February 25, 2008
Nets Stadium Has 99 Problems, But Kool Herc Ain't One
Bronx legend Clive Campbell, who as DJ Kool Herc is widely credited as one of hip-hop’s founding fathers, is not suing Jay-Z, developer Bruce Ratner and Barclays bank, as previously reported by the Observer online. The $5 billion lawsuit is being brought by a much less famous Brooklyn activist also named Clive Campbell, and the mix-up is probably a big publicity boon for his lawsuit, as it echoed far and wide across the internets before the Observer corrected it. Campbell is demanding the money as slavery reparations because of Barclays’ history with the slave trade; the bank has secured the naming rights for the controversial Nets stadium Ratner is trying to build at Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards, which would be part of a bigger residential development.
Jay-Z is part-owner of the New Jersey Nets and has been an enthusiastic supporter of the project, which some local residents have been fighting to stop. Campbell’s suit is being brought in conjunction with Da Black Defense League, which is headquartered on Fulton Street in Brooklyn, and has a MySpace page that identifies the group as “a patriotic organization within the confines of the United States Constitution and have yet to draft a Black Defense League Constitution.” The suit, which was to be officially filed in court today, asserts:
Barclays profited from the African Slave Trade and continue to profit from these gains, through a conspiracy dating back hundreds of years and continue to date to oppress Black people, enslave them, unlawfully deport them to all corners of the Earth.Barclays has vehemently denied the widespread allegations of slave trade profiteering and Forest City Ratner, the development group behind the Atlantic Yards project, insists the suit has no legal merit.
Photo: Ryan Dombal.
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Jay-Z in bed with a bank that made money off of slavery. Not shocking considering Jay-Z is just a smuck with little substance and a big concern for the cheddar.
Sad thing is black kids all around the city worship him.
"Da Black Defense League"?!?! More like Duh Black Defense League. Who is supposed to take that seriously? Gangsta does not equal legitimacy anywhere but in some idiot bully's head on the playground.
this is a tired argument
if you try hard enough you can claim nearly every bank (consider most banks are made up of hundreds of banks that have been bought over the years) has somehow profited from the slave trade
and how many readers on here don't in someway deal with a bank?
same argument goes for sweatshop labor
how many readers on here know where every single piece of clothing they own was made and by whom?
come on now-- blacks are always criticized for not re-investing in their own neighborhoods, but that's exactly what Jay-Z is doing here. This should be applauded and emulated in the community. What, is he not keeping it real enough by doing business with a bank? Our government supported slavery too, and all those people have been dead for a hundred years. How is dealing with the bank any more of a moral issue than being a US citizen? As for the development itself, sure, there are some people who are going to be unhappy about the project, but this development is very clearly a net gain for the area (no pun intended).
Slave reparations, sure. I can see, OK ... every black person gets a check for $10,000. Comes down to $5,000 after taxes. Here's $5,000 ... how many lottery tickets and Air Jordans can you buy.
They may have somthing here. The Jewish Reparations Bill was passed in 1998.
Agnostic Fart:
"Schmuck". It's spelled schmuck you schmuck.
I bet you're not even Jewish.