIA!!!! Do you know how powerful it could have been if he used it to show positive messages on black life, black history, the betterment of black people? |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 2409
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 12:08 pm: |
|
Your reaction, Babygirl, is just as guilty conscienced as Bob Johnson's was. When did I say he owed us anything? Funny how you made that leap.
If *YOU PEOPLE* are really happy with your position, why react that way?
I'd of just said fuck 'em. |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 2143
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 12:46 pm: |
|
Face it
It is every man woman and child for himself and the Devil take the hindmost in America. Get with the program--or change it.
That is why I don't cheer for these Negroes when they start making big bucks unless I'm getting something out of it.
|
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 2411
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 01:05 pm: |
|
I'm with all of that Chris and I've faced it as well.
The only thing I'd add is, in the future, they won't be flex'n with my support or my dollars. Not 'til we get a black Uncle Sam. |
Babygirl
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Babygirl
Post Number: 287
Registered: 04-2005
Rating: 
Votes: 7 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 01:54 pm: |
|
Tonya: I'd of just said fuck 'em.
Yes, you would have said such, Tonya, but then I don't expect much more from you anyway since your colorful four-letter word vocabulary seems to maximize most of your conscious thoughts.
And whether or not you used the EXACT semantics as I interpreted them is neither here nor there. You voiced your opinion of Bob and I voiced mine. No where is it set in stone that we have to agree with each other.
My "reaction" being deemed "guilty conscienced" would actually be laughable if I weren't so totally and utterly disgusted with the same self-serving whining that seems to be so prevalent on these boards. A black man does well for himself and all you can summize is that he should be more beholding to his race for his personal accomplishments and damn him to hell when he actually says he isn't. But when you come in off the playground do a little research. What you'll actually discover is although Bob created a commodity for and about black folks, the "bulk" of the revenue he generated and acquired to build that business didn't come out of black pockets 'cause most black folks sum total don't have that kind of dough. And those with that kind of dough weren't interested in supporting the rump shakin', booty callin', gang bangin', stereotypes that were so prevalent and popular on Bob's BET.
Could and should that black-owned media have been better utilized to promote positive images of black folk for their betterment? Hell yes, but then the numbers showed that wasn't what folks, black and otherwise, were interested in seeing. Bob was running a business to turn a profit for himself. He did that by giving folks what they wanted. Bob wasn't running a non-profit enterprise to serve the world at large.
|
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 453
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 02:27 pm: |
|
BabyGirl - Some ppl just can't be happy to witness another person's success. And they would probably berate the second coming of the Christ. That's just the way it is with us Black folks. |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 2146
Registered: 03-2004
Rating:
Votes: 2 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 02:36 pm: |
|
Mzuri:
Are you a communist? |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 2415
Registered: 07-2005
Rating:
Votes: 9 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 03:43 pm: |
|
Wow, Babygirl that was long-winded.
You could have summed it up by saying fuck y'all *LOL*
...cuz you really didn't say anything else.
You used a whole lot of words - as beautiful as they sometimes may be - to say a whole lot of nothing:
1) You have a problem with the whining on this board.
So What.
2) You expect me to do research to explain to you that if poor black folks didn't watch that show - SUPPORT THAT SHOW - there wouldn't be a "commodity" for which his "revenue" generated.
Now, Baby... you probably don't need to come off the swing but you DO need to come off something.
3) You say, Bob don't give a shit--he was just trying to make some money. In other words, Bob says fuck y'all.
I told you that. In fact, I said he should have been a man... came straight out and said fuck 'em. I was smart enough to deduce that from his reaction... and more importantly, I was secure enough to say it.
Long-winded, IMO, is for the "utterly" insecure. It's for those who seek to prove themselves but usually end up saying - you've guessed it - nothing!
|
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 2416
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 04:06 pm: |
|
Chris, why insult the Commies? |
Babygirl
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Babygirl
Post Number: 288
Registered: 04-2005
Rating:
Votes: 3 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 04:17 pm: |
|
Tonya, I have no expectations of you at all. My standards are far too high for you to even begin to comprehend. And as for your opinion, you're as entitled as the next guy, as am I .
