"Shawn Laidlaw Says: September 18th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
When black athletes or black people in general fail at anything then the race card comes out. It seems nowdays that anytime they face any kind of adversity they cry that white america is keeping them down. This is why they will always get scrutinized. Some day they will realize that your accountable for your own success or failure in life. No one gives you anything easy, no matter what color you are. It’s also tough to have symapthy for black athletes who make 10 million a year and can’t stop getting arrested. Who’s fault is that?" ~~Lifted from the "Morning Buzz" blog.~~
Ahhh the delicate little problem that is race in America. It used to be that the one place we could
get away from all this racial talk was on the athletic field. But now, I am not so sure. Vick,O.J., Bonds, NFL players behaving badly, and even "5" calling out the fans in Philly and American sports fans in general, for viewing African American QB's a little differently than the more melanin challenged ones in their fraternity. The racial hits just keep coming in even the sports world now. Geez, what is America to do? If we can't use sports to escape our real issues---like this damn war for instance---where else are we going to turn? I mean, after all, we can only look at Paris Hilton's narrow behind for so long.
get away from all this racial talk was on the athletic field. But now, I am not so sure. Vick,O.J., Bonds, NFL players behaving badly, and even "5" calling out the fans in Philly and American sports fans in general, for viewing African American QB's a little differently than the more melanin challenged ones in their fraternity. The racial hits just keep coming in even the sports world now. Geez, what is America to do? If we can't use sports to escape our real issues---like this damn war for instance---where else are we going to turn? I mean, after all, we can only look at Paris Hilton's narrow behind for so long.And did I mention Isiah? Yes, it seems "Zeke" (His nickname from his playing days) was sued recently by an African American sister for creating a hostile working environment for her. The sister alleges in her complaint, that Thomas constantly referred to her in private as a bitch and a hoe. Now as a result, she is seeking serious damages from the Knick executive, and his organization. If Thomas was ignorant and insensitive enough to do what this woman is alleging, well, then, I hope the sister breaks the bank. If he didn't....(I am thinking of a Kanye West song here) Apparently allot of nasty things have already came out in this trial, (I am hereby revoking Stephan Marbury's field Negro status for his little ep, in his Jeep with that intern) and I suspect there will be more to come. I saw clips of Isiah's deposition today, and his statements about white men calling African American bitches, as opposed to black men using the "B" word was rather...how do I say this kindly? Strange. I mean, on some levels I understand what he was saying, I am sure on just a gut level it would piss me off more if I saw or heard a white man call one of my sisters a bitch. (Too much history and pain there, so I know it would affect me) Now fortunately for me, and the person who would have said it, I have never witnessed such a thing, and I doubt it many real brothers have. ( You don't think there were any real brothers around in Durham that night do you?) But I have to take issue with Isiah for seeming to imply that it's cool for "us" to call our women bitches. By saying there is a different standard, he seems to be implying that some "bitch" calling is better than others. It's not.
But this has already become an issue in the white blogosphere, and with the usual suspects like FAKE NEWS. "Why is there a different standard for calling a woman a bitch? I swear these arrogant athletes, not only are they racist, but they are sexist as well."
I know one thing, I hope O.J. won't think all the people converging on Jena , Louisiana Thursday will be there to protest his latest arrest. Unfortunately, knowing O.J., he probably will.
15 comments:
Yeah, athletes of all colors have gotten away with all sorts of ridiculous crap for years. The scrutiny on black athletes these days, which is not a bad thing because they seriously need to get themselves together, needs to be extended to include all those clowns. There's a whole lot of athletes of all colors who need to grow up and realize they need to cut out the whoring around and misogyny.
And Isiah Thomas must have hit his head to say that stupid b.s. -- yeah, let some "brother" call his momma a bitch and see if he thinks that's cool.
Goodness...Donovan McNabb is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. The poor brotha should just keep his mouth shut.
Then again...he's criticized for THAT too. lol
Actually Donovan needs to shut up and concentrate on the game. The Eagles=disappointment so far. As i said below, Jason Campbell of the Redskins isholding up the black QB thing nicely so this issue needs to be benched for awhile.
Isiah=dickhead. My fellow Princetonian brother Steve Mills, one of Isiah's "bosses" has got egg on his face, after refuting much of the plaintiff's allegations, Steve wakes up to these dumb negroes undermining the whole damn thing.
