I completely agree with Killabeas: Don’t believe this self-serving sound bite for a second

I just bookmarked this blog and will come back to check on more articles.

Keep up the good work!

the “whitening” column was the last straw for this white girl especially b/c i had to hear about it soooooo much from white conservative coworkers, relatives, neighbors and other people that just thought i would agree with their “finally! somebody telling the truth..” huh? whitlock has driven me nutso for years as somebody who is trying to make a difference in US and my community of kansas city.. and it is exasperating, infuriating when white frat boys (i don’t care how old, that is my description) are speaking casually of the evil dangers of hip hop and the “black KKK” .. i have never overheard them talk about race relations or music for that matter and now they are parroting whitlock’s racist bullsh*t .. that is just an example that i thought y’all might want to hear- your concerns are warranted from this perspective..

i got to hang out with chuck d 2 yrs ago when he spoke at KU and talk to him about efforts to engage urban youth (yep, i mean all races) and desperately try to address our high murder rate.. when i say “we” and “our” i am speaking loosely of different individuals and organizations that often collaborate on similar goals… seeing/hearing mista chuck give a 3hr lecture and answer every question from audience was very inspiring ..confirming his importance as a leader in addition to all the music and the radio show and other works.. has whitlock ever attended one of these lectures? i might have read he was on a panel with chuck and would love to watch it..

anyway- if jason reads this, he will dismiss me b/c i am white as he did dave zirin (big fan, dave! just finished “welcome to the terrordome”) when asked specifically to one of zirin’s columns.. in case some of you didn’t read that one, i am posting below..hoping that is okay with dave z!

p.s. if you haven’t checked out P.O.S. on rhymesayers- he’s incredible.. and CORNEL WEST in 08! =)

excerpt of zirin:
But perhaps sensing the transparency of his argument–and the fact that we’ve heard this song from him before, Whitlock isn’t done. He also writes, “[The whitening of rosters] is already starting to happen. A little-publicized fact is that the Colts and the Patriots–the league’s model franchises–are two of the whitest teams in the NFL. 47 percent of Tony Dungy’s defending Super Bowl-champion roster is non-African-American. Bill Belichick’s Patriots are nearly as white, boasting a 23-man non-African-American roster, counting linebacker Tiaina “Junior” Seau and backup quarterback Matt Gutierrez.”

There is no end to how irretrievably stupid this is. No demographic evidence exists that the NFL is becoming “whiter.” Yes, more players of Latino or South Asian, Pacific Islander, or even African heritage are playing the game. That speaks far more to the dominance of football in an increasingly multicultural United States. In other words, his example of Junior Seau and Matt Gutierrez don’t exactly point to the whitening of the league.

Also, as the Battery Chucker Blog points out, even the Colts and Patriots are seeing their seasons rise and fall on the success of their African American players. “Outside of Manning, Brady and Bruschi, the major components of both teams are men like Moss, Harrisson, Freeney, Maroney, Samuel and Wayne. Yes the rosters for both teams are nearly half white, but the majority of the players carrying the load are black, some with corn rows, dreads, tattoo’s and big cars and it certainly isn’t have an effect on the teams success.”

The Patriots example is a particular head-scratcher. This year the Pats took a chance on the ultimate poster-child of “hip hop athletes”, Randy Moss, and the results have been spectacular. Three years ago, they rode the back of another disgruntled, corn-rowed “head case” Corey Dillon, to a Super Bowl.

But none of that is what makes Whitlock’s article wrong. The worst part about it is that it is racist: pure and simple. It’s racist because Whitlock is cheerfully willing to justify “whitening rosters” because of the actions of a few. Yes, there are pro athletes–in every sport of every color–who are narcissists that believe the world spins at their command. Stop the presses. This is the way it has always been in our hero-worshiping, sports obsessed culture. Ty Cobb beat a paraplegic fan for heckling. Ted Williams gave the finger more than once to the Boston faithful. Mickey Mantle went up to the plate hung over and would cuss out young starry-eyed reporters. In football, Whitlock’s good friend, quarterback Jeff George was a career head case. When a rookie named John Elway spurned the Baltimore Colts for the Denver Broncos, he was derided as selfish. The difference is that when these athletes acted in such a manner, no one railed about a “crisis of the white athlete” or the “buffoonery” of “white culture.” No one said, after Bret Favre admitted to a pain killer addiction, that maybe teams should take a chance on more reliable black quarterbacks. But Whitlock strains to provide ideological cover for every fan freaked out by a bigot’s definition of “hip hop” and any owner looking to jettison problem players. Instead of building bridges, Whitlock uses his platform to burn crosses.

