[hq2600] From Cynthia McKinney: The "N" Word from the Champs Elysée to Avenue of the Americas

[HQ]

Cynthia McKinney

The "N" Word from the Champs Elysée to Avenue of the Americas

13 June 2012



The latest Hollywood brouhaha over Gwyneth Paltrow’s decision to tweet the
caption “ni**as in Paris for real” to accompany a picture of her with
friends Jay-Z and Beyoncé while in Paris doesn’t compare to the new
evidence of "fraud upon the Court"  that has emerged in a largely unnoticed
civil rights case that very well should be reopened after being
unfairly dismissed
six years ago.  How about Hollywood executives regularly referring to their
own clients, and Blacks in general, as "niggers," "niggas," "coons,"
"spooks," and "monkeys" while they intentionally discriminated against
Black concert promoters, putting them out of business?  It is the
contention of Leonard Rowe, perhaps the best-known and most successful of
all Black concert promoters, that the regular use of these words by
powerful Hollywood executives is a telling indicator of Hollywood's
pervasively racist attitudes toward Blacks, an attitude that produced
illegal trust-like business practices that essentially made Black concert
promoters extinct.


How could these particular Hollywood executives do that?

According to music industry veterans, once a Black entertainer "crossed
over" to a White audience, Black concert promoters were almost never
allowed to promote that entertainer again.  Moreover, according to Rowe,
not once was a Black concert promoter allowed to promote a White
entertainer.  According to Rowe, this collusion to fix profits effectively
denied the Black community the spin-off economy associated with concerts
and concert promotions, and the multiplier effect of dollars turning over
in the Black community.  Someone presented  evidence to me that was just
presented to District Judge Robert P. Patterson and Chief Judge Loretta A.
Preska of the Southern District of New York:  a summary of the
racially-charged words that were regularly used by these particular
Hollywood executives: "nigger," "spade," "colored," "monkey," "nigga,"
"uncle tom," "spook," and "coon."  It makes for depressing reading:  page
after page after page after page, the evidence provided to me shows the
last name of the particular executive and the number of times that person
used one of the above words in e-mail traffic.  It is 18 pages, with two
pages mysteriously missing, of heartbreak where specifically the word
"nigger" is used hundreds of times.  Even more to the point of "fraud upon
the Court," decisions were made in Rowe's previous case without even a
mention of the e-mail evidence.  In fact, Rowe was never given the e-mails
that produced the 18-page summary sheet although he paid for them.  Rowe's
case was dismissed by the Court at Summary Judgment.



To think that this is the way these Hollywood executives view their
African-American clients is not only appalling, but represents more than a
virtual throwback to the ignominious days of a Southern Plantation.
According to Marcus Washington who worked at William Morris*, *that company
client list has included Bill Cosby, Whoopi Goldberg, Lauryn Hill, Rihanna,
Outkast, Trya Banks, Serena Williams, LeBron James, Whitney Houston,
Maxwell, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Spike Lee, Janet Jackson, Tyler Perry,
Kanye West, Jay-Z, Usher, Halle Berry, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson, Queen
Latifah, and Denzel Washington to name a few.



The evidence of how particular Hollywood executives referred to their own
clients is available for anyone interested in seeing it.  Just click here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/93697362/Rowe-Entertainment-Inc-v-William-Morris-Agency-et-al-98-8272-Breakdown-of-Racial-Epithets-Including-Nigger-Used-By-Execs-Email-Search-Re

And who exactly are these particular Hollywood executives?  Rowe's lawsuit
is against The William Morris Agency (now known as William Morris Endeavor)
and Creative Artists Agency, the biggest and the baddest of the bunch.
(And adding political muscle to this tawdry script, William Morris Endeavor
is currently headed by Ari Emanuel, brother to the former Chief of Staff of
President Obama and now Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel.)  For many aspiring
Black entertainers, signing with these agencies represents a dream come
true.  Too bad that this new evidence brought forward in the Leonard Rowe
case shows how these agencies truly feel about African Americans when they
think no one is watching.

Sadly, Leonard Rowe is not the only witness to Hollywood’s institutional
racism.  Marcus Washington, with whom I have spoken, has his own sordid
tale of life while employed at Hollywood’s titan--The William Morris
Agency.  In published reports on the internet, Marcus, acting as his own
lawyer, filed a $25 million lawsuit alleging racial discrimination in
December 2010.  Among the many details in his 80-page complaint, Washington
said that upon his entry into William Morris’ New York office in September
of 2008, there were zero Black, zero Latino, and only one Asian-American
Agent employed out of an executive staff of 50.  Washington wrote that he
was the only Black hired into the Agent Trainee program and while he had
recently graduated from the University of Miami with his Masters in Music
Business and Entertainment Industries and helped co-manage the career of J
Records singer/songwriter and now eight-time GRAMMY® nominated artist
Jazmine Sullivan, all of his White counterparts advanced above him having
considerably fewer academic achievements and less professional work
experience.



According to Washington, William Morris immediately sought to have
Washington's case compelled into arbitration because of an arbitration
agreement Washington signed as a condition of employment.  Washington
argued that the provision which stated that “any issue” including ones of
“discrimination” and “retaliation” were to be arbitrated was
“unconscionable, tainted with illegality and *malum in se” *given the
historical evidence presented to the Court showing the company’s 113-year
history of systemic disparate treatment towards Blacks.  In July 2011,
Washington's judge ruled in favor of William Morris.  In September 2011,
Washington appealed to the Second Circuit that his lawsuit against William
Morris was erroneously compelled into arbitration, and over the last nine
months, Washington has attempted three times to have this decision reversed
so that his case can be impartially decided in a public forum by a jury
that reflects the diversity of New York City.  Each time, the Court has
denied his appeal without providing a judicial opinion.  Sadly, this
industry has been successful at keeping this type of racial discrimination
away from the eyes of a jury.  But now, after acquiring the new evidence
discovered in the Rowe case, Washington filed a motion in the Court to
introduce evidence that various attorneys at Loeb & Loeb LLP--the law firm
representing William Morris in both the Rowe and Washington cases--as well
as judges, have been involved in a corrupt conspiracy to collude and commit
“fraud upon the Court.”


Because of what Rowe felt were unreliable lawyers colluding and conspiring
with his opponents' lawyers, Rowe has joined Washington as a *pro
se*litigant in the Southern District of New York.  They both have
refiled
their cases and they are awaiting decisions from the Court.  This time
around, the Southern District Court of New York has the opportunity to do
the right thing.  Both Rowe and Washington are involved in litigation that
could produce landmark Civil Rights decisions.  Both of them are willing to
share the evidence unearthed in the Rowe case that could deal a devastating
blow to "business as usual" in the entertainment industry.


Leonard Rowe and Marcus Washington are available, together or individually,
for interviews to explain their firsthand experiences with Hollywood,
racism, or corruption in the U.S. justice system.


Leonard Rowe can be reached at roweentertain at aol.com
Marcus Washington can be reached at humanrights.areamust at gmail.com

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Silence is the deadliest weapon of mass destruction.

"The biggest weapon in the hands of the oppressors is the minds of the
oppressed." Steve Biko

"Make your spirit flexible, and nothing will ever bend you out of shape."
Wisdom by Taro Gold
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