Joseph B. Brown, more commonly known as Judge Joe Brown, is an accomplished lawyer, a celebrated television personality, and a full-fledged, whole ass hotep.
And before you go, “No, he isn’t!” thus, forcing me to retort with, “Uhhh, yes the hell he is!” did you hear what he said about Harriet Tubman? Probably not, since we as a society stopped paying attention to Judge Joe Brown or his mustache eons ago. But because it’s my solemn duty at The Root to keep you abreast of such matters, allow me to explain why Judge Joe Brown doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as us—or the rest of the universe.
Earlier this month, Brown engaged in a spirited debate with the human Nigerian email scam himself: Dr. Umar Johnson. During said debate, Brown ranted, raved, and railed against an imaginary feminist agenda and voiced his displeasure at the Obama Administration’s decision to replace Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill.
“This movie is to soften the public up to the idea of taking a black woman who freed slaves by leading them to freedom and getting her or another one like her on a $20 bill,” he fumed. “They can’t get a white woman, so they want a black woman. They don’t care, they just want a woman, and it downs masculinity.”
Not hotep enough for you? Well, he wasn’t done yet.
He continued, “The status of an ethnic group is determined by its men, not its women, and putting a black woman on there before a black man is insulting to the black race because you’re saying the men ain’t worth a damn [when] you put a woman up there first.”
Still not hotep enough? Well, here’s what he had to say about feminists:
“They can go straight to hell, and I know they hate themselves ’cause they got two X chromosomes instead of an XY. They are fraudulent, self-hating, and they’re sick.”
I can’t say I’m surprised by any of this imbecilic drivel, considering this is the same guy who’s habitually blamed women for pretty much everything wrong in society, and Brown doesn’t want you to be surprised either.
But what Brown fails to realize is that just because we celebrate black women doesn’t mean it’s at the expense of black men. This is quite literally the same argument white people make against BET, proper seasoning, and just about anything else celebrating our beautiful black ass selves.
I don’t recall anyone ever saying “You know, Billy Dee Williams would look great on a $20 bill, but maybe we should put Harriet Tubman on there instead since he has a penis and it’d be a great way to elbow drop masculinity.”
Brown sounds like a whole ass idiot spewing this nonsense:
But instead of giving this dumb ass any more attention, I suggest you check out Harriet—which stars Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom Jr., and Janelle Monae—and learn exactly why the iconic freedom fighter and abolitionist not only deserves to be on the $20 bill, but every other bill too.