The worst part of the column is when he writes, “You know why Muhammad Ali is/was an icon? Because he rebelled against something meaningful and because he excelled in an individual sport. His rebellion didn’t interfere with winning. Jim Brown, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, etc. rebelled with dignity and purpose.”

Don’t believe this self-serving sound bite for a second. It’s as convincing as George Bush giving Ali the Congressional Medal of Freedom and calling him a “man of peace.” Find a column where Whitlock has anything good to say about athletes who have taken a stand against war or the criminal justice system. He mocks athletes who have stood against the war in Iraq and for the young men in Jena. The young Ali, Brown, Russell, and Kareem would have regarded Whitlock like something beneath contempt.

If Whitlock was around in the 1960s, he’d be more an ally of Carl Rowan, the prominent African American columnist who said upon Malcolm X’s death, in the New York Times, that Malcolm was “an ex-convict, ex-dope peddler who became a racial fanatic.” Whitlock is on a side that believes the number one problem facing black America is black America–and he’s using sports as a vehicle to advance his case. It’s a debate that falls apart in the face of every crumbling school, prison, and hospital in any-city USA. It’s also a position that, in the current climate, emboldens all the wrong people.

You asked for the site’s solution to the Whitlock problem. It sounded a lot like white folks asking black people what’s the solution to the negro problem.

My point was that it’s not this site’s job to solve the Whitlock problem and to suggest that we need to focus on that is a means to suppress our discussion of what he is doing. We don’t need to tell him what to do just because we’ve decided to talk about what he is doing.

Besides, people have suggested many other ways he could write about the issues he discusses, if you’ve read the posts here you know that. Therefore, I believe you wrote what you wrote in an attempt to get us to stop talking about what we were talking about. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Yep

Now as for your earlier calls to rid any criticism of pettiness… if I said that the definition of “black-on-black crime” is evertime Jason Whitlock masturbates, would that qualify as beneath me and beneath this discussion? Just asking?

(…in actuality I read that line in another blog, but can’t remember where)

A person’s right to express an opinion should be respected, but every person’s opinion should not be respected. That’s the pinnacle of “Doh!!”

Whitlock is a beneficiary (like Carl Rowan and so many others) of the security/miseducation dynamic operative within the US. Under this dynamic, Blacks lack maximum capacity to inflict violence – and so, the group withholds the use of violence as a tactic on matter for the collective good. Conversely, the state has never organized policing to eliminate crime in poor/Black communities – it was instead worked to set the physical boundaries for that crime. So, black criminals will use violence against law abiding blacks and without sanction – but will not use violence for the elevation of the group. It’s really simple.

In other nations where oppressed groups retain some capacity to use force and have not been fully miseducated, people like Whitlock are routinely beaten and/or killed. This is nothing new because the game of espionage is as old as hording and scarcity by competing groups. Whitlock is engaged in hostile activities intended to elevate his compensation and visibility. It’s really simple.

Were this Palestine or South Africa of the 1970’s, he’d already be pushing up daisies. There would be no question and no remorse. The impetus for the violence might be anger – it might not. It might even be group think – but it might not. It could simply have been the rational conclusion of a group to impose a certain, harsh sanction on a specified type of behavior: namely, only those who speak truth to power and are grounded within this community can cast aspersions about our conduct as an ultimate justification for our material condition.

Whitlock is playing a dangerous game. KevDog is absolutely correct. So is Modi. Eddie Murphy once joked about the actions of “emboldened” whites in the movie Raw. His jokes were about a man who saw Rocky and felt he could do all that Sly Stallone in the movie. Of course, it didn’t work out that way – but when nationally recognized persons establish a discourse that not only ignores power relationships, but firmly places blame AND responsibility for all that ails the nation with its poorest, least educated groups, there is a problem.

What Jason doesn’t really understand is that there is no shortage of courage to deal with him swiftly – the only hesitance is as it has been for years – the final arbiter of force in America doesn’t look like me or you or Whitlock…it looks like the men who ride his rump into the wee hours of the morning.