At the risk of sounding Whitlock-ish, perhaps after we march on Jena, we frigging need to march on ourselves...FAST. Does anyone get it through their thick skulls that part and parcel of stopping Jenas all over this country is the need to stop the killings and triflingness and ignorance and greed in our OWN families, backyards? Oh it's easy to point the finger at Mr. Charlie and Redneck Jim. Interesting how now those ol' boys get such mileage not by apologizing or shrinking away in shame, but by sneering and pointing the finger right back at us!!!
So I'm going to say it here on FN blog. The more the great majority of us just shrug away the Isiahs of the world, or attribute someone giving the 9mm beat down on a street corner in Philly to a lackof outlets for youthful exuberance, the more Jenas we will have. Because no matter how you hear folk talk, a lot of it boils down to those excuses, on both sides. We can't control what they do, but we can clean up our act and when we do, those m-fs look even dirtier. I'll stand by that equation.
These darkies are putting us back to the Jim Crow era. Isaiah said in a deposition that he feels that if a white man calls a black woman the "B" word it is more offensive then a black man calling a white woman the "B" word. What kind of cereal box philosophy is that!?!?
Pssshaw... you will never change athletes' self-perception that they are above the rules until you change the way we treat them.
Stop paying them enormous salaries and stop glorifying them as the second-coming. Ladies, stop chasing the ballers around and they'll stop thinking they're entitled to tail from everyone, at any time.
Won't ever happen? Then it won't ever change.
Jimbo
The media sudden turn towards the Isaiah trial is not about Black athletes calling Black women, "B's and H*'s." It is just the effect of the deliberate pandering to white folks of the victim. Before this victim quoted Isaiah as indicating that he "didn't care about those white folks" and a similar comment, there was scant interest. After she said this, the mainstream media started to care about this Isaiah case--and will begin to hail the victim--a 6 foot tall, muscular, dark skinned black woman as the wounded victim.
Please. White America has rarely, if ever (I don't remember a time) viewed such a woman as victim. (And I know that black women of all sizes and hues are regularly victimized. I am just presenting facts to demonstrate the absurdity of the sympathy for this woman.)
Finally--again--another distortion of white culture here. White men regularly and often cuss out their wives and girlfriends--and, often in much stronger terms. The c-word is regularly used. And even in office settings, the B-word can be regularly used by white men.
See, Imus. Indeed, in the Imus circumstance, the most telling thing to me about his comment is that it didn't disturb his co-hosts or many--if any--of his core audience. Imus' audience was apparently not jolted one bit by hearing very young women referred to as h*'s (forget the nappy part.) How could that be?
Can't blame it on Hip Hop. Many--if not most--of Imus' audience couldn't name a hip hop song?
No. It was because Imus and his listeners are familiar with the language and regularly use it. Porn is the biggest business on the internet. Blacks lag in internet use. The profile of a pedophile and kiddie porn user is a white male. There is no way these folks are using terms of endearment during their escapades. It is "b's" and "h*'s" and "c'" all day long.
(Of course, you will have no doubt about my accusations if you know well a cross-section of women married to white men. They regularly call their wives even "b's," "c's" and "h*'s." And more than a few will refer to their mothers this way. I guess I could be wrong about this but I have never heard a black man refer to his mother--in her presence especially as a "c" or a "h." And--maybe I have been sheltered--but I can't recall a black man referring to his wife (not just girlfriend or baby's mama) this way. And if it happens, it is a much nore rare occurrence.
I know I'm going off but I just hate how we just go off with every turn of the racist media. This is not just a black issue--and that's how we should respond, by shifting the focus to white people. A less preferable response--to me--is the one I see recommended in some of the comments here---public flagellation and setting ourselves on an endless journey of complete self-correction.
Man chris and raven, why don't you guys say what you really feel? But I hear you. It can be frustrating how society as a whole dictates our behavior at every turn.
I co-sign with chris about some of the shit we need to do to get our act together. The problem is, it's so hard to look at ourselves and give an honest assessment of what is really wrong with us.
raven, I don't want to shift the focus on white people, because it goes deeper than just blaming one race and not the other. I really want us (black folks) to improve our lot, and make our conditions better. Not just beng able to say; "see,the 'hite man'does it too."
I am sick to death of this shyt.
