Aretha Franklin, the ‘Queen of Soul,’ Dies at 76

Fox Host Blows Whistle on Who Was Sitting 3 Seats from Clinton at Aretha’s Funeral
https://www.westernjournal.com/fox-host-blows-whistle-sitting-3-seats-clinton-arethas-funeral/?
The Nation of Islam's Louis Farrakkhan, the Rev. Al Sharpton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and former President Bill Clinton were seated in the front row of Aretha Franklin's funeral service on Friday. Many news organizations omitted Franklin's presence from their coverage. Scott Olson / Getty Images
The Nation of Islam's Louis Farrakkhan, the Rev. Al Sharpton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and former President Bill Clinton were seated in the front row of Aretha Franklin's funeral service on Friday. Some news organizations omitted Farrakhan's presence from their coverage. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)
By Jack Davis 
September 2, 2018 at 11:47am
After Friday’s celebration of singer Aretha Franklin’s life — a celebration that preached the themes of joy and unity — Fox News host Martha MacCallum put her finger on one prominent aberration.
Seated with prominent dignitaries, in fact seated just three seats away from former President Bill Clinton, was Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who has made no secret of his hatred of Jews, gays and whites, TheBlaze reported.
“There were some beautiful performances today at Aretha Franklin’s funeral in Detroit. The guests ranging from world leaders to musical legends and one especially controversial figure seated in the front row. Many people kind of wondering what the unapologetic anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan was doing up there,” MacCallum said Friday.
“He, you know, has said awful things about Jewish people, about white people, about gay people and I thought it was never the message that I heard in Aretha Franklin’s music,” MacCallum said.
MacCallum said that despite inspiring musical performances at Franklin’s funeral, she was “distracted by Louis Farrakhan who was in every single shot.”
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“I’m thinking, ‘What was he doing there?’” MacCallum said.
Farrakhan sat next to Al Sharpton, who sat next to Jesse Jackson. Jackson sat next to Bill Clinton.
“Why was (Farrakhan) so front and center?” MacCallum asked. “It’s something that’s supposed to be about Aretha Franklin became, I thought, in many ways about some of these gentlemen who were right behind.”
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MINISTER FARRAKHAN
@LouisFarrakhan
 I was honored to be among the many who attended the beautiful funeral services in Detroit for our dear sister Aretha Franklin. She could never know how many lives her songs, her soul, have actually saved. https://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/Minister_Louis_Farrakhan_9/Aretha-Franklin-Our-Queen-And-Our-Giant.shtml …

3:39 PM - Sep 1, 2018
Kylie Patterson of the New Leaders Council told MacCallum that Franklin and Farrakhan both worked for liberation of black Americans.
“We forget that she was really at the head of the liberation movement for years,” Patterson said.
“This is her funeral. I mean, it’s her choice- who she wants there, how she wants people sitting.”
In a separate broadcast, Fox News’ Pete Pete Hegseth suggested that under different circumstances, the presence of an extremist would have become a major story.

“I just think it’s such a double standard. Imagine if the inverse were to be true and there were a white national racist there, the media would blow it up,” he said, according to Newsbusters.
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Some media organizations dealt with Farrakhan’s presence by omitting him in photos of the funeral.
Deadline noted that Franklin and Farrakhan went way back, citing a statement from Farrakhan.

“In 1972, when I was minister in New York City, Temple No 7, the police attacked our mosque. Within a few hours, Aretha Franklin came to the mosque, to my office, and said that she saw the news and came as quickly as she could to stand with us and offer us her support,” Farrakhan wrote in the Aug. 21 edition of The Final Call, a publication of the Nation of Islam.
“She asked me if Rev Jesse Jackson had been there to show support. I said, not yet. She said, he’ll be here within 48 hours. Rev Jackson came and stood with the Muslims.”
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

What Was Louis Farrakhan Doing at Aretha Franklin’s Funeral?
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/what-was-louis-farrakhan-doing-at-aretha-franklin-s-funeral-1.6442245?
Farrakhan — who has for decades been criticized for anti-Semitism and homophobia — had a prominent place on the dais at Aretha Franklin’s star-studded funeral
The Forward and Aiden Pink Sep 03, 2018 3:24 PM