Hey man, I gotta try. Just to see where it goes you know?

That is my way of saying how LITTLE faith that I have in Jason Whitlock’s personal redemption. Having said that, I hope that it happens — just not while he continues to write columns. The thing is that punishment and consequences must be part of any redemption process. Hell, I will now root for Don Imus to turn over a new leaf! (remains to be seen), and infuence his followers in a more positive direction. But at least Imus received SOME small punishment and a bit of self-reflection time. But until Whitlock, at minimum, finds the unemployment line instead of being rewarded for his nonsense then it is hard for me to conjure up a transformation on his part.

Mizzo, as for you not giving up on Jason, I wish you the very best of luck and I admire your faith. I suspect that Anne Sullivan had an easier project with Helen Keller. If I thought that he was merely misquided then logic, reason, and mentorship might appeal to him, but since I see him as a straight-up hustler, it is a question of morality and ethics. The man needs more than a big brother, he needs Jesus and Allah to run a tag-team intervention on his ass. Still, good luck though!

mizzo, now let ME explain further. I don’t think the inference was received as it was intended. I wasn’t referring to any “kissing ass” or “changing tune” or nothing like that. If you review my statement, my reference was SOLELY in relation to “your wishful optimism” about Whitlock. I was suggesting it possible that your outlook for Whitlock’s future improvement be NATURALLY affected by seeing another more reasonable side of Whitlock at a time when he was more reasonable than he is today. I meant it in a SUBCONSCIOUS sense. Again, I was referring to a perfectly benign, natural, and human occurence. This is a far different statement than the one that seems to be interpreted. So I should apologize for being vague in my original statement. In any case, I probably should have addressed your statement only, without any further speculation.

I don’t much appreciate the negative comments made about Mr. Whitlock’s appearance. I’m not sure what agenda that serves or what benefit accrues to any of us. It seems mostly like a petty depletion of personal spirit power.”

I feel you. I felt bad about callin’ him Scrapplin’ lips….for about a nano second.

I got over it.

“It just seems to me that the common thread running through this….. well, thread… is that some people here want all black people to think and act the same way. ”

Amazing how people who are supposedly grown and have attained full intellectual capacity can be so adolescent and limited in their thinking. The above is about as ridiculous, lacking in analysis and just plain stupid as it gets.

MODI
Thanks for the kind words and for further clarifying my position if it wasn’t quite so.

Ms. Hill
Want to re-iterate that I have gained some serious respect for you in the face of your efforts here to engage in the conversation and take the slings and arrows we have cast your way. Much props.

You are correct that columnists should provide truth. I’m in total agreement.

In this despicable time of journalism, stalking emotions is what makes papers money–hence Jason Whitlock is a good columnist. There’s no getting around that and I find it disgusting.

As far as my past dealings with Whitlock are concerned, I could give a damn who the hell I talk to, I’m not going to change my tune or kiss their ass just because they’ve been interviewed by me and I resent the inference.

I will say regardless of the tenor of their writing, we all as people go through stuff. I take that into account when I come in contact with people in and out of the field. You just never know what’s going on in someone’s life and I will try not to judge people so much. It’s counterproductive to anything I hope to accomplish.,

I’m still going to have hope for them. We all need someone to push us to change and I want to be that person for Jason. I’m a father and I’m a coach. It goes against anything I’ve ever done to marginalize someone and give up on them. I’ve seen it happen so many times.

I’ve coached pros who weren’t pros when I got a hold of them. There’s nothing greater than seeing a kid turn the corner–as I’m sure you know. Of course I realize the difference between a kid and a grown ass man.

I can’t stand how he writes presently, but I’m not giving up on Jason Whitlock and neither should you.

mizzo, I hope that I’m not showing bad form here since you are the host and all, but how exactly is it a mark of a good columnist to make you “jump through the sceen”. By that definition Jay Mariotti, Skip Bayless, Mike Lupica, Mitch Albom, and Woody Paige should all win the Pulitzer Prize. ANYBODY can make you jump through the screen. Good columnists are those who PROVIDE TRUTH or at the very minimum, even DESIRE to find truth. At their best, they are more interested in improving society over their wallets. Whitlock, like the previous columnists mentioned, is a hustler. And personally, I think that we CAN knock the hustle. And MUST knock the hustle.