I don't care what race you are: NO MAN HAS A RIGHT TO CALL A BLACK WOMAN A BITCH. When he does that, he's calling his mother a BITCH; his sisters BITCHES, his grandmothers BITCHES, and any female, especially his wife, A BITCH.
Last time I checked, a BITCH was a female dog, not a woman. And if Isiah dogged out this woman, created a hostile working environment for her, and acted inappropriately with her (touching and inappropriate displays of affection) that's Sexual Harassment 101, y'all.
The requirements for sexual harassment: (1) attention is UNWANTED; (2) is of a sexual nature and (3)the attention is unwanted, is of a sexual nature and creates a hostile working environment.
Disgruntled employee? Possibly. But if she can prove that up until Isaiah joined the Knicks organization, that everything was copastetic in her work environment, he's going to have to do more than tap dance for that jury; he's gonna have to make like the Nicholas Brothers to get around her allegation.
Marbury's act had nothing to do with this trial - the lawyers had to establish a foundation that homegirl has grounds for her case by demonstrating that there was already an atmosphere that facilitated sexual harassment of the incidents. In Marbury's case, that intern had opportunities to screw elsewhere, and if she thought she was being forced, she could have screamed and fought. Stephon would have had the heels of my Ferragamo's on his ass like skid marks, if that were me.
That intern's reminding me about that hotel clerk up in Colorado that damned near trapped Kobe Bryant's ignorant ass - I'm waiting for her to sue Stephon if he really forced her to sex him down. Oh, well.
As for OJ, his ex-wife, Marguerite, is the first cousin of one of my co-workers, and she said that she has long been convinced that OJ is a walking mental case that needs to be committed to the nearest mental institution for the criminally insane. His last stunt is a cry for institutionalization.
Everyone else needs to realize that although it's not fair, if you make that kind of money, and have that kind of fame, you will still be judged by a different standard than the white peer or teammate. It's unfair, but at times, LIFE is unfair. If our elders got this lesson and managed to survive and live respectable, productive lives, we have far more advantages than they had, and we have a responsibility to learn that same game and progress in spite of playing the hand we got dealt and it wasn't a full house. Deal with it.
Vick - a fool and money are soon parted, and he's making a strong case for that. Ray Lewis had a Johnnie Cochran equivalent, otherwise, his ass would be locked up right now. As for the other NFL players, see what I said about Michael Vick.
as an outsider looking in, i shake my head each time an article such as isiah or vick makes headline. makes me wonder, why successful black men keep making stupid mistakes and thinking they can get away with it.
regardless of what color your skin is, no man should be calling any woman with such deragotary names.
mindset needs to change.
shygiraffe
Thanks, CPL, I got you now.
Here's your race rules--presented in elemental fashion--the way you presented the elements of a sexual harrassment-hostile work environment claim.
The way I hear you, rour race rules have three elements.
A RACIAL COMPLAINT IS VALID IF--AND, ONLY IF:
(1) RACE WAS THE SOLE REASON FOR (THE ALLEGED RACIALIZED) MISTREATMENT,
(Explanation/Commentary to Element One: Thus, a valid complaint cannot be lodged merely because race was a factor, a contributing factor, or even a substantial factor in the alleged mistreatment (i.e., job-denying public hysteria.) So, of course, a complaint of racial profiling cannot be heard. If an officer could have stopped a black because--perhaps--the black could be said to have driven too slowly, then it matters not that the officer also considered the driver's race--and the potential for racial harassment--in making the stop. In such a circumstance, race would not be the sole reason for the stop. The slow driving contributed.)
(2) THE VICTIM OF SUCH RACIAL MISTREATMENT MUST NOT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO AVOID RACIALIZED MISTREATMENT BY BEING SMARTER, TALLER, STRONGER--A BOY SCOUT--A SAINT. IF THE MISTREATED BLACK MIGHT HAVE AVOIDED HIS MISTREATMENT BY BEING BETTER THAN HE IS, THE BLACK FORFEITS HIS RIHT TO COMPLAIN ABOUT HIS RACIALIZED MISTREATMENT. JOIN A MONASTARY, THEN COMPLAIN.
