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Aretha Franklin's family slams her eulogist, who stands by his funeral remarks





http://www.latimes.com/entertainmen...gy-rev-jasper-williams-jr-20180904-story.html

Edgy remarks made by Rev. Jasper Williams Jr. at Aretha Franklin’s funeral last Friday have drawn criticism from the Franklin family for failing to properly eulogize the Queen of Soul.

Williams was chosen by the family because he had eulogized family members in the past, including Rev. C.L. Franklin, Aretha’s father, whose funeral was 34 years prior.

In particular, Williams caused controversy with remarks that single mothers can’t raise black boys properly as men and that the Black Lives Matter movement isn’t effective unless African Americans stop killing one another first.

“Rev. Jasper Williams spent more than 50 minutes speaking and at no time did he properly eulogize her,” nephew Vaughn Franklin told People on Friday, in a statement given to various outlets on behalf of the family.

“We feel that Rev. Jasper Williams, Jr. used this platform to push his negative agenda, which as a family, we do not agree with,” the statement added.

Vaughn told the Associated Press that Williams’ fiery words “caught the entire family off guard.”


Williams, who is pastor emeritus at Salem Bible Church in Atlanta, stood by his remarks at a news conference over the weekend.

“No one else was asked to bring the eulogy but me. So I feel that it is appropriate for me to say what I want to say and how it is that I want to say it, because I was the only one asked to do the eulogy,” the minister said.

“I sat there for seven hours almost before I got a chance to do what I was asked to do,” Williams said. “So I couldn't get all the intricacies that I wanted in the message because it was too much time. People had grown weary of the hour.”

That’s contrary to the tactic taken by Bishop Charles H. Ellis III of Detroit’s Greater Grace Temple, who apologized after he was criticized for his behavior and jokes toward Ariana Grande during the funeral.

“[M]aybe I was too friendly or familiar,” Ellis told the Associated Press. He was accused of groping the singer and making a joke that made fun of Latinos.

Williams’ comments were far from the arena of jokes, however.

“Seventy percent of our households are led by our precious, proud, fine black women,” he said. “But as proud, beautiful and fine as our black women are, one thing a black woman cannot do — a black woman cannot raise a black boy to be a man.”

Of violence against African Americans by police, Williams said, “If you choose to ask me today, do black lives matter, let me answer like this: No, black lives do not matter. Black lives will not matter. Black lives ought not matter. Black lives should not matter. Black lives must not matter. Until black people start respecting black lives and stop killing ourselves, black lives can never matter.”
 


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https://www.aol.com/article/enterta...logy-says-critics-misunderstood-him/23514938/

Pastor denounced for Aretha Franklin eulogy says critics misunderstood him

A pastor who was denounced for the eulogy he delivered at Aretha Franklin's funeral said Sunday that his critics had misunderstood him.

Asked during a news conference about push back to parts of his speech that appeared to deride black mothers and the response to police violence against African-Americans, among other things, Rev. Jasper Williams Jr. said, "I like to think there has been no push back."

"Maybe they didn't understand what I was saying," added Williams, who is black.

Pressed on his assertion that African-American mothers can't raise "a black boy to be a man," as Williams put it in his eulogy, he said: "You internalized it like that. I'm talking about single women struggling. In the black community there is no mentoring ... 70 percent of our households are headed by our precious women. They cannot teach a boy to be a man."

"The women need help in their homes," he added.

During his speech, Williams, who is the pastor emeritus of Salem Bible Church in Atlanta and delivered a eulogy for Franklin's late father in 1984, also appeared to criticize Black Lives Matter, asserting that black people care more police violence against African-Americans than black-on-black crime.

"I'm not saying black lives don't matter," he clarified on Sunday. "Only when black lives respect black lives, then they will matter."

Some critics appeared to take aim at Williams for using his eulogy as a platform. As one observer noted in a Facebook post that has been shared nearly 700 times, "Eulogies are not let me get this off my chest speeches ... Eulogies comfort the living, celebrate the dead, help us face our own mortality and usher us to a place of hearing God say, "Well done good and faithful servant."

Williams said Sunday that he did not know what Franklin would have thought about the eulogy, "But she trusted me to do it," he said, adding that it was appropriate "for me to say what I wanted to say, to do what I was asked to do."

"I meant nobody no harm and yet I meant the truth," he added.
 