Louis Farrakhan, from left, Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Jesse Jackson and former President Bill Clinton attend the funeral service for Aretha Franklin at Greater Grace Temple, Friday, Aug. 31, 2018, in Detroit
Louis Farrakhan, from left, Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Jesse Jackson and former President Bill Clinton attend the funeral service for Aretha Franklin, Friday, Aug. 31, 2018, in DetroitAP Photo/Paul Sancya
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Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan — who has for decades been criticized for anti-Semitism and homophobia — had a prominent place on the dais at Aretha Franklin’s star-studded funeral, sitting three seats away from former president Bill Clinton.

Farrakhan wrote in The Final Call, the Nation of Islam’s newspaper, that Franklin had shown support in 1972 after one of his mosques was attacked by police. “I will cherish her life, her voice, and her soul and remember her with deep and abiding love for what she did for me, our people and for all of humanity who were blessed by her time and service among us,” Farrakhan wrote.

Unlike Clinton and others he shared the stage with, including the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, Farrakhan did not deliver a eulogy or sermon. But he was greeted warmly by many also in attendance, including Detroit Pistons basketball legend Isiah Thomas, who gave him a big hug.

Thomas is now an analyst for NBATV and the team president of the New York Liberty of the Women’s National Basketball Association — a league that has prioritized outreach to gay fans and players, which is a marked contrast to Farrakhan’s longstanding homophobia.
Haaretz.com

@haaretzcom
 Should Bill Clinton have shared the stage with Louis Farrakhan at Aretha Franklin's funeral?https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/what-was-louis-farrakhan-doing-at-aretha-franklin-s-funeral-1.6442245 …
The pinned tweet on Farrakhan’s Twitter account, which was recently de-verified as part of the social media company’s purge of hate figures, includes a link to a sermon in which he promises “Thoroughly and completely unmasking the Satanic Jew and the Synagogue of Satan

Despite his decades of controversy, Farrakhan remains admired by many prominent African-Americans. He enlisted some of the world’s most famous musicians, including Stevie Wonder and Chaka Khan — both of whom also performed at Franklin’s funeral — to participate in his recent seven-album box set “Let’s Change the World.”
Farrakhan said in August that a documentary tracking his long musical career and showing the making of his album would be aired by Netflix in August, but the entertainment company quickly announced that it would not stream the film.

MSNBC Posts Disastrous Tweet About Aretha Franklin Attendees, Blatantly Removes Farrakhan from Image
https://www.westernjournal.com/ct/msnbc-posts-disastrous-tweet-aretha-franklin-attendees-blatantly-removes-farrakhan-image/?utm_source=push&utm_medium=conservativetribune&utm_content=2018-09-02&utm_campaign=manualpost
BY CILLIAN ZEAL 
SEPTEMBER 2, 2018 AT 6:35AM
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Singing star Aretha Franklin was laid to rest last week in an affair befitting a queen. And that’s how it should have been — she was the Queen of Soul, after all, not to mention a national treasure whose music will likely be as resonant a century from now as it is today.

That said, the funeral produced some news of its own, none of it befitting Franklin’s legacy. There was Bill Clinton demonstrating what they mean when they talk about the “male gaze,” and a pastor touching pop singer Ariana Grande in what many viewers thought was an inappropriate manner.

While that generated plenty of tweets and retweets, one thing didn’t — at least not at first. And yet, it might have been the most egregious thing that happened at the funeral — at least, as far as the media was involved.

