Dr. Jason Johnson has released the following statement via Twitter apologizing for referring to Black women who support Bernie Sanders as “misfit Black girls”:
Earlier this week in a conversation about the Sanders campaign and the behavior of his staff and supporters I referred to his campaign spokesperson as coming from the Island of Misfit Black Girls. It was a harmful and unnecessary comment and I apologize.
George L. Cook III AfricanAmericanReports.Com
Update 02/23/2020: Dr. Jason Johnson releases apology via Twitter.
During an appearance on Karen Hunter Show (SiriusXM) MSNBC's Dr. Jason Johnson who is always provocative took it too far and said something that was uncalled for. He referred to Black woman who support Bernie Sanders as being 'from the island of misfit Black girls'.
Before I continue I would like to let Dr. Johnson know that my daughter would be one of those misfit Black girls. My first instinct was to lash out but what would that accomplish?
Now I will be the first to admit that Nia Turner annoys the hell out of me at times (still got love for her though) and I don't get the support for Sanders, but there was no reason to try to paint our fellow African Americans as misfits.
In my humble opinion Johnson was dead wrong and Black men should never publicly demean Black women (and vice versa) no matter what issue is being discussed. We are better than that and I would like to believe that Jason Johnson is better than that. It's my hope that Johnson apologizes for his statement and clarifies what it is he meant to say.
Everyone has the right to their own opinion and not to be ridiculed for that opinion. We as Black people are not monolithic and should not only listen to different opinions but be open to hearing what people have to say.
When this election season is over we won't be living with or dealing with the presidential candidates that we so enthusiastically support on a daily basis, we will be living with and dealing with each other. There is no reason to let political nonsense further separate us because at the end of the day no matter who is POTUS all we have is each other.
George L. Cook III AfricanAmericanReports.Com
Democratic presidential hopeful Mike Bloomberg is slated to do an interview with civil rights icon the Rev. Al Sharpton on Sunday amid scrutiny of the former New York City mayor's past support for "stop and frisk."
Sharpton has criticized Bloomberg in the past over the practice and said this week he would have to “repair the damage” caused by stop and frisk, while noting that other candidates have “baggage” as well.
“I also … don’t want to see him as a leaf that the other candidates dump some of their racial baggage,” he said on MSNBC earlier this week. “I want to know what Bernie’s gonna say about the vote he did for the [1994] crime bill, where people went to jail.”
Bloomberg's interview will air at 5 p.m. Sunday on Sharpton’s “Politics Nation” program on MSNBC.
Samuel Lee Gravely Jr., June 4, 1922 – October 22, 2004) was a United States Navy officer. In 1961, he became the first African-American officer to command a U.S. Navy ship, the USS Theodore E. Chandler (DD-717). When he took command of the destroyer escort USS Falgout (DE-324) in January 1962, he was the first African-American officer to command a combat ship. During the Vietnam War he commanded the destroyer USS Taussig (DD-746) as it performed plane guard duty and gunfire support off the coast of Vietnam in 1966, making him the first African American to lead a ship into combat.
He was also the first African American in the U.S. Navy to become a fleet commander, and the first to become a flag officer, retiring as a vice admiral.
Gravely's military decorations include the World War II Victory Medal, the Korean Service Medal with two service stars, the United Nations Korea Medal, and the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation.
In Richmond, the street on which Gravely grew up was renamed "Admiral Gravely Boulevard" in 1977. The destroyer USS Gravely (DDG-107), commissioned in 2010, was named in his honor.
Phillis Wheatley, also spelled Phyllis and Wheatly (c. 1753 – December 5, 1784) was the first African-American woman to publish a book of poetry.
Born in West Africa, she was sold into slavery at the age of seven or eight and transported to North America. She was purchased by the Wheatley family of Boston, who taught her to read and write and encouraged her poetry when they saw her talent.
On a 1773 trip to London with her master's son, seeking publication of her work, she was aided in meeting prominent people who became patrons. The publication in London of her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral on September 1, 1773, brought her fame both in England and the American colonies.
Critics consider her work fundamental to the genre of African-American literature,and she is honored as the first African-American woman to publish a book of poetry and the first to make a living from her writing.
