This is about race and sports. Please move if you think it is better suited in the soap box.

This was written by a black columnist for Fox Sports. It's rather controversial (and you'll read why). The author brings up excellent points, although I'll have to check the statistics for black on black crime versus white on white crime to see if the former is drastically higher than the latter to make an educated opinion. For some reason, when we see a story where a black man kills a black man, it's painted as "black on black crime." However, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer... they're never painted as "white on white crime."

Quote :

"Taylor's death a grim reminder for us all Jason Whitlock / FOXSports.com Posted: 5 days ago EDITOR'S NOTE: This column originally appeared Wednesday, two days before Friday's arrests of four men in the shooting death of Sean Taylor. There's a reason I call them the Black KKK. The pain, the fear and the destruction are all the same. Someone who loved Sean Taylor is crying right now. The life they knew has been destroyed, an 18-month-old baby lost her father, and, if you're a black man living in America, you've been reminded once again that your life is in constant jeopardy of violent death. The Black KKK claimed another victim, a high-profile professional football player with a checkered past this time. No, we don't know for certain the circumstances surrounding Taylor's death. I could very well be proven wrong for engaging in this sort of aggressive speculation. But it's no different than if you saw a fat man fall to the ground clutching his chest. You'd assume a heart attack, and you'd know, no matter the cause, the man needed to lose weight. Well, when shots are fired and a black man hits the pavement, there's every statistical reason to believe another black man pulled the trigger. That's not some negative, unfair stereotype. It's a reality we've been living with, tolerating and rationalizing for far too long. When the traditional, white KKK lynched, terrorized and intimidated black folks at a slower rate than its modern-day dark-skinned replacement, at least we had the good sense to be outraged and in no mood to contemplate rationalizations or be fooled by distractions. Our new millennium strategy is to pray the Black KKK goes away or ignores us. How's that working? About as well as the attempt to shift attention away from this uniquely African-American crisis by focusing on an "injustice" the white media allegedly perpetrated against Sean Taylor. Within hours of his death, there was a story circulating that members of the black press were complaining that news outlets were disrespecting Taylor's victimhood by reporting on his troubled past No disrespect to Taylor, but he controlled the way he would be remembered by the way he lived. His immature, undisciplined behavior with his employer, his run-ins with law enforcement, which included allegedly threatening a man with a loaded gun, and the fact a vehicle he owned was once sprayed with bullets are all pertinent details when you've been murdered. Marcellus Wiley, a former NFL player, made the radio circuit Wednesday, singing the tune that athletes are targets. That was his explanation for the murders of Taylor and Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams and the armed robberies of NBA players Antoine Walker and Eddy Curry. Really? Let's cut through the bull(manure) and deal with reality. Black men are targets of black men. Period. Go check the coroner's office and talk with a police detective. These bullets aren't checking W-2s. Rather than whine about white folks' insensitivity or reserve a special place of sorrow for rich athletes, we'd be better served mustering the kind of outrage and courage it took in the 1950s and 1960s to stop the white KKK from hanging black men from trees. But we don't want to deal with ourselves. We take great joy in prescribing medicine to cure the hate in other people's hearts. Meanwhile, our self-hatred, on full display for the world to see, remains untreated, undiagnosed and unrepentant. Our self-hatred has been set to music and reinforced by a pervasive culture that promotes a crab-in-barrel mentality. You're damn straight I blame hip hop for playing a role in the genocide of American black men. When your leading causes of death and dysfunction are murder, ignorance and incarceration, there's no reason to give a free pass to a culture that celebrates murder, ignorance and incarceration. Make your voice heard... This story has touched off some very spirited debate. If you would like to join in, it is being discussed on our community page. Of course there are other catalysts, but until we recapture the minds of black youth, convince them that it's not OK to "super man dat ho" and end any and every dispute by "cocking on your bitch," nothing will change. Does a Soulja Boy want an education? HBO did a fascinating documentary on Little Rock Central High School, the Arkansas school that required the National Guard so that nine black kids could attend in the 1950s. Fifty years later, the school is one of the nation's best in terms of funding and educational opportunities. It's 60 percent black and located in a poor black community. Watch the documentary and ask yourself why nine poor kids in the '50s risked their lives to get a good education and a thousand poor black kids today ignore the opportunity that is served to them on a platter. Blame drugs, blame Ronald Reagan, blame George Bush, blame it on the rain or whatever. There's only one group of people who can change the rotten, anti-education, pro-violence culture our kids have adopted. We have to do it. According to reports, Sean Taylor had difficulty breaking free from the unsavory characters he associated with during his youth. The "keepin' it real" mantra of hip hop is in direct defiance to evolution. There's always someone ready to tell you you're selling out if you move away from the immature and dangerous activities you used to do, you're selling out if you speak proper English, embrace education, dress like a grown man, do anything mainstream. The Black KKK is enforcing the same crippling standards as its parent organization. It wants to keep black men in their place — uneducated, outside the mainstream and six feet deep. In all likelihood, the Black Klan and its mentality buried Sean Taylor, and any black man or boy reading this could be next. "

