The Black KKK
Fox Sports:
By Jason Whitlock:
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.
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.
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For the record, the writer of the above column (Jason Whitlock) IS “black” … and unafraid to “tell it like it is” …
December 1st, 2007 at 2:10 pmGod bless him for speaking the truth and I hope he has a security detail.
December 1st, 2007 at 2:27 pmI think I can count on both hands how many black folks I know besides me that tell the truth about what is happening here.
Good on him for that. Keep it up.
December 1st, 2007 at 2:32 pmTruth.
Glad to see someone stepping up and telling it like it is.
Needless to say but Marin Luther King would be greatly dissapointed in the current state of affairs.
They are only hurting themselves by glorifying this shit.
December 1st, 2007 at 2:37 pmWOW! Wonder how The Revs. Jesse and Al are going to spin that? A wonderfully well-written commentary on the heart-breaking state of the black community in America. For so many, they’ve been victimized by a welfare mentality. Unfortunately, their willingness to submit to the will of those in the BLACK community who derive their power from subjugating others in their own race has caused their downfall.
I’ve always wondered why black folks identified with the democratic party. All the black families I’ve ever known have subscribed to conservative beliefs, they just don’t realize it. They are God-fearing Christians who work hard and have close family ties. They are law-abiding, upstanding citizens, and although I can only think of a couple who’ve struggled, they were never afraid of a hard day’s work to overcome obstacles.
If conservatives could somehow find a way to bridge the gap with blacks and dispell the notion that we are a group of exclusive whites, perhaps blacks could somehow find a message of hope and start to undo the decades of dysfunction created by a democratic party hell-bent on keeping an entire ethnic group under its collective thumb.
December 1st, 2007 at 2:57 pmGood article. Well written and well said. I hope people listen to you. I hope you don’t loose you job over this. Speaking out can be tough, but someone has got to be the whistle blower.
December 1st, 2007 at 3:19 pmGrumpy
Go to the link and dig into Whitlock’s archives (if they’re available) … This ain’t unusual “topic matter” for him to write …
December 1st, 2007 at 3:27 pmThere was another article I found that sounds the alarm, here:
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/09/05/destruction_in_black_america_is_self_inflicted/
And some others:
http://lashawnbarber.com/archives/2006/12/18/black-and-hispanic-hate-in-la-county/
http://lashawnbarber.com/archives/2006/12/29/more-michigan/
LaShawn Barber is another one who’s speaking up.
December 1st, 2007 at 3:43 pmWhitlock is a sports columnist in KC (I think he also writes for yahoo sports and has done work with ESPN). About a year ago he started writing pieces like this one and my respect for him went through the roof.
He’s been shouted down by the usual suspects before but he keeps plugging away with his message.
December 1st, 2007 at 6:07 pmThis is a sad, sad story. Young man of minority persuasion beats the odds to breaks free of deprived youth to make it to the big time in the NFL–only to be murdered in cold blood by four losers.
December 1st, 2007 at 9:41 pmAhem.
I will now present a rebuttal from the Revs. Sharpton and Jackson, the NAACP, and the Nation of Islam:
UNCLE TOM!!! OREO!!! HOUSE NIGGER!!!
This concludes the rebuttal.
December 1st, 2007 at 10:38 pmWhat these retards did is beyond words and it just makes no sense. To go into somebody’s house and murder him while his fiance and 1 year old girl were terrorized deserves a slow painful death for each and every one of these losers.
I’m a proud Washington Redskins fan my whole life and Sean Taylor was one of the greatest young defensive football players I’ve ever seen and surely one of the top 2 safety’s the Redskins have ever had, along with the great Kenny Houston. The mood around here has been nothing short of surreal and it’s just unbelievable that the teams best player, a father, and future husband, is now dead for no good reason. Truly a senseless act by stupid hood rats.
May these assholes rot in hell forever for what they’ve done.
December 2nd, 2007 at 4:49 amI find the term Black KKK to be something that I am going to base my next African American studies paper on and make sure I site this article. This incident reminds me of why I have a concealed permit every time I head to my parents place for a holiday they always ask why I carry all I do is turn on the news and wait 5 mins…. Sad, but true I’m a black man and you know what I don’t fear the Police because 98% aren’t racist bastards but, a group of black “thugs” and I’m already sizing up the group and giving them a worst case threat assessment.
December 2nd, 2007 at 5:29 amIt’s sad that Sean Taylor was just starting to turn his life around. This year was his best as a pro and as a human being.
The black KKK that took this young man’s life will thrive and be around as long as the Sharptons and the Jesse Jacksons of this country are allowed to spew forth their racist diatribes and myths.
I know several black folks who are sick of it and refuse to give Jackson or Sharpton a “pass” anymore. Instead they listen to guys like Harold Jackson and Niger Ennis.
It sucks that here we are 40 years after the Jim Crowe society was crushed and idiots like Jackson and sharpton are still talking like it is 1963 all over again.
These fucking assholes need to get a freaking job and STFU.
Sean Taylor, like many a young Black man with potential had his life snuffed out by a couple of Black punks, who should be hung by their gonads as a warning to other punks who want to do the same to some other Black kid trying to make a living and raising a family.
This isn’t a gun-violence story. Guns don’t commit crimes, people do. You want to ban something. Ban single-parent black homes. Ban rap. Ban the Black KKK. Make fathers accountable. What these kids need is a father at home to help offset the crud that is in the street.
Teach these kids personal responsibility and hold them accountable when they fuck up. No wrist slapping. Many of these kids need a can of whoop-ass opened up on them.
Stop making excuses for their bad behavior. So he came from a broken home. So what. So did alot of other folks. Get over yourself.
Lastly, fire Jesse and Al. who appointed them spokemen for blacks anyways. Since when can’t blacks speak for thenmselves? All my black friends are more than capable of speaking for themselves and telling Jesse and Al where they can shove it.
God Bless the Taylor household. If you’d like to contribute to the Sean Taylor memorial fund for his 18-month old daughter you can contribute here:
http://www.redskins.com/news/newsDetail.jsp?id=32264
For a last look at Sean Taylor the football player there is a tribute page here:
December 2nd, 2007 at 3:08 pmhttp://www.redskins.com
Will do, bud.
December 2nd, 2007 at 10:21 pm