..."utterly" insecure, now I am laughing...that just made my day...
|
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 2417
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: 
Votes: 2 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 04:44 pm: |
|
Your "standards" have you coming back to this board to boast you're too good for me. I've met people with "standards" before. They have bigger fish to fry. But the swelling calms your insecurity, I understand. |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 454
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 04:47 pm: |
|
Chris - you must be pullin my leg. If I were a communist, wouldn't I want us all to be equally broke? Why would I commend Mr. Johnson's accomplishments? |
Babygirl
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Babygirl
Post Number: 289
Registered: 04-2005
Rating:
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 05:06 pm: |
|
Tonya, my reasons for coming back to this board have absolutely nothing to do with you, but if it makes you feel better to think so, then by all means. As for "boasting", that is subject to interpretation as is all of our comments. But my apology if you were offended. If I felt I was "too good" for you, if such a thing is truly possible, I would probably deem you not worth my long winded diatribes.
It's interesting that you didn't like or agree with my comments so your "reaction" is to insult my writing style and go on the personal attack. I have to be "insecure" not to agree with you or "insecure" because my reaction wasn't your reaction. Because we all know it takes a very "secure" individual to be able to spout "fuck you" so eloquently.
However, I have neither the time nor any desire to trade insults with you. And ultimately I actually have far too much respect for myself, and you, to even think about continuing down that road. So, have at it. Hope it makes your day. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 4367
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 05:55 pm: |
|
The idea of using the media to reverse negative images that exert a bad influence on AAs never really pans out. Black folks like what they like, and they obviously prefer to be entertained rather than reformed, as borne out by how Tyler Perry's Madear book "Don't Make A Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings" debuted at #1 on Publisher's Weekly best-seller list, while the inspirational family-oriented movie "Akeelah and the Bee" tanked at the box office. Expecting blacks who have "made it" to take on the task of making-over the wrong images is a slippery slope. Bill Cosby was excoriated for trying to use his influence to uplift blacks and Robert Johnson is being condemned for not trying to do so. tsk-tsk. |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 2422
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 07:51 pm: |
|
Babygirl,
Don't apologize to me sweetheart. You center your energy around loving yourself. That's what we need, Chile. Girl lord, you so crazy.
And, Babygirl, I never said I didn't like your comment; it's a comment, what's there to dislike?? I didn't insult your writing style either; I just gleaned what was painfully obvious. Figured no problem, since you went on a little rampage and attacked mine. And now you have the nerve to feign innocuous, ain't even being subtle, girl now you know you too funny.
But no, I took advantage of your lead, all I did. Wish you didn't mind, this has obviously gotten you hot and bothered. What-A-Bummer! The only thing I can tell you is try not to let IT show next time. We'll call it "IT" for now. We won't say you're full of shit either. Okay Tootles.  |
Serenasailor
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Serenasailor
Post Number: 434
Registered: 01-2006
Rating:
Votes: 2 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 10:02 pm: |
|
I actually hope he said it with a damn smile on his face! I guess if black society was so hungup on their heirloom they should have come up with the $3 billion to keep it in the family. Bob didn't owe anyone except his creditors a damn thing. He provided a source of entertainment and service to those who accepted it for what it was worth to them. Those who worked along side him benefitted from their service and his genius but the notion that just because he's a black man with a black business he suddenly OWES the whole black race for his own hard work is absolutely ludicrious. It's this whole generational attitude that folks is OWED something for absolutely nothing that keeps individuals from acquiring their own and a body of people from making any extraordinary strides.
Keep hoping someone's going to give you yours, you may actually get what you wish for...
Notice the attitude that many black ppl have. He/We don't owe nobody nothin! You don't think that black ppl with his type of wealth and power should give back to their communities? Wow! No wonder why we are in the shape we are in. Black ppl we need to get off of that me first fuck everybody else mentality. |
Babygirl
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Babygirl
Post Number: 290
Registered: 04-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 10:53 pm: |
|
"hot and bothered", Tonya? Child, please...
Serena, actually Bob's donations back to the community have been in the millions - he just doesn't get the publicity when he writes his checks because he prefers the anonimity. It's interesting that many automatically assume because they don't know what the brother did with his money that he didn't do what they think he should have. |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 2423
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 11:10 pm: |
|
You had to be hot and bothered to apologize for being on dog food. Your standards are in your head, Sis; your weaknesses apparent; you can't do shit to offend me.
|
Nels
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Nels
Post Number: 347
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 01, 2006 - 11:27 pm: |
|
Chris --
"That is why I don't cheer for these Negroes when they start making big bucks unless I'm getting something out of it."