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7499442

12/6/2007 9:25:17 AM

Yes, we listen to Mike and Mike too.

Welcome to last week.

12/6/2007 9:30:11 AM

Either you can contribute to the thread or you can shut the fuck up.

No one has posted this column yet and I wanted to see others opinions.


So I'll repeat. Shut the fuck up.

12/6/2007 9:31:04 AM

I agree with this article, just like the last one Whitlock wrote about black athletes. Its a breath of fresh air for someone to call these assholes out, especially a black reporter

12/6/2007 9:37:04 AM

why couldnt this go into the other Sean Taylor threads?
and yeah, we also listen to Jim Rome who had Whit on last week in which he pretty much discussed this

12/6/2007 9:38:24 AM

^ and ^^^
The article was already posted in the Sean Taylor thread.

http://www.brentroad.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=503673&page=6

12/6/2007 9:40:14 AM

thank you.

If you want to can it you can, but I thought we could have an intelligent conversation as opposed to a link in a thread.

[Edited on December 6, 2007 at 9:41 AM. Reason : .]

12/6/2007 9:40:23 AM

Isn't it a well-documented fact at this point that Jason Whitlock hates black people?

12/6/2007 10:19:16 AM

12/6/2007 11:22:48 AM

^excellent play.

12/6/2007 11:29:32 AM

Quote :

"Isn't it a well-documented fact at this point that Jason Whitlock hates black people?"

Holding people accountable for their own actions is hating them? Man, my parents must have really hated me.

12/6/2007 11:40:48 AM

How dare he speak out and criticize the internal / self-destruction occuring in the communities of his fellow black people

12/6/2007 11:43:57 AM

I agree with lots of what he's saying - but some of it doesn't really make any sense. He contradicted himself a few times in that article - but at least half of his points are 100% valid.

12/6/2007 12:00:06 PM

White people will agree with this, black people won't.

12/6/2007 12:53:18 PM

Quote :

"but some of it doesn't really make any sense. He contradicted himself a few times in that article -"

Which parts? I'm interested to hear a black mans perspective.

12/6/2007 1:17:35 PM

Quote :

"Yes, we listen to Mike and Mike too. Welcome to last week."

HAHAHHA

I couldn't agree more.

12/6/2007 1:56:00 PM

Quote :

"Either you can contribute to the thread or you can shut the fuck up. No one has posted this column yet and I wanted to see others opinions. So I'll repeat. Shut the fuck up."

HAHAHHA

I couldn't agree more.

12/6/2007 1:59:29 PM

This reminds me of what Obama had to say about the situation with black people(not athletes). He said that you can't throw money at the problem and expect things to change. He said you have to change the culture. He said you can do things to help, but at some point the population as a whole has to become accountable for themselves. I respect that.


Call me a racist or whatever but both of them are dead on. These kids get locked into their situation and they have people telling them that its ok to be poor as fuck cause you can sell drugs and rob people to get out. Same shit happens to poor white people. Its the attitude that they dont have to do shit for themselves that perpetuates its self from the parents on down. Nobody is there to tell people "you cant have a kid when you're 14 because you fuck up your own life, then you fuck up your kids life, their kids life...." and so on. It just seems worse in the black community because you have people out there making millions of dollars to yell on a record that this shit is cool.

12/6/2007 2:07:54 PM

Quote :

"if you're a black man living in America, you've been reminded once again that your life is in constant jeopardy of violent death."

stopped reading

12/6/2007 2:16:41 PM

he certainly uses some extremes to attempt to get his point across, but he makes some good points

i mean plenty of black folks live in a way where if you even make eye contact with a stranger it could get bad...shit like that is the crabs in a pot type theory...don't wanna see someone succeed so you'd rather pull them back down with you

course there are people like this of any race/background, and there are good people who dont live like this in any background...but in 2007 america, i think he makes some good points

12/6/2007 2:25:59 PM

he has the right ideas about "hip-hop culture", perhaps too blunt of a delivery. and that goes for every article he writes, not just this one.