(Example and explanation: So, of course, Vick forfeits his right to complain about losing $40 million dollars, his livelihood, castration--being labelled the second coming of Hitler. He funded the dog fighting business for a friend. Let proportionality be damned. He can't complain about any and everything racial and nonracial thing that comes to him. Let the white mobs have them. He should have learned to tie his knots.)
and, finally, a black can complain about racial mistreatment
(3) IF--AND ONLY IF--THE RACE-BASED MISTREATMENT IS WORSE THAN THE MISTREATMENT ENDURED BY OUR SLAVE FOREFATHERS--AND OTHERWISE UNBEARABLE. MERE RACE-BASED UNFAIRNESS, OF COURSE, IS NOT ENOUGH TO JUSTIFY COMPLAINT. MAN-UP, PEOPLE.
(Blacks got to expect and learn to cope with your everyday, garden variety racism. This is the black person's perpetual burden. And, of course, it is of no nevermind that whites (dare I hope to compare ourselves to them) can complain to sympathetic and powerful ears about foreclosure on a house they knew they couldn't afford.)
All due respect FN, but as a black woman, I feel enormously marginalized when I hear a black man say it's different when a white man calls a black woman a bitch than when a black man does. Since I am a black woman, let me set the record straight. The only difference for me is that it is far more painful to me when a black man curses me and insults me than when a white man does. But to be even more clear, it is UNACCEPTABLE for either to do it. Why do brothers subscribe to this one-sided notion that membership has its privileges? It does not. This is why we've suffered the indignity of a few decades of pop culture portraying us as whores and expected to shut up about it.
This Isaiah person was on the news blabbering about calling someone a bitch and he sounded like a completely ignorant fool. Wasn't there a time when athletes were some of our best and brightest? What happened?
I saw a doc the other night on the Tyson rape case and it was sad to see how black men, black miinisters, Massa Farrakhan, and a whole host of others, including some self hating black women, came out to condemn this young sister. Massa Farrakhan went one step further and just condemned black women in general. (Could someone explain to me why this bigoted hateful man is so respected by black people? He seems to appeal to the "check out my big fat chip on my shoulder" crowd) One black woman said it succintly, and I'm paraphrasing: When a powerful black man is up against a powerless black woman, she is worth nothing.
Viewing that doc just rekindled the anger I felt about how Ms. Washington was treated, how Anita Hill was treated, and how when black women find themselves in the negative spotlight, there is no rush to support them (unless it's some political stupidity like Tawana Brawley).
I'm just tired of ignorant black folks making headline news. It's the white media that picks and chooses which monkey they'll spotlight. Unfortunately, we've got a lot of monkeys saying anything.
We've got a lot of sexism in the black community. Listen to our music, look at our movies, read some of the urban literature. Am I surprised at Mr. Washington's comment no.
Why doesn't the "white" media spotlight Bubba's and Cooters comments. Why must they focus on Jaheim.
I would really enjoy responding with some profound words of wisdom that might help us all deal with this ignorance better. The most profound thing I can think to write is, "DAMN, MAN!"
First off:
Brothas from the Farrakhan era are rabidly sexist. African-American women know sexism when we see it - but we also have to fight against it from the ones who should have our backs - our BLACK MEN.
We won't talk about sexism amongst ourselves, because that requires brothas owning up to their parts in it.
There is no diferentiation between who calls a Black Woman a Bitch, but if it's a brotha, that hurts more because we're your Queens; and Isiah should know better than to try and draw that line of demarcation between whether it's better if a Black Man calls a sista a bitch, rather than a white man.
No man should be calling any woman a bitch,period.
Ravings, you obviously didn't read my post - it had nothing to do with race, but whether or not homegirl has a case against the New York Knicks for sexual harassment. Point out the racial references if I made any, and show where race is the issue here. Homegirl is suing for sexual harassment. So get it right, before you try to quote or challenge me on anything I post here, and bring your "A" game when you do so, cause the shyt you posted was definately your life on "The D List".
I think we need to let all these Black athletes just stew in their own juices. Jim Brown and Muhammad Ali had serious flaws, but they had sense enough to know they're black and not above this society's BS.
Vick, Thomas and OJ are like Samson in the Bible -- because they're virtual supermen, they think that they're invincible demigods, above reproach. That is until someone comes along and take their fame, gouge out their eyes and make them prance around like circus monkeys.
And like Samson, they're doomed to fail, because we 'Isrealites' are so enamoured by their feats we fail to see them for the pompous immature fools they are.
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