Category Archives: Conversations

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Sports and Politics Intersect Retro Style

I was only an infant when Tommy Smith and John Carlos threw up the black fist in Mexico City; a young pup when Muhammad Ali refused to participate in the Vietnam War.  There was a time when many African-American sports figures and icons took to the streets and spoke out for social justice.  They were not afraid to lend their voices and their fame to give attention to important issues they cared about.  They were courageous enough to risk their careers if necessary to stand up for what they believed was right.

Unfortunately that was a long time ago.  Rarely do we see black superstar athletes stand up for anything having to do with more than their latest contract negotiations.  The money guys like Ali, Smith and Carlos made pales in comparison to the astronomical millions today’s athletes bank above their predecessors.

Our most successful and marketable black athletes too often stray as far away from civic issues as they can.  I will always remember Michael Jordan’s refusal to support a progressive African-American candidate Harvey Gantt for state senate in his native North Carolina.  Not because he agreed more with the politics of the infamously racist Helms, but because, “Republicans by sneakers too.”  Jordan was the symbol and poster child of the New Crossover Negro who believed it far more important to hawk product and filling his own coffers rather than possibly alienating potential buyers with moral controversy.   Tiger Woods has picked up the baton running that race with ease by denying all things black whether it be per his own heritage and identity as well as the women he chooses to marry and fool around with.  Woods is as vanilla as the ice cream in my freezer and as close to anti-black as one could be with deference to Justice Thomas.

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Whether it was the Rodney King beating, presidential races, supreme court decisions or 17 year old children with candy and a drink, sadly Jim Brown, Bill Russell and Arthur Ashe are not walking through these doors.

This is what makes the tweeted photo by LeBron James and his Miami Heat teammates in support of justice for Trayvon Martin an eye opener for me.  The Heat players live in South Florida.  Perhaps they feel the intensity of emotions even deeper than the rest of the country.  Perhaps some of the players have had their own issues with being pulled over for DWB (Driving While Black) with even more emphasis because they drive the finest cars money can buy.  I don’t know.  But I respect James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh for being a part of a symbolic show of solidarity to Trayvon’s family as well as every other young black male in the United States.  I respect them especially because they are the faces of their franchise and the league that so many Americas pays attention to.

Former NBA players Etan Thomas and Craig Hodges were no strangers to standing up for unpopular beliefs.  Hodges so much so that he was literally blackballed from the NBA after presenting former President Bush a list of social issues he thought The President should address when the Chicago Bulls visited The White House.  If Jordan makes that move, it carries more weight and no way is the biggest revenue generating player the league had ever seen pushed out the door.

So big ups to LeBron, Wade, Bosh and the rest of the Heat players.  You didn’t have to march like the old school.  But you did use the most powerful and significant tool given your generation which is social media.  And for me, that speaks volumes!

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The Day the News Died…

The date was June 17, 1994 – An event that changed news and the way it was reported forever.  The scene… a Southern California freeway, the 405 to be exact! 

Every television station in the country honed in on the signal from the local news chopper following the infamous white Ford Bronco as  Los Angles police vehicles pursued slowly behind.  Inside the SUV were Al Cowlings and some guy named Orenthal James Simpson.  Simpson had failed to show up at one of the police department precincts as agreed upon between his attorneys and investigators to inquire about the double murder of his wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman.  While there were over a thousand reporters who showed up for what they though would be Simpson turning himself in, now there were an estimated 95 million watching on television.  This was “Cops” before there were cops.  This was a live pursuit of a famous football player, movie star, sports announcer and rental car pitchman who a large portion of America recognized on sight and adored.  He was suspected of killing his wife and her companion, a white woman no less.  And word on the street was that he made what seemed like threats to kill himself during this slow chase.

And this my friends is in my opinion the event that changed the way the news is reported forever.  The subsequent rumors, innuendos and gossip that followed leading up to the trial became headline news from LA to Boston, from Minnesota to Texas… the OJ trial was the talk of the nation.  Names like Kato, Darden, Fuhrman, Garcetti, Ito, Clark, Cochran, and Dershowitz became household.  And there was a demand to get the inside scoop on it so they added legal experts like Greta Van Susteren to the mix.  She ended up with her own TV show and after the trial a show called Court TV was born.  All because of this OJ event.

What I remember most was the verdict.  It was broadcast all over radio and television.  At the time I worked at a company where our whole operation depended on telephone lines being manned at all times.  Each of us operators left our desk and gathered around a radio at the reception area and the boss didn’t utter a word.  She was right there with us.  When they read the not guilty verdicts the reaction of the White secretary said it all.  She burst into tears on the spot sobbing as if Nicole were her sister.  Most black folk including myself were not as convinced of Simpson’s guilt, especially in light of the way the police handled the evidence as well as the lying testimony of bigot Mark Furhman.  Nevertheless the country was split straight down the middle.  White folks were going Hebrew biblical tearing their clothes in sat-cloth and ashes.  Black folks who honestly didn’t give a damn about OJ post his Buffalo Bills playing days, felt it was about time a black man wasn’t convicted just because he was accused even as white folks wanted his head passionately regardless of evidence.  Opinions ran strong and feeling deeply expressed across offices nationwide.  This took the sensationalism of the news media to a whole new level.

Initially we had investigative journalistic shows like Geraldo Rivera.  He made the genre famous and paved the way for Hard Copy and from there we got a mild but now notorious blowhard Bill O’Reilly on Inside Edition.  By then that Pandora’s Box had been slammed wide open as television producers figured that they could combine the news with the gossip.  Stations like CNN and Fox News were popular, but the OJ trial put them over the top as viewers flocked their cable stations to see the latest speculation and opinions of so called experts.  Local news cast figured they’d better get in on the mix less they be left out.  I mean who wants to hear about local politics and the school board when Cochran was rhyming, “If it doesn’t fit you must acquit?” And if that wasn’t enough, once Princess Diana was killed in that car accident, it was a wrap!  News and popular culture would be forever intertwined with mainstream media. 

I believe this is the origin of and main reason we suffer from a news media that is so entertainment centered while the important issues get’s dilluted.  Bleeding no longer leads as much as scandal sales.  

So there you have it! 

That’s my take.  What’s yours?

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First to the “L” Word May Determine Direction of the Relationship?

I came across this article from cnn.com and it basically says that women should NOT be the first to say, “I love you” in a relationship. 

The ironic part to me is that a feminist wrote the article who also believes it’s perfectly fine for a woman to ask a man out, make the first move, and even propose.  She believes these three words however opens a bit of a “Pandora’s Box”. 

… I love you” uttered too soon, before the man has processed his feelings and reached the same level of adoration could end a relationship that just as easily could have had an eternal shelf life. As soon as those words are said, they change the dynamic. If a man isn’t feeling the love quite yet, he may suddenly feel pressure to manifest that emotion. And if the woman doesn’t get the response she expected, it could damage her confidence enough to derail the whole relationship entirely.

I have my own views on this subject, and I have heard others as well that agree with some of the beliefs from the author.  However, never with the caveat that a woman can basically do everything but utter the ‘L’ word first. 

I would gather to guess that my female feminist friends would not agree with any limitations set on them within a relationship.  Equally though I feel most of them have more traditional standards than they readily admit to.

So where do you the reader come out on this?  Is it fair game for women to do whatever in pursuing a man?  Or should she take a more conservative approach and allow the man to pursue and ‘conquer’ or win her heart?