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https://rollingout.com/2018/09/04/b...er-williams-cancels-atlanta-radio-appearance/

Backlash grows as Rev. Jasper Williams cancels Atlanta radio appearance

The funeral of the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, was marred by the controversial eulogy of Rev. Jasper Williams. As a eulogist, Williams received widespread scorn for his words that had nothing to do with Franklin’s life and work.

Vaughn Franklin, Aretha’s nephew, said in a statement “We found the comments to be offensive and distasteful. He spoke for 50 minutes and at no time did he properly eulogize her. We feel that Rev. Jasper Williams Jr. used this platform to push his negative agenda, which as a family, we do not agree with.”

To respond to the criticism, nationally syndicated talk show host Dr. Rashad Richey arranged for Williams and his son Joseph Williams to appear today, Tuesday, Sept. 4, on his program Real Talk with Rashad Richey.

Richey learned today that after being confirmed, Williams, the pastor emeritus of Salem Baptist Church, backed out. Richey posted to his social media pages, “Out of all of my years of broadcasting, I have never had a guest cancel on the day of a scheduled interview. Rev. Jasper Williams has canceled his confirmed appearance on my show today.”

Williams’ questionable statements made during Franklin’s service included a claim about Black Lives Matter. Williams stated, “Black lives should not matter. Black lives must not matter. Until Black people start respecting Black lives and stop killing ourselves, Black lives can never matter.” Williams added that the deaths of Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Terrance Crutcher and others did not matter. As he spoke, Franklin’s family members yelled out during the eulogy, “Talk about Aretha.” He did not. He continued, further insulting Franklin’s four sons when he stated that a Black woman cannot raise a Black man.

Williams’ words supported the false narrative of the Alt-Right movement regarding the state of Black life in America. His statements regarding Black Lives Matter were then used as sound clips by White Conservative media organizations to further diminish this powerful social justice movement that arose after the killing of unarmed Black people.
 
Whitlock and this preacher likes pushing this false narrative but they downplay factors that put black folk at a disadvantage for generations that still have a negative impact on us today:

- real estate redlining (Wells Fargo recently got fined for this)
- unfair lending practices
- justice system (crooked cops, prosecuting attorney, bail, parole, etc)
- mandatory minimum sentencing
- mass incarceration for the crack
- lack of sufficient public transportation to get to decent paying jobs, etc
 
Whitlock and this preacher likes pushing this false narrative but they downplay factors that put black folk at a disadvantage for generations that still have a negative impact on us today:

- real estate redlining (Wells Fargo recently got fined for this)
- unfair lending practices
- justice system (crooked cops, prosecuting attorney, bail, parole, etc)
- mandatory minimum sentencing
- mass incarceration for the crack
- lack of sufficient public transportation to get to decent paying jobs, etc
It's because they simply lack intellect and awareness to the root of the issue and focus on surface based assumptions and their pain stems from personal encounters within their own life of black crime, failed black experiences or not being accepted by the urban culture. They resort to acting out and bathing in blissful ignorance just to spite black people ironically not realizing they destroying themselves and future generations.
 
Instead of saying shit we already know and heard a million times before, he should have simply done what he was chosen to do.

No matter how he trys to justify his actions it was disrespectful AF. Would he had said all that stuff at sister Gladys Williams from down the street funeral? No, He took advantage of the situation bc it was televized and the biggest audience he'd ever get in his life.

Not surprised he won't apologize for it tho. Growing up in Christian faith I learned early that we find fault in others yet make excuses for ourselves.
 
I never understood why these type of people always wanna put this type of stuff out for white people to view, like they expecting a pat on the head.
 
I never understood why these type of people always wanna put this type of stuff out for white people to view, like they expecting a pat on the head.

Sounds like it you do understand it, because that's exactly what blacks like that are seeking. They're campaigning and letting it be known what side they have chosen.

And never assume a coon lacks intellect or is ignorant. Playing dumb is another way for them to deceive you and it takes intelligence to uphold a lie.
 
Instead of saying shit we already know and heard a million times before, he should have simply done what he was chosen to do.

No matter how he trys to justify his actions it was disrespectful AF. Would he had said all that stuff at sister Gladys Williams from down the street funeral? No, He took advantage of the situation bc it was televized and the biggest audience he'd ever get in his life.

Not surprised he won't apologize for it tho. Growing up in Christian faith I learned early that we find fault in others yet make excuses for ourselves.