No one owes anyone a dime. Like it or not, that "IS" the "American" way. |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 2429
Registered: 07-2005
Rating:
Votes: 4 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 02, 2006 - 01:06 pm: |
|
Serenasailor, to Babygirl, money and success negates right and wrong. She only sees how he "generated" the "revenue" to form a "commodity." Not how that money would have simply been lost, if not for black folks. BET's productions weren't even on the level of VH1, but blacks still watched. Even when MTV started playing rap & hip/hop, along with its superior trademark productions, blacks remained loyal to BET and the Stone Age. For Bob Johnson to act like blacks didn't have a hand in his success is not only ludicrous, it's ungrateful and dishonest. And to suggest that blacks are too impotent to make a difference was as horrid as spiting on graves. He wants to capitalize off Hispanics now; he sees a bigger profit and wants to exploit, okay. But was that at all necessary? No. You don't shit on that kind of loyalty. But that's the kind of people they are. He and Babygirl think it's good for business. The Hispanics will show them what's good for nigger businesses, though. Fo' sho. |
Babygirl
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Babygirl
Post Number: 291
Registered: 04-2005
Rating:
Votes: 5 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 02, 2006 - 03:03 pm: |
|
Tonya: "that money would have simply been lost, if not for black folks"
You can't lose what you don't have, and black folks didn't/don't have that kind of money to fund the business Johnson built. Black folks supported BET because it was a source of mindless entertainment that they enjoyed, which was the extent of the hand they gave. Has he given back for their patronage? Tenfold - countless donations to black colleges, minority enterprises and endeavors but you're quick to point a finger and say he doesn't support blacks because you don't know and haven't bothered to find out before you decided to denigrate the man's name.
And don't speak for me, child. You know nothing about me or have a clue how I feel because you're too narrow-minded, quick-lipped with your ignorance and immaturity and so ready to generalize negativity when someone's thought processes don't flow down your small river. So, if you want to talk about right and wrong, Tonya, then expound your own values, not mine. I can speak quite well for myself.
Now, I'm finished with you and this subject so spare the other board members the mindless, condescending attempt at an insult that's perched so precariously on the tip of your fingertips. They're not interested and I could really give a rat's ass. Besides, we've already heard your perfunctory "fuck you" before. I'll just file the one you're thinking away with all the others.
|
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 4373
Registered: 01-2004
Rating:
Votes: 3 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 02, 2006 - 03:18 pm: |
|
Tell me, Tonya, what did the owners of MTV give back to the white community who made it rich? Nothing. The reward was in the exposure it gave to the whole range of Rock and Roll artists - the heavy metal bands, the grunge musicians, the bubble gum pop crowd, the alternative rockers. What BET offered was a show case for all black musicians at a time when MTV greatly restricted which ones they would include on their play lists. As a result, a whole spectrum of black performers came into their own via BET and they owe their lucrative popularity to this outlet. Actually, they are the ones who should be giving back to their fan base in the black community. Robert Johnson was an entrepreneur not a philanthropist. That's how he got rich. And if indeed, he does choose anonymity when it comes to his charitable endeavors, I applaude him for this. |
Brownbeauty123
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Brownbeauty123
Post Number: 203
Registered: 03-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 02, 2006 - 03:36 pm: |
|
BET and MTV are now owned by the same company right? Viacom?
If so, how come BET's quality and production remains so cheap and inferior to MTV?
|
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 2430
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: 
Votes: 8 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 02, 2006 - 03:47 pm: |
|
You're starting to make me think you're a freak. You come to this board to hear my infamous fuck you's--(I'm not flattered).
The money that I referred to--Dick Head--was the "revenue" you made a big deal about... what he gathered to get the station started. And yes, if blacks hadn't watched his project, it would have been money lost. Furthermore blacks did not enjoy that garbage. MTV's programming was/is far more superior. They supported it because it was owned by a black man, period.