Much like other media outlets, MSNBC live-tweeted Franklin’s funeral pretty extensively. One of the network’s tweets captured MSNBC personality/teleprompter-slaughterer Al Sharpton, civil rights icon Jesse Jackson and former President Bill Clinton together:
MSNBC

@MSNBC
 · Aug 31, 2018
Replying to @MSNBC
pic.twitter.com/DgACiZIp9U
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MSNBC

@MSNBC
Rev. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and fmr. President Bill Clinton attend Aretha Franklin's funeral celebration. http://nbcnews.to/2wwoVST  pic.twitter.com/hI7Z4GtvnV

4:02 PM - Aug 31, 2018
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TRENDING: MSNBC Posts Disastrous Tweet About Aretha Franklin Attendees, Blatantly Removes Farrakhan from Image

A dignified shot of the three men. There was a slight problem in the editing, however. Well, probably not as far as MSNBC was concerned, but there was something out of frame Twitter users may have wanted to know about:

https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1035984187688251392

That guy on the far left, of course, is Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam, who was given a relatively conspicuous seat at the funeral. Franklin’s relationship with Farrakhan was one of the less-savory aspects of her personality, and it had lasted decades.

“In 1972, when I was minister in New York City, Temple No 7, the police attacked our mosque. Within a few hours, Aretha Franklin came to the mosque, to my office, and said that she saw the news and came as quickly as she could to stand with us and offer us her support,” Farrakhan said in a statement after her death, according to Deadline.

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“She asked me if Rev Jesse Jackson had been there to show support. I said, not yet. She said, he’ll be here within 48 hours. Rev Jackson came and stood with the Muslims.”

Well, okay, Farrakhan is a controversial figure. But as self-professed follower of Farrakhan Chuck D of Public Enemy once advised us in The Real Hip Hop, don’t tell me that you understand until you hear the man. So, all right — let’s do just that.

Farrakhan on Jews (The Weekly Standard): “Don’t you forget, when it’s God who puts you in the ovens, it’s forever!”

Farrakhan on Jews and certain German leaders (The New York Times): “The Jews don’t like Farrakhan, so they call me Hitler. Well, that’s a good name. Hitler was a very great man.”

Farrakhan on Jews again (Jewish Virtual Library): “I believe that for the small numbers of Jewish people in the United States, they exercise a tremendous amount of influence on the affairs of government …Yes, they exercise extraordinary control, and black people will never be free in this country until they are free of that kind of control … “

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Farrakhan on white people (The U.K. Guardian): “White people are potential humans — they haven’t evolved yet.”

Farrakhan on America (Yellow Hammer News): “America is in trouble, and I say God is about to wipe this nation from the face of the Earth. I’m not crazy, I’m not drunk, how long do you think a nation can do evil and not face the wrath of God?”

Farrakhan on Hollywood (and oh yeah, Jews) (The U.K. Guardian): “I don’t own Hollywood. Who depicted black people? Who writes the books? Who writes the plays, the songs that make us look less than human? Do you mean to tell me that Jews have never done any evil to black people?”

I think I can now tell Mr. D that I do understand the man, yes. However, according to the rap legend, I’m still apparently just one of those conspiracy folks having a field day by, um, accurately stating the facts:


Chuck D

@MrChuckD
 @ArianaGrande singing tribute to The Queen funeral in Detroit with @LouisFarrakhan Rev Jax @ALSHARPTON_REV and Pres @BillClinton ...The conspiracy Folks probably gonna have a field day speculating-but the fact is that Aretha Franklin ushered this moment of cultural reSpect for US

5:33 PM - Aug 31, 2018
39
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Well, whatever. I don’t think that Franklin’s mistaken association with Farrakhan should take away from an otherwise amazing life.

But let’s not kid ourselves: It was a mistake. An association with a hate figure isn’t a good look on anyone, no matter what they’ve done for music or civil rights. The fact that these three men, including a former president, were willing to stand in close proximity to Farrakhan also won’t win them any awards for solid judgment.

And as for the media (ABC also cropped out Farrakhan,as Twitchy noted), editing Farrakhan out of the picture does no favors to Franklin or to the truth. If anything, it prolongs our discussion of a critical lapse in judgment — not Franklin’s, but the media’s. And from the standpoint of the mainstream media’s already diminished credibility, the decision is nothing short of disastrous.

If this is what they’re cropping out of just one picture, what else is being cropped out of the narrative?

