By now most of you, unless you've been living under a rock either saw Sunday's Football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Sea-Hawks and it's aftermath....If you didn't see the game and I admit..I only saw the fourth quarter, you at least know two things...Sportscaster,Pam Oliver had on a bad weave...
He went on a kind of tirade, declaring himself the best shut down cornerback in the NFL, deriding Crabtree and scaring the beejezzus out of the little blonde ,white woman who was interviewing him...
I viewed it originally as arrogant and bad sportsmanship on his part...You could take it or leave it...Social media exploded though with racist tweets and statuses from some of the more ignorant citizens in our republic...calling the man a "Thug" and a "Coon". One person named "Derek" said to give him a break because the next day, Martin Luther King's birthday holiday ,which this guy would probably be celebrating himself..was "National Nigger Day."
New England Quarterback Tom Brady cusses his receivers and backs out after a Patriots loss and he is called "Passionate"...Pittsburg Steeler's Quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger allegedly raped two girls and though he has never been charged with the crimes...He has never been called a rapist or a thug...Yet Mike Vick and now this guy,Richard Sherman are villified by some white sports fans...
Most Black people know the deal...That we still live in a country where there are two seperate sets of rules ...A set for white boys and a set for black people in general. I know that by me saying that ,they will say that I'm playing the so called race card and that I am a reverse racist...Whatever the hell that is. So be it.. It's true and if they could be honest, they would admit it.
Could Sherman have toned down his enthusiasm some? Yes.. Could he have shown better sportsmanship?? Sure?? Does he deserve to be called a gorilla, a coon, a thug?? HELL NO!
As my Frat brother Lmani S. Viney said and I quote-
"As Black men we often have had our voices marginalized. How many of us have been told to be careful how we speak? How many times have we seen Black men demonized for being outspoken? Remember Dez Bryant? People were up in arms calling him a bad teammate UNTIL they heard what he really said. Remember Nolan Richardson? The only coach to win a NCAA championship but after speaking out about institutional racism couldn't find a job.
Oh but you say thats sports? Ok. Remember President Obama? Yeah that's right. Remember when he spoke out in defense of one of the most respected academics-Henry Louis Gates-getting arrested in his own house by saying the police acted "stupidly" and caught hell on earth from it and had to apologize to every single person in the world it seemed."
The Sherman Controversy wouldn't even be a controversy if the cowards who flood social media hadn't brought race into it...They say hateful things under code names that would never say to a Black person's face or around other Black people...
So I ask...Who was playing the race card this time?
3 comments:
Tell it Brother!
Word!
Keith, I know this brother's feelings in this situation. There is still a double standard when it comes to expressing emotion. Many people viewing African Americans are fearful. I think they are afraid that their past actions will be reciprocated. You know, their grandmothers and grandfathers brutalized our grandmothers and grandfathers. The belief is that we want revenge, and we're just waiting to pay them back for 400 years of slavery. Their response is to FEAR! That's why they need so many guns and the right to fire when they FEEL threatened. (Just last week tossed kernels of popcorn became "deadly weapons.")
My black coworkers and I are usually called upon to do "set up" work. Our white coworkers do the "public presentations" even though it's the "black" knowledge and expertise that keeps us afloat.
Race is a false social construct. It's hate!!
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