An Email to David Aldridge: My Response to His Article About the All-Star Game in Vegas
Today I emailed David Aldridge (of TNT and The Philidelphia Inquirer) in response to his article "Bad Rap for NBA in Vegas". Not sure if he'll even read it (as I sent it to his philly inquirer address). But here's a transcript of it:
Mr. Aldridge,
I was so pleased to read your article this morning ("Bad Rap for NBA In Vegas"). It was well written, and very balanced. There is a sensationalism within the mainstream media and the blogs that I try to stay away from. It's refreshing to see that there is at least one brotha doing the same. There is a fear within many people in this country for anything that is different...in other words, anything that is not white bread. Because there were a lot of black people in hip hop garb gathered in one place for an event people automatically labeled the scene as being one that was engulfed by thugs. But the funny thing about it is if you've ever been to Vegas for New Years, you understand that when a bunch of young white folks are together partying, there is as much too be worried about as there is when there are a bunch of young black folks. It has more to do with the place being overcrowded with young people looking to party more than anything. I live in California, and refuse to go to Vegas on major events because of it. I have aspirations of working in the NBA and have interned with a prominent agent that could have easily given me tickets to the event. But I know what's it's going to be like in Vegas during New Years, a major fight, and other events like the all-star game...It's not my scene, so I avoided it. I feel like everyone else knew what it was going to be like too, so I just don't get what people were so up an arms about.
My favorite part of your piece:
"I wish more young black men weren't so seduced by the worst of hip-hop culture: the misogyny, the glamorization of selling drugs and drinking, the indifference to formal education. I wish VH1 could find better depictions of black life than crackhead singers and illiterate sex-crazed fools. But I don't know - and neither do any of the writers and bloggers - if a group of young black man approaching in cornrows and baggy jeans are thieves or pre-med students at Penn. To assume either possibility is to be prejudiced. Period."
As a young black man that's come from a lower class single parent home, but has already graduated from USC's undergraduate business program and is on his way to law school in the fall, I've wondered the same thing. Why can't there be a reality show on a black kid like me, who doesn't fall into this manufactured stereotype that the media and such keeps shoving down our Nation's throat? It's come to the point (even within our community) where if you are young and black and don't act that way, you are deemed less black. And it's not because that is the way that young black people really act, but because that is the image that American mainstream media has chosen to recycle and shove down our throats over and over again.
Everyone in the country should be handed a copy of Cornell West's "Race Matters" so that they could understand the history of black race relations in this country. Despite the explosion of black culture around the globe, most people don't have an understanding of African American history and the African American psyche. It's still something that is relatively unknown and a taboo subject. Without knowledge people just continue to compose stereotypical non-sense like we've been reading in the last few weeks.
In regards to Whitlock...he's what Dr. West would call a conservative behaviorist or a member of the black conservatives. He's a black man that has worked his way up to middle class status, probably has a ton of white friends and is tired of being grouped in with the "black kkk" (as he calls them). He's more worried about how his racial group is viewed affects him than with actually fixing the problem. By attacking young black culture as a whole he sets himself apart from the group as a whole and makes white people say: "that's Jason Whitlock, he's black, but not that kind of black...he's more like us." But my problem with Whitlock as with all conservative behaviorists is that he throws out general stereotyping accusations without acknowledging what is the crux of the problem with young blacks in this country today. Yes, Mr. Whitlock has made it. But just because he's made it and become mainstream, doesn't give him a right to be critical of everyone that hasn't and that doesn't have the benefit of being a college educated professional such as himself. As you know there is a long history of alienation and degradation of blacks in this country that goes beyond slavery and is rooted in the quilt of almost everyone that is African American. Given the circumstances that most are born into (single-parent low income homes, poor schools, zero health care, etc.) it's not surprising that not all young black men know how to act. Especially when most don't have a father figure in their home, and the only ones there as an example of how to be a black man are the rappers and entertainers they see on their television screens (portraying the only same stereotypical images that America demands of most blacks in the media). Yet blacks like Whitlock that have been lucky enough to make it don't take advantage of their standings as powerful black figures and encourage young black males to become something different. He doesn't use his articles for that. Instead like a cowardly sniper from a far, he shoots snipes on his unsuspecting and vulnerable young black victims. It's almost very Ward Connerly like in a sense.
Just as Dr. West stated in his book, there is also an inexcusable liberalism that permeates amongst blacks in defense of the antics of some of our youth. As Whitlock is the sports media spokesperson for the black conservatives, Scoop Jackson is the sports media spokesperson for the black liberals. Unchecked liberalism from guys such as Scoop can be just as devastating to our community as the verbal snipes sent from high and mighty blacks such as Whitlock. I don't fault Scoop in the same fashion that I fault a guy like Whitlock, but Scoop often glorifies hip-hop culture and its figures to the point that black folks can do no wrong. He's the kind of guy where black is always right no matter what the situation is. He's also the kind of guy that glorifies an unethical, influence peddling, street hustler like