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

Internet Explodes After Seeing What Bill Clinton Was Caught Doing at Aretha Franklin’s Funeral
https://www.westernjournal.com/ct/internet-explodes-seeing-bill-clinton-caught-aretha-franklins-funeral/?utm_source=push&utm_medium=conservativetribune&utm_content=2018-09-01&utm_campaign=manualpost
BY CILLIAN ZEAL 
SEPTEMBER 1, 2018 AT 9:40AM
There hasn’t been a time, at least in recent months, where I noticed Bill Clinton’s name trending on Twitter and thought it was a pleasant augury.

Clicking on that link never brought you to a story that said something like, oh, “Bill Clinton volunteering to build houses in flood-ravaged Haiti” or “Former President Clinton reads Dr. Seuss book to orphans.”

It’s always stuff like, “Bill Clinton isn’t sure Al Franken should have resigned for allegedly sexually harassing women the same way he allegedly sexually harassed women” or “Bill Clinton gets angry at an interviewer for bringing up the fact his behavior with the distaff gender probably wouldn’t fly today.” (These weren’t actual Twitter headlines, but don’t spoil my dream here.)

However, I was slightly hopeful when I saw that a clip of Bill Clinton from Aretha Franklin’s funeral was making the rounds. For his multifarious faults, Clinton has always been known for openly revering his favorite musicians. I always found that kind of quaint and sweet until I remembered literally everything else he had ever done.

So maybe this wasn’t so bad this time — right?

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And then I saw the clip involved Ariana Grande singing in front of the president, and I knew we were all doomed:

 WATCH 

Tim Young

@TimRunsHisMouth
 Gross... Watch Bill Clinton look Ariana Grande up and down when she sings at #ArethaFranklinFuneral and try not to throw up in your mouth.

The Secret Jewish History of Aretha Franklin
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/queen-of-soul-aretha-franklin-has-died-1.6386781?utm_campaign=General&utm_medium=web_push&utm_source=Push_Notification
To understand the close ties between the singer Aretha Franklin and Jewish musicians, writers, and performers, one need not have seen the 1982 TV special starring Rodney Dangerfield

The Forward, The Associated Press and Benjamin Ivry Aug 16, 2018 6:31 PM
AFP
Aretha Franklin, the long-reigning “Queen of Soul” who sang with matchless style on such classics as “Think” and her signature song, “Respect,” died Thursday at age 76, said her representative, Gwendolyn Quinn.

The cause was advanced pancreatic cancer.

To understand the close ties between the singer Aretha Franklin and Jewish musicians, writers, and performers, one need not have seen the 1982 TV special starring Rodney Dangerfield (born Jacob Cohen) in which the comedian who famously got no respect feigns singing backup on Franklin’s 1967 recording of the song “Respect.” The concept of respect was as vital in reality to Franklin as an African-American woman as it was in jest to Dangerfield’s onstage character. The song which it inspired would again be featured by Dangerfield during the end credits for his comedy film “Back to School” (1986).


Franklin’s choice to cover “Respect,” originally written and recorded as a macho demand for domestic deference by Otis Redding, was due to the American Jewish producer Jerry Wexler (1917–2008), born in the Bronx of Polish and German ancestry. Wexler, who also played a significant role in the early career of Ray Charles, among others, has been called the “funky Jewish king of black music.” Stephen Whitfield’s “In Search of American Jewish Culture” points to the empathy that Wexler felt for the African American struggle for civil rights, quoting him as follows: “As a Jew, I didn’t think I identified with the underclass, I was the underclass.” Wexler’s astuteness and understanding made a difference in many music careers, not least Franklin’s. Working with her sisters Erma and Carolyn as backup singers, Franklin added to Redding’s original song the spelled-out word R-E-S-P-E-C-T, the significant abbreviation TCB (for taking care of business), and the raucous choral interjection, “Sock it to me, Sock it to me, Sock it to me.” Wexler’s further interpolations included the majestic tenor saxophone playing of King Curtis, who would perform with the organist Billy Preston on Franklin’s 1971 album “Aretha Live at Fillmore West,” galvanizing American pop music.