You better PREACH Sis.Remedy!

This is why so many folks look at Christianity with such disdain. The judgemental and pointing out folks wrongdoings, but then the hypocrisy of when the tides turn.
 
http://www.cdispatch.com/opinions/article.asp?aid=68271

Larry Elder: Anti-Trump bigots hear truth about the No. 1 problem in the black community

President Donald Trump took a pounding at the services for Aretha Franklin. The Rev. Al Sharpton took Trump to task for supposedly demonstrating a lack of respect by saying, "She worked for me on numerous occasions." Other speakers took shots at the President either by name or by implication for his supposed racism and bigotry.

Onstage, in the front row, sat Sharpton, Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and former President Bill Clinton, all of whom know a thing or two about racism and bigotry. Their careers depend on exaggerating the extent and the impact of anti-black white racism.

At a rally in Harlem in 1991, Sharpton said, "If the Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house." A few days later, a young black boy was accidentally killed when struck by a car driven by a Hasidic Jew. For three nights, Jews in Crown Heights were subjected to what one Columbia University professor called "a modern-day pogrom" in which two people died and almost 200 were injured. On day two of the riots, Sharpton led a march of about 400 protesters in Crown Heights, shouting, "No justice, no peace." Days later, Sharpton referred derisively to Jews living in Crown Heights as "diamond merchants." A few years later, Sharpton called whites moving businesses into Harlem "interlopers."

Sitting next to Sharpton at Franklin's funeral was Farrakhan, whose hand Clinton shook. As recently as February 2018, Farrakhan said: "Jews were responsible for all of this filth and degenerate behavior that Hollywood is putting out, turning men into women and women into men. White folks are going down. And Satan is going down. And Farrakhan, by God's grace, has pulled the cover off of that Satanic Jew, and I'm here to say your time is up. Your world is through."

Sitting on Sharpton's other side was Jackson. In 1984, in what Jackson thought was an off-the-record conversation, he referred to Jews as "Hymies" and New York City as "Hymietown." A Washington Post reporter, Milton Coleman, reported Jackson's use of the slur. At first, Jackson denied it. Farrakhan threatened Coleman -- a black man -- by saying, "If you harm this brother, I warn you in the name of Allah this will be the last one you harm."

This brings us to Clinton, who sat next to Jackson. Clinton, according to "Game Change," the well-received book about the 2008 presidential campaign, contacted Sen. Ted Kennedy to seek his support for Hillary Clinton's candidacy. "A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee," Clinton said of then-presidential candidate Barack Obama. Offended, Kennedy told a friend about what he considered Clinton's racist put-down.

These four onstage -- Farrakhan, Sharpton, Jackson and Clinton -- have earned a nice living promoting the bogus anti-black-white-racism-remains-a-serious-problem narrative. But at the funeral, one pastor dared to point to the elephant in the room.

The Rev. Jasper Williams Jr. of Salem Bible Church in Atlanta said in his eulogy: "Where is your soul, black man? As I look in your house, there are no fathers in the home no more." He said children need both a "provider" and a "nurturer." He criticized the Black Lives Matter movement: "It amazes me how it is when the police kills one of us we're ready to protest, march, destroy innocent property. We're ready to loot, steal whatever we want, but when we kill 100 of us, nobody says anything; nobody does anything. Black-on-black crime, we're all doing time. We're locked up in our mind. There's got to be a better way. We must stop this today."

The pastor, who decades earlier gave a eulogy for Aretha Franklin's father, got hammered for choosing such a time and place for this "put-down." Even members of the Franklin family rebuked Williams. It is one thing to turn the memorial into a Trump-bashing festival, but a sermon that includes an admonition about accepting personal responsibility, well, that tears it.

Pastor Williams later defended himself, saying, "I'm sure much of the negativity is due to the fact that they don't understand what I'm talking about." He means that many are unaware that almost 70 percent of black kids today are brought into the world by a mother and father who aren't married. That is about 33 percent higher than the percentage of Hispanics and almost 2 1/2 times the percentage of whites.

Williams said: "Anybody who thinks black America is all right as we are now is crazy. We're not all right. It's a lot of change that needs to occur. This change must come from within us. Nobody can give us things to eliminate where we are. We have to change from within ourselves."

Excellent advice. Perhaps Messrs. Sharpton, Farrakhan, Jackson and Clinton were listening.

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