As for my finger, it's no surprise that a sell-out like you can't be truthful about which direction it points. He was wrong for what he said; I didn't get into who he supported. Getting away from the topic is your way of putting up a front. Long-winded, not a damn thing to say.... So fuck you. Ahh - made your day.
|
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 2431
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 02, 2006 - 03:48 pm: |
|
That last post was for Babygirl. |
Lilliangrace
First Time Poster
Username: Lilliangrace
Post Number: 1
Registered: 05-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 02, 2006 - 05:10 pm: |
|
You really shouild have taken Babygirl's advice! |
Yukio
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Yukio
Post Number: 1224
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 02, 2006 - 06:11 pm: |
|
Bob Johnson is a businessman first. He has said this himself, so the fact that he has exploited black people shouldn't be a surprise . . . this is, indeed, the American way!
Also, that he has given donations does not make him a saint . . . nor does it mean that he hasn't exploited black culture and images for profit.
Carnegie and Rockefeller both industrial magnates . . . both exploited their workers . . . and both contributed to various organizations, universities, etc . . . people who give money away do it because they can afford to and it often works in their benefit . . .
Cynique,
You question to Tonya is logical but, I say respectfully, naive:
To put it simply, in this culture or should I say world, white people are people who comprise a diversity of individuals, some good, some bad, some lazy, some assiduous, some stupid, some intelligent.
Black people, on the other hand, comprise a diversity of cultures, colors, and languages, but, and this is what is important, we are all the same: neither are we individuals nor do we possess a variety of characteristics.
While this is of course fictive, it does then make sense that the owners of MTV didn't give money to white people, because white people don't have a problem with poverty . . . white people are individuals and some are hard workers and others are not . . . and this is responsible, so goes this country's protestant work ethic, for white folk not make it!
Black folk, on the other hand, don't make it because there is something about their blackness that is responsible for their poverty, and the same--affinity for sports, music, and humor--that is responsible for their wealth.
|
Rustang
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Rustang
Post Number: 330
Registered: 04-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 02, 2006 - 06:36 pm: |
|
White people seem to understand the fact that what they see and hear when they tune in MTV, or any other station, for that matter,is a product offered by a business that is trying to operate at a profit.I really don't see what he did as being outright exploitation per se.He saw a market niche that was, up until then, largely untapped.We received programing, advertisers bought time, he made money.That's how business is conducted.Successful business, anyway.
You make an important point, Yukio.When a white man fails, it's 'see how he is?' and when a black man fails it's 'see how they are?'.The unrealistic expectations we place on Bob Johnson to lift up black folks everywhere because he made gobs of money probably feed into the perpetuation of that ridiculous notion of sameness. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 4374
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 02, 2006 - 06:48 pm: |
|
My facetious question really was a rhetorical one, Yukio. I posed it to illustrate how "naive" anyone is to think that black people in the business of making a profit are going to be any different from white people doing the same. I contend that it's all about green power, about your patronage making my product more lucrative, not about whites being diverse in regard to individuals and blacks being different in regard to culture, color, and language.(?) The ruthless "I got mine, now you get yours" mantra is implicit in the mind-set of ambitious men of all colors. Their social consciousness usually kicks in later when they have accumulated their fortunes, and charity is just another write-off. |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 2434
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 02, 2006 - 07:50 pm: |
|
Sorry Cynnique, didn't see your question, I'm late.
We can't be naïve; you're probably right. But then we can't have a double standard either.
Example:
We can't charge a black man for exploiting black people.
(We do charge white men).
It's unrealistic to expect black people to uplift the black race.
(We expect major uplifts from whites).
But...
just like exploitation is the "American way," so is racism.
So why should it be different for white men? They owe us?
Also if I want support white businesses with my money, why shouldn't I. Why should white business men loose business? Many of them deserve it. The largest contributors to inner-city schools and ghettoes are white men. And they employ the most blacks. We don't/won't have a black economy. Why not contribute to those who contribute the most to us? |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 2435
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 02, 2006 - 07:57 pm: |
|
My bad; I meant to say "lose." Please excuse the other typos; I'm sure there are many. (Busy, Busy, Busy!)
|
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 456
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 02, 2006 - 08:17 pm: |
|
LOL. We support and contribute to white businesses every time we buy FOOD, kotex, make-up, soap, tissue, FOOD, stockings, computers, toothpaste, cars, tires, FOOD, gasoline, printer cartridges, paper products, FOOD - everything we consume. And when we pay our water bill, electric bill, phone bill, cell phone bill, etc we are paying it to the whiteman. We can't escape supporting white business with our greenbacks. We have no choice - because we Black ppl don't produce a single thing!!! |
Yukio
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Yukio
Post Number: 1225
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 02, 2006 - 09:32 pm: |
|
mzuri: we produce labor . . .; I don't disagree with you, but let me add to your point . . . not only do we not produce much, by this is a white country after all, and since we don't see ourselves as a group, but individuals . . . which is legitimate but in some case foolish, we often don't see color or race . . .