In my mind, Whitlock has shamed the legacy of Ralph Wiley in every way imaginable, starting with that statement at his death. That piece reminds me of how opponents of affirmative action have perverted Martin Luther King’s name, words, and legacy to support their cause…

I respectfully wonder if your past cordial dealings with Whitlock is influencing your wishful optimism (something I am often accused of myself) about his possible redemption. In my mind, the ONLY way that Whitlock can “come out revered” is if he basically renounces 80% of everything he has ever written in the last few years. I just don’t see that happening. If he ends up seeing the light, then I will consider it a very unexpected bonus along the sportswriting equivalent of George Wallace marching with Civil Rights workers in the 1990s. But short of that, fuck Whitlock. The only thing I’m pulling for is his immediate dismissal from his job. Enough damage has been done. There are a 1000 other more qualified young aspiring black journalists (white, latino, asian, and native American too!) out there who not only deserve his slot, but those of the other hacks mentioned. I’m pulling for all of them.

Sankofa — much appreciated!

Will B.: I can take Sanfofa’s lead and give you example after example of journalistic malpractice, but if you haven’t already read Whitlock’s columns for yourself, then you might not be qualified to enter the discussion, and I shouldn’t waste further time with a response. But let me ask you how far your “anything goes” journalism mindset extends: If Joseph Goebbels was around today with a weekly column espousing the very same Nazi propoganda from 70 years ago, would you have a problem with it? You know, shouldn’t EVERY VOICE get a place at the big media table?

I guess mr bigshot forgot those he passed on his way up the ladder to suck-cess.

Thanks for sharing that with the family mizzo, I have always maintaned that in the 20th century no one can say the “didn’t know”.

“As always Sankofa, you speak soul truth. Thank you brotha”…no thank you man, as a youngster that was first interested and then became a frustrated writer, you and the family got me interested in writing again.

Peace and blessings

Will, while I appreciate your dissent because it’s needed in any worthwhile discussion, you must understand Jason Whitlock brings out a fire in Blacks that is so unnecessary. It makes no sense that we should be dealing with this bs from a sports columnist.

We will not stand for someone comparing Blacks to the KKK. It just ain’t happening! Especially from one of our own!

Look, Whitlock can say whatever he wants to say, but he must understand there are consequences for his actions.

He will get booed on any HBCU campus before he hits the door and that’s a shame.

If our future dislikes him, he has none.

I personally don’t hate the man. I hope he finds his way and makes a more important impression on society. He has a powerful voice.

It’s funny, after I interviewed him, I would root for him just like most of us do for the people we come in contact with. I would email or im him how much I enjoyed a column and then want to jump through the screen his very next piece. That is the mark of a good columnist when you consider the definition of one. He does his job well, but for Blacks, it is not good enough. We want more out of our prominent voices because of our rich history. Jason is a villain and Blacks aren’t comfortable with the Bad Guy. We want more.

I’m pulling for the brotha. I hope he ultimately comes out of this revered.

Just passed this from another journalist. Whitlock’s words after Wiley passed:

Paving the path | From Jason Whitlock

Ralph Wiley, my friend, my mentor, counseled me often. Once, I said something that Ralph found profound. We were discussing the dangers of black people buying into the Chris Rock notion that there are black people and there are n——. I told Ralph, if it’s true, then black people better go to bed every night and thank God for n——.

That’s how I feel about Ralph. He threw Molotov Cocktails. And because he did, guys like yours truly, Wilbon, Rhoden, Stephen A. Smith, Jeffri Chadiha, Jim Trotter, Monte Poole, Shaun Powell, Bryan Burwell, J.A. Adande, Drew Sharp, John Smallwood, Tim Smith, Phil Taylor, Terrance Harris, Clarence Hill, Terry Foster and countless others have an easier road to travel.

???

So why are you even putting forth an opinion on that issue? The whole premise of your argument is null and void then if you don’t know why we speak of him the way we do.

“Whitlock is guilty of journalistic malpractice in whose eyes?” Mine for one, and though others would say the same, I will speak for myself. As, well in my eyes, if you are a shit disturber, if you throw shit up against a wall some will splash back at you.

I, We, independent thinking people who have reasoning capacity reserve the right to chastise he/she/they who create a climate of hatred and racist backlash against any segment of our ethnic group.

