On Jackie Robinson
Props to Junior... and by the way, you have to think Jackie would be more than a little disgusted with what has happened with Imus and the Duke lacrosse case in the last few days.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/sports/baseball/13jackie.html?ref=sports
posted by Paul Daugherty at 9:13 AM
9 Comments:
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Ron Curran said...
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Post a Comment*I am sure he would have been disgusted with Imus, as most of us should be with anyone who uses racial or sexist slurs. His producer should also be fired for initiating the 'hos' statement.
Not so sure what he would have said about the Duke lacrosse case. Sounds to me like it was a false accusation. Then again, who knows, I am sure those affluent boys could afford much better attorneys than that stripper. Sometimes those court cases are tough reads since they are filtered through the media. Seems like the media was on the strippers side at first and now they jumped ship and support the Duke kids. Trial by media I guess.
Agree that Imus got what he deserved but confused by using the Duke lacrosse case as a similar example.
The prosecuting attorney abused his power. He did not interview the accuser until well after he had pubilcy gone after the Duke players. He had a taxi driver arrested who provided an alibi for one of the accused Duke players - his alibi was further corroboarated by a camera at an ATM. Finally, there was another dancer at the time of the incident. She said the accuser's story did not happen.
Every society on earth has a group or race they fight with or feel superior too. The Irish hate the English, the Muslims hate the Jews , and secs within the muslins community hate each other. I am told that the Jew’s of Europe think they are far superior to the Jew’s in the East such as those in Russia. Indian has a whole society based on different classes and even when the white European came to America they found some Indians tribes didn’t get alone with other tribes.
My point being, not accepting someone just because of the color of their skin or where they were born is imbedded in the Earth’s history and we are talking thousands of years.. Here in America we have been trying to stamp out this kind of thinking and if you start with Jack Robinson and move ahead to Rosa Parks and the school integration, we have only been at it for 50 years. So while I would agree there is still lots to do: compared to what we are up against and how long such feelings have been around in this world we haven’t done too badly.
Ron
Paul,
On Imus would he really care? Probably not, nappy headed ho is much milder than the names he was hearing at the time. As a former radio dj who occasionally would say something that would offend someone, no one in radio or TV should be fired for something they say period. Of course I hate political correctness and my favorite tv show is South Park.
Also when did ho or nappy hair become a racial or racist term? I think I missed that. Ho is degrading to women but is not race specific.
On the Duke case it was cleary a case of a woman making a false accusation. She should be jailed the same way the girl in Colorado should be jailed over the false accusations against Kobe Brant as well as the girl who claimed Reds pitcher (was it Shackleford) sexually assulted her in Milwaukee last year.
Jackie Robinson was all about taking whatever was thrown against him and showing either no reaction or showing restraint & dignity, in order that other black/African/negroes (I only use the term negroes because Jackie would have recognized it faster in his generation) would have a chance to follow in his footsteps.
Remember, he had pride, dignity and a temper, but he controlled the temper to give others a chance.
A lesson that all of us can learn from.
God bless # 42.
Anybody wants to see an interesting column on the subject should go read Jason Whitlock's.
Jason is a (black) columnist for the Kansas City Star, formerly with ESPN.
PD - you're coming down with a mild case of "white guilt". Hate to sound like Willie Cunningham here, but I think Jackie would be equally disgusted with break-down of the nuclear family in the black community... it has eroded since the early 60's, and gangsta rappers and the acceptance of the thug mentality (calling girls "ho's", wearing pants half-way down the butt, carrying guns, etc...) has emerged from a lack of guidance from father figures. It's not a racist statement - just a plain and simple fact.
Will Scott
Columbus, OH
I thought Paul's article recognized that Jackie was being pretty objective both ways.
And Paul, on the side, the zipline at the baseball games was an excellent idea. My only adaption would be to hand them a beer or soda (their choice) the minute they land in the stadium. Twenty-somethings would think that was da-bomb!
Imus is gone, but I would like to see the controversy continue and take on the b, f, h, m-f and similar words and have Walmart, Itunes, etc refused to carry these words of hate and degradation in any products they carry.
Then sometime positive will come out of the Imus-Rutgers girls team slur.
It wouldn't hurt if we all forgave a little bit faster and approached life with more tolerance.
I think Jackie R. would approve of those outcomes.
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