12/6/2007 3:22:34 PM

Too blunt of a delivery? Were talking about a culture he has labeled Black KKK, a player who has a shady past, and who was murdered during a robbery...how can you not be "blunt" when discussing this situation?

'Blunt' is exactly what the culture needs. An awakening.

12/6/2007 3:29:47 PM

but it makes him come off as someone who just hates black people.

12/6/2007 3:45:10 PM

I see what he's trying to do, but he's making generalizations about a large population. LOTS of blacks feel the way he does about this issue - but he's trying to act like he's the only one that feels that way... so he just ends up looking like an ignorant dick.

12/6/2007 3:51:54 PM

i like his ideas, too many black columnists just take the hip hop culture for what it is instead of attacking everything that is wrong with it

12/6/2007 3:52:31 PM

12/6/2007 4:07:47 PM

Quote :

"but it makes him come off as someone who just hates black people."

well he himself is black, which i think bears repeating because initially reading his views some might say "wow this is one racist white guy"

however to quote the great Chubb Rock, "I love black people but I can't stand niggas"

i think thats kind of what he's getting at

12/6/2007 4:30:51 PM

i don't disagree (and i know he's black). it just seems like anyone who he's trying to reach out to are just going to be offended by what he's saying.

12/6/2007 4:33:43 PM

Quote :

"but it makes him come off as someone who just hates black people."

If that is your opinion, so be it, but I don't think it sounds like he is hating black people at all, just hating on anyone (black, white, otherwise) that is perpetuating the "fuck these bitches, I'm ghetto fab" culture. I don't think he should have to qualify statements with "white people aren't immune to this either" if he is a black guy.

I'll side with some of you that, if we want to get past color, then this should be a problem that transcends color lines, and just because this guy is black shouldn't give him a free pass to attempt to narrow the scope to just black, but I'm also realistic that race problems are never going to go away, and if a black guy wants to lambaste other blacks who are acting the fool, I'm not going to focus on how "blunt" his words were.

Quote :

"but he's trying to act like he's the only one that feels that way... so he just ends up looking like an ignorant dick."

Umm, what? Again, you have your opinion, but I'd like you to show me which key statements is giving you that impression, because I don't get that at all.

Also, you don't address this:

Quote :

"but some of it doesn't really make any sense. He contradicted himself a few times in that article -"

12/6/2007 4:34:27 PM

i mean, hes correct someone has to grow some balls and say what needs to be said

12/6/2007 5:21:11 PM

other people have said it

but they're just sellouts so fuck them

KEEP IT REAL

12/6/2007 5:22:56 PM

When keepin' it real goes too far...

12/6/2007 5:33:52 PM

You think shit sweet cuz u moved outta the hood


but your momma still around, dawg, and that aint good

12/6/2007 5:51:42 PM

Whitlock is basically saying that Black people are incapable of independent thought and are incapable of controlling their actions.

That is nothing more than pure bullshit. Plenty of people enjoy "hip-hop" culture but aren't criminals. Actually think about what Whitlock is saying.

12/6/2007 5:52:23 PM

nah hes pretty much right

hes not talking about the black people you met in college

12/6/2007 6:06:52 PM

Quote :

"Whitlock is basically saying that Black people are incapable of independent thought and are incapable of controlling their actions."

thats not what he is saying at all

12/6/2007 6:13:39 PM

^^^ I disagree. Whitlock was on Jime Rome's radio show explaining his stance on hip hop. Jason said he "listened to the music, but he didn't embrace it." He said too many kids try to "embrace" the culture deified in hip hop music. At some point the hip hop community has to take look at itself and determine what's truly important.

smackr, you've been on TWW a while, and anyone who has should know a significant portion of the population either CAN'T or WON'T think for themselves. Preying on people's gloriously delusional fantasies on sex, drugs, and being a playa, gangsta, and so on... that borders on irresponsibility. Whitlock is calling hip hop out on it.

[Edited on December 6, 2007 at 6:14 PM. Reason : ^^]

12/6/2007 6:13:53 PM

Im glad he wrote it, it needs to be said.

