Black Reporter Attacks Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

A little-known journalist insults the intelligence of African Americans in a childish attack on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

I was shocked by the fact that a Black man, by the name of Ja’han Jones, launched a pathetic attack on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in an article he wrote entitled: RFK Jr. Courts Black Conspiracy Theorists On Hip-Hop Podcast.

https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/rfk-jr-covid-conspiracy-math-hoffa-podcast-rcna97409

His article should be a case study on bad journalism. It is nothing but emotional attacks without any evidence against Mr. Kennedy, and he expects African American people to accept his absurd claims like gullible children without scrutinizing anything.  He seems to think that unsubstantiated emotional accusations are all that is needed to get Black Americans nodding in agreement. Fortunately, African Americans are not as dumb as Ja’han Jones seems to think.

When I started to read Ja’han Jones’ article, the first question that came to mind was: “Who is this guy?” Where did he come from and who appointed him as a leader in the African American Community?”  In my conversations with various people who are part of the activist community among African Americans, I have never heard his name come up once!  I have been on the frontlines with Reverend Al Sharpton and other groups over the years, but I have never seen him once at any of these events.  Therefore, when did this guy establish any credibility in our community?  Why should any African American bother to even listen to him?

As I forced myself to read through his barrage of baseless unsubstantiated verbal assaults against Mr. Kennedy, it reminded me of my childhood growing up in the Bronx of New York.  When two guys had a disagreement with each other, they would often engage in what we called “Sounding.” It was also called: “The Dozens.” 

Essentially, they would throw verbal insults at each other with a crowd gathered around each of them and cheering on the one who could come up with the funniest insults.  Often the attacks were about the person’s mother.  Some examples of these types of insults would be: “Your mother is so ugly that it is illegal for her to come out during the day.” Another could be: “Your mother is so fat that the ground shakes every time she walks.”  These types of verbal attacks were meant to cut deep and cause the crowd to laugh the loudest. Of course, there were no facts presented and there was no logic to any of it.  The goal was to have the greatest emotional impact on the crowd.  This is exactly what Jones does in his barrage of meaningless accusations against Mr. Kennedy.

After I read his article for the first time, I noted two important things.  Nowhere in his article did Jones quote anything that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. actually said in the podcast interview with Math Hoffa. Despite all of the attacks on Robert Kennedy Jr., Jones was unwilling to present even one direct quote from Mr. Kennedy. I have seen this tactic before when I was interviewed by the New York Times about a forum I organized with Reverend Al Sharpton on AIDS.  The reporter, who also attended the forum, did not quote any of the speakers at the forum. I had doctors, scientists, and others who spoke, but instead of sharing some quotes from them, he chose to quote some people who were not even part of the forum!  Of course, their comments misrepresented the brilliant information that was shared at that forum.

Furthermore, Jones failed to prove anything that Mr. Kennedy said in that interview, or anywhere else, was factually incorrect!  Instead, Jones chose to dance around the accuracy of Mr. Kennedy’s statements. Anyone who is familiar with RFK Jr. knows that he is very serious about getting the facts straight. Kennedy has fact checkers who literally check everything that Mr. Kennedy publishes in his books and articles as well as what is published on the website of his organization: Children’s Health Defense.  In his book: The Real Anthony Fauci, Mr. Kennedy has over 2,000 references.  As a Harvard-trained lawyer and graduate of the London School of Economics, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. knows the importance of getting the facts straight. This is why Jones chose to throw out accusations at Mr. Kennedy rather than prove that anything he said was factually incorrect.

In addition, Jones made the outrageous and absurd accusation that RFK Jr. is a bigot!  He called Mr. Kennedy: “a bigoted conspiracy theorist….” Such a dramatic claim would require very compelling evidence, but Jones failed to produce any such evidence.  Instead, he provided a single reference to a comment Mr. Kennedy made regarding a study on how COVID-19 impacted different racial groups.  The study found that Black people and White people were impacted the most.   

How on Earth does mentioning a study justify Jones making the extraordinary claim that somehow Mr. Kennedy is a bigot?  This makes no sense!  What Jones did was completely unethical and a vicious assault on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the reputation of his family which has a longstanding history of supporting the African American Community.  Jones is an embarrassment to African American people who respect and revere the Kennedy family!

In his article, Jones also made several references to Mr. Kennedy and his supposed misinformation regarding vaccines.  I found those suggestions to be laughable.  RFK Jr. is an outstanding researcher including with regards to vaccines.  I should know because I have been researching and writing about vaccines for over 30 years. I remember reading some of Robert Kennedy’s reports on the link between autism and vaccines.  I was blown away by the depth of his research and his extensive references.

Over time I have seen many other presentations by Mr. Kennedy on vaccines and each time he revealed startling information.  I have also done interviews with him on vaccines and I was always amazed by his extensive knowledge and the fact that he had such command of the subject that he often did not need notes when he did interviews or gave lectures.  In addition, for years Mr. Kennedy has been willing to publicly debate doctors and scientists, but they have all been too scared to debate him.  If Mr. Kennedy was so wrong about vaccines, you would think that they would jump at the chance to debate him, but instead, they stick their heads in the ground and hid from Mr. Kennedy.

Given all of this, how on Earth does Jones feel that he is qualified to criticize Mr. Kennedy regarding vaccines? Jones has not written one book on vaccines, nor has he produced one report on vaccines.  If Jones has done so, I would love to see them! 

Even though the title of Jones’ article is about Kennedy being interviewed on a Black podcast show, 98% of what he wrote had nothing to do with what was actually said in that interview!  Instead, Jones jumps around from one baseless accusation against Kennedy after another.  Jones even goes so far as to accuse the host of the show as representing a: “hypermasculine element of Black culture.”  I had to wonder what the heck he was talking about because it had nothing to do with the interview.  I could not initially understand what Jones had against male masculinity.

                                                      This is Ja’han Jones

I have found that the best way to understand what a public figure is really all about is by listening to what they have actually said in their speeches, interviews, and in print.  The same is true for RFK Jr. There is plenty of such material online.  People can also go to the Children’s Health Defense website:

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/

Jones’ assault on RFK Jr. is nothing more than emotional nonsense not based on facts and fails to prove anything.  Most African Americans are astute enough to see through his biased, childish nonsense.

By Curtis Cost