We EXPECT Europeans to have a hate on for us, for the most part it makes us STAND UP! When our own hate on us, it drives a nail into the fragile community already decimated by more than 500 years of the most brutal of holocaust known to man. As well as centuries of genocidal pillaging by some no worse than physical devils.

I am sure if you experience a European journalist talking hateful things about your people the way Jason talks about his, you will demand his firing. And before you come back with some lame platitude… who feels it knows it!

Whitlock is guilty of journalistic malpractice in whose eyes? A segemnt of the public who doesn’t agree with him? That’s hardyl grounds for him losing his job, or his platform, as you put it.

And keep in mind, he’s a columnist, not a journalist, per se. Columnists are paid to be controversial, and they’re paid to be opinionated. There are plenty of columnists I don’t like (and I don’t read Whitlock) so I don’t read them. I think Paul Krugman is as “dangerous” as some people here find Whitlock, and I think Limbaugh and that whole Air America crowd go too far in the shit they try to pull, but more power to them. They have something they want to say. Like it or not, some people agree with them.

It just seems to me that the common thread running through this….. well, thread… is that some people here want all black people to think and act the same way. Whitlock goes a different direction from the people on this website. Isn’t he free to do that? Calling himirresponsible is a sunjective judgment, because obviously he feels he’s telling it like it is.

Sometimes we get into our own way, if the enemy doesn’t get there first. It’s unfortunate that in these time of short attention span and instant gratification that something as simple as personal responsibility and self actualization for unhuru appears foreign for all but a few.

We need to divert the current towards self destruction at the point where pre-teen meets teen or even before, because they still have hope and potential. As we get older the cement sets and we become what the pavlovian controlers expect us to be.

And yes! We are still afraid of us, and untill we can look at us in that mirror and like the view and want to work with that view, it will be tuff slugging.

Nice post man

Thank you!

To go a step further, if we believe in ourselves more, that is, erase doubts about our own self-worth (through deciding to examine our blueprints and reconditioning that which doesn’t work), then we’ll no longer need the validation of others, some of whom are our own dearest friends (up ’til now).

This will allow us to be free to succeed at will, regardless of fears that our current friends will abandon us (or vice versa), and fully knowing that we’ll attract and create new friendships that serve us even better, that is, we’ll have overcome our fear of success.

To be ready to recondition and overcome, each of us must have a vision that’s MASSIVE enough, so that tiny petty roadbumps seem insignificant, otherwise we’ll stumble each time somebody says “boo!”

Just sharing!

I am in agreement with you . Accountability is another word that has become foreign in our community as well. You’re right about the fear of success, for some there IS safety in failure. We’ll never know how many doctors, lawyers, or scientists would have come out of the neighborhood but for the crab mentality. For some of us, gaining knowledge was considered “acting white” and thinking you were better than everyone else. Thank you for the enlightenment.

Jemele, I also want to reiterate Kevdogs dead-on comment about this statement being false. But first i want to state how much i appreciate that you are willing to engage on this site beyond the mainstream circles.

In no way, shape, or form do I believe that I know “black people” more than any black folk themselves. But I do believe that I know “white people” very well. And i can assure you as sure as the sun rising and setting that prominent black voice CAN CONTROL to some degree how white people think. kevdog used the word “emboldened”. That is exactly the right word. Whitlock emboldens latent white bigotry to rise to the surface. Bigotry is A DISEASE and a very contagious one at that. Just like a sudden cold front will bring a rise in colds and flu, the likes of Whitlock will provide a climate for white bigotry to flourish.

Here is a related test-tube example of bigotry flourishing. After John Ameachi came out of the closet, he said that he received tons of poitive emails. However, the day after Tim hardaway’s comments Ameachi reported getting scores of hateful and vile emails. Why not before hardaway’s homophobic words? hardaway emboldened, empowered, and validated the bigotry of others. Every single time Whitlock writes a column he does this.

A couple extra thought for Will, and all those that believe Whitlock derves a place at the table. Whitlock’s platform should be EARNED, it is a PRIVILEGE. Of course, he has a constitutional right to say whatever he wants, but he has an ethical responsibility to the field of journalism. As such he has been guilty of malpractice too many times. In virtually any other profession there exists a system to ensure accountability… accept sports journalism. i for one want him to lose his platform to 1000 more responsible journalists. Freedom of speech DOES NOT mean freedom to really suck at your job and keep it anyway. This point was lost on many Imus supporters and seems to be lost here.