Nothign will get better until people are ALLOWED to discuss issues.

He used sean taylor's death as a mic to voice a much deeper problem and one that needs to be addressed from the inside out.

ON mike and mike they had some guy Marcelous something, attacking whitlock for the article. I couldnt have disagreed with that guy more. He talked about how its human nature. BS, look at the stats. Explain to me WHY there are these "rough" neighborhoods? Explain to me WHY people are trying to get out of the "hood". Once you can discuss those issues you might get somewhere. Instead just keep pretending everything is ok and blaming old has been talk show hosts for thier problems.

I hope he keeps writing these articles and I hope eventually people are willing to listen.

12/6/2007 6:44:11 PM

Quote :

"I hope he keeps writing these articles and I hope eventually people are willing to listen."

the willing to listen part is important, as well as the willing to acknowledge and change

i would like to mention that all the "hip hop" that glorifies violence and this and that...a lot of it isn't "real hip hop"...this is relevant because I recall hearing "urban prophets" (people who grew up in the same type pessimistic environments, but made it out and realized the error of their ways) on rap albums years and years ago basically saying the same thing...the message has been out there...but again it requires a willingness to realize the message and be willing to do something about it

its not easy though...peer pressure can be a motherfucker...and some people have too much pride for their own good...WHAT YOU LOOKIN AT...WHAT YOU LOOKIN AT...hey lets shoot at each other for making eye contact

and shit like this happens amongst all races...its just more prevalent in black and latino communities here in 2007

12/6/2007 6:53:34 PM

Quote :

"How dare he speak out and criticize the internal / self-destruction occuring in the communities of his fellow black people"

You know what's funny, writing an article that talks about there being too much black on black crime only to talk down to another highly educated black man who makes a salient point. About the only thing I'm shocked about is that he didn't accuse Willey of "bojanglery".

You'll also note that, within his article, Whitlock doesn't do a thing to say how such deep issues can be attempted to be resolved, just that they're here and seemingly the black man can do nothing to escape them. All he does is whine about how back in the Civil Rights days, black people were better.

12/6/2007 6:58:23 PM

The guy is a sports writer what the fuck do you want from him?

12/6/2007 7:18:54 PM

Quote :

"i would like to mention that all the "hip hop" that glorifies violence and this and that...a lot of it isn't "real hip hop"..."

now you're just splitting hairs.

12/6/2007 7:26:10 PM

Quote :

"'Blunt' is exactly what the culture needs."

nah, im sure theyve had plenty

BA DUM CHING

ill be here all night folks

12/6/2007 7:33:48 PM

oh shit.

12/6/2007 7:40:49 PM

Bill Cosby gave a pretty good speech with the same sentiment a few years back and all of the black leaders got pissed off at him.

http://www.eightcitiesmap.com/transcript_bc.htm

It's one of those things that all but the proudest black intellectuals agree on, but sadly no one has figured out how to actually repair the idiosyncrasies of the culture.

12/6/2007 8:23:36 PM

Quote :

"Whitlock doesn't do a thing to say how such deep issues can be attempted to be resolved, just that they're here and seemingly the black man can do nothing to escape them. "

I'll disagree again. Jason's calling on the black community to reject the gangsta culture and the absurd notion that speaking proper english and dressing up constitute "acting white." It has to start on a local level, and it starts with recognizing the problem. I've seen studies showing that good grades in school correlate positively with popularity in practically every ethnic group EXCEPT blacks. How awful would it be to be forced to choose between popularity and making A's?

Whitlock is getting the message out, and I support it.

12/7/2007 12:54:48 PM

Quote :

"However, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer... they're never painted as "white on white crime.""

To be fair, didn't Dahmer kill a lot of black guys?

12/9/2007 7:48:52 PM

^ not sure, but if he did, isn't that a hate crime.


I suppose he didn't hate them. I hate peas so I don't eat them. Dahmer had a different philosophy. I suppose Texas Pete can make anything taste good.

12/9/2007 8:33:11 PM

The issue isn't just "black on black" or "white on white" it's hip hop culture influencing thugs to go rob and murder.

When Creed starts signing about cults, body mutilation, and serial killing, and white people start dieing because of it, then we can have that argument.

12/9/2007 8:40:17 PM

Quote :

"cults, body mutilation, and serial killing"

ever heard of death metal?

12/10/2007 9:45:37 AM