Cyn:
Gotcha . . . sorry! |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 4564
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 03, 2006 - 12:09 am: |
|
I'm indifferent to Bob Johnson.
I don't believe there's much of any reason to laud or to castigate him.
There's nothing especially or inherently evil about making a billion bucks.
Nor is there anything especially or inherently virtuous about such. |
Nels
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Nels
Post Number: 350
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 03, 2006 - 02:00 am: |
|
Black America needs to get over always thinking that someone owes it something. This incessant whining is starting to sound like the same rhetoric we're hearing from the pro-illegal immigrant movement - and no one owes them a damn thing either. |
Yukio
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Yukio
Post Number: 1226
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 03, 2006 - 08:08 am: |
|
nels:
What is the pro-illegal movement? . . . I thought it was an anti-criminalize illegal and legal immigrant movement. Higher wages and anti-racist movement?
Also, how is this similar to Afri. Amer. who want others of their kind to give back without strings attached? |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 2154
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 03, 2006 - 01:27 pm: |
|
Johnson don't owe me nothing and I don't owe him nothing.
If he or anybody else wants me to kiss his butt they can just lay some cash on me! |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 2439
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 03, 2006 - 03:37 pm: |
|
Chris you're funny as shit! You also might wind up being rich cuz there's alot of ass kissing 'round here.... Funny and rich, what a turn on--Smooches!
*LOL* |
Rustang
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Rustang
Post Number: 334
Registered: 04-2005
Rating:
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 03, 2006 - 11:00 pm: |
|
Chris,I'm sure that you are familiar with the story of Hemmingway offering the lady a million dollars to sleep with him.Having established what sort of person you are,do you have a bulk rate for large quantities of asses to kiss?How about prime rates for your platinum plus customers? 0.9% financing availability? How about if he prefers to face you instead of turn his back to you?Where do you draw the line? Will an additional 50 bucks cause the line to move?
|
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 2159
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 04, 2006 - 01:50 pm: |
|
Rustang:
Talking about men's butts gets you hot, doesn't it? |
Rustang
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Rustang
Post Number: 335
Registered: 04-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 04, 2006 - 05:07 pm: |
|
So,Chris, the C.H. on your cuff links actually stands for Chicken Head? Is that what you are trying to say? I suppose that if you are willing to perform any degrading act for a sufficient sum of money then you might as well go ahead and wear the name tag.Just so you know, no one with anything resembling a shred a self respect or integrity would make such a statement. |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 4569
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 04, 2006 - 05:15 pm: |
|
Chris & Rusty,
You 2 are beginning to remind me of Kola & Cynique, only without the estrogen and vaginas. |
Rustang
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Rustang
Post Number: 337
Registered: 04-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 04, 2006 - 05:21 pm: |
|
Yeah, I guess I ought to lighten up on the boy some.It's too easy. |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 4570
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 04, 2006 - 05:45 pm: |
|
Rusty,
I know. Dogging Chris is about as difficult as shooting lame crabs in a shallow barrel. |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 462
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 04, 2006 - 05:55 pm: |
|
Oh please - yall's man fights are sorry. No name calling. No death threats. No crazy rants. You guys are weak. I could kick all of your butts with one hand tied behind my back - LOL!!! |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 4575
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 04, 2006 - 05:58 pm: |
|
Mzuri,
Guys typically don't take things as far as you chicks do because after a certain point Rusty and Chris are liable to go looking for each other. |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 463
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 04, 2006 - 06:08 pm: |
|
Like I said, you guys are weak. You MIGHT go looking for each other, but the women ALREADY know where everybody lives!!! |
Rustang
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Rustang
Post Number: 340
Registered: 04-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 05, 2006 - 08:41 am: |
|
Naah, I'm not going to go looking for him.Then I would have to endure watching a grown man cry like a broken hearted teen-ager.I was thinking about offering him a truce.If he would quit saying stupid sh*t like " the universe is only 6000 years old and all evidence to the contrary was planted by evil spirits" or " I speak standard english to the best of my ability in business settings but you folks all need to take ghettoese into the marketplace with you" or " If you give me money I will be happy to kiss your ass" then I will quit pointing out to him just how stupid he really is.How about it Chris? Deal? |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 2452
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 05, 2006 - 10:19 am: |
|
Smooches to Rustang, ABM, and Yukio, too... foinne muthafuckaz!