As Michael Billig’s “Rock and Roll Jews” notes, Wexler also alerted Franklin about American Jewish songwriters, including Burt Bacharach, whose “I Say a Little Prayer” she covered in 1968. Even more indelibly, in 1967 Wexler invented the song title “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.” In a memoir, Wexler recalled how after having had this brainstorm, he assigned two Jewish songwriters, Carole King (born Carol Klein) and Gerry Goffin, to produce a tune for Franklin based on the title. The result was yet another iconic pop anthem. Franklin’s blend of gospel roots and glamorous, alluring vocal texture made “Natural Woman” into a giant hit.

Other Jewish songwriters and African-American performers shared similar collaborations. Franklin’s sister Erma, an elegant singer with a relatively brief career, was the first to record the love song “Piece of My Heart” by Jerry Ragovoy, of Hungarian Jewish ancestry, and Bert Berns, of Russian Jewish roots. According to Jon Stratton’s “Jews, Race and Popular Music,”, Erma Franklin drew on the gospel background which she shared with her sisters to make “Piece of My Heart” into an emotional, quasi-spiritual plea. Despite the attractions of her 1967 version, the song became a major hit only a year later, when it was covered by Big Brother and the Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin as lead vocalist.

In 1971, in yet another unforgettable cover, Aretha Franklin recorded “Spanish Harlem,” a song created by three Jewish pop music stalwarts, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, and the now disgraced Phil Spector. As these shared cultural experiences accumulated with her acclaimed recordings, some listeners drew ethical or moral conclusions from Franklin’s creative and interpretive accomplishments. In a book about parent-child relationships which appeared in 2011 from the Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Rabbi Michael J. Broyde, professor of law at Emory University and former member of the Beth Din of America, explained how he was inspired by Franklin’s song “Respect.” Rabbi Broyde concluded that respect should be the essential component of the parent-child relationship from a Jewish ethical standpoint, even surpassing love. He added in a footnote: “To my dismay, this is also the first citation to Aretha Franklin in my work or, as far as I can tell, other works of Jewish law.” A useful precedent may have been set for interpreting halakha.


Another Jewish response to the songs of Aretha Franklin can be found in the playwright Wendy Wasserstein’s “An American Daughter” (1996). In Wasserstein’s play, one character chides another that “there is actual music past Aretha Franklin and the Beatles,” to which the reply is: “But I don’t like music past Aretha Franklin and the Beatles.”
 
Without necessarily sharing this viewpoint, music lovers today may concur that Franklin and other African-American performers, in close collaboration with Jewish colleagues, reached an apogee in popular music that is unlikely to be surpassed. Her biographer Mark Bego cites an interview given by Franklin to Jet Magazine in November 1970. Advocating a melting pot or tzimmes of identities and influences, she rejected categories or rigid identities in her music. Rather than stark identity politics, what mattered to Franklin was the communicative virtue of soulfulness, which she must have sensed in Jerry Wexler and other valued Jewish colleagues. This melding of cultures, styles, and sensibilities was somewhat ambiguously articulated in the article, which quotes Franklin as saying: “It’s not cool to be Jewish, or Negro, or Italian. It’s just cool to be alive, to be around. You don’t have to be Black to have soul.” Franklin’s point was that roots alone were no guarantee of coolness. Identity per se was not to be admired unless other positive elements accompanied it. These favorable aspects, as possessed by Wexler and songwriters in Franklin’s entourage, were essential for the shared public discourse which the world prized in her singing.

Franklin’s tzimmes approach has inspired new generations of listeners and musicians. One such is Joshua Nelson, an African-American gospel-inspired singer who has sung onstage at Franklin’s concerts as her opening act. After studies at Hebrew Union College and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Nelson became a full-time Hebrew language instructor at Sharey Tefilo-Israel, a Reform temple in South Orange, New Jersey. In an interview from 2006, Nelson praised Franklin for mixing soul elements with rhythm and blues in music, by her own example validating his own amalgamated status as a champion of Hebrew culture and African-American music.

Aretha Franklin - I Say A Little Prayer: her very best performance!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ifw8JhDBvs&ab_channel=49metal