Big dick Willies.
|
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 4578
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 05, 2006 - 01:54 pm: |
|
Rusty,
Sounds to me like you're offering Chris an Even-Steven deal.
Tonya,
*SQUIRT!!!* |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 2167
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 05, 2006 - 03:28 pm: |
|
Rustang:
Like Eliot Ness used to say to those cowering punks on "The Untouchables" NO DEALS! I am having too much fun using you as my own personal whipping boy.
It really cracks me up how you come off like you have actually held your own in our little exchanges. Of course I realize how you have to put up a front in front of the ladies. |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 2168
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 05, 2006 - 03:29 pm: |
|
Abm:
See I gave you your own panel, kind of like one of your beloved comic book characters--
They couldn't melt you down and pour you on me. |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 2454
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 05, 2006 - 04:15 pm: |
|
ABM:
*SQUIRT!!!*
Tonya:
I said SMOOCHES----That would be my MOUTH, naassstayyy. |
Rustang
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Rustang
Post Number: 343
Registered: 04-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 06, 2006 - 12:32 am: |
|
See how you are Chris? I offer you an olive branch and you tell me that you would prefer that I shove it up your ass. All I asked was that you try to put a lid on some of your more blatantly stupid yammerings and I would let you have your little dream world remain untroubled by the annoying reality of what an idiot you are.Geez. Some people. |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 2173
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 06, 2006 - 11:00 am: |
|
Am I the only one here who doesn't sense some connection between Rustang and Cynique? |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 467
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 06, 2006 - 11:11 am: |
|
Some of their insults against you sound kind of similar but I hope not because I have a bit of a thing for Rustang and if I found out he was really Cynique I would be heart-broken. I mean to have a thing for Cynique - that would be so embarrassing for me. I'd have to go into hiding or something. LOL. Rustang please don't be Cynique!!! |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 4581
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 06, 2006 - 11:17 am: |
|
ABM: "*SQUIRT!!!*"
Tonya: "I said SMOOCHES----That would be my MOUTH, naassstayyy."
I know. THAT'S why I did it. |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 2175
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 06, 2006 - 11:39 am: |
|
Well Rustang--or should we say, Cynique?
Ready to come clean? |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 2460
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 06, 2006 - 02:50 pm: |
|
ABM:
I know. THAT'S why I did it.
Tonya:
It's like that, huh??
Oh well. Just keep it warm, use some cane--MAKE IT SUGAR WATER, DADDY--then aim it rough, but swing it nice and slow. Make it sexy.
|
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 4591
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 06, 2006 - 02:58 pm: |
|
Tonya: "Just keep it warm, use some cane--MAKE IT SUGAR WATER, DADDY--then aim it rough, but swing it nice and slow. Make it sexy."
 |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 2461
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 06, 2006 - 03:20 pm: |
|
Not yet. It takes more than a minute. Big Daddy. *LOL* |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 4378
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 06, 2006 - 04:26 pm: |
|
I wouldn't offer you an olive branch, chrishayden, if this was the only way to prevent World War III. And I REALLY wish you would speak up, Rustang, where ever you are and make it clear that you and I are NOT the same person. chrishayden's ego is so monumental that can't bring himself to believe that 2 different people can't stand him. |
Rustang
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Rustang
Post Number: 349
Registered: 04-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 08, 2006 - 11:18 pm: |
|
Well, then. I'm assuming that everyone has enough sense to realize that this is merely a very clumsy ploy on the part of Chris to try to somehow discredit the messenger when the message itself is self evident.That being, of course, that Chris is an idiot.Sorry to kind of leave hanging on this Cynique.I have three car shows coming up in the next four weeks that I have to prep a few cars for, one of which isn't even completely assembled yet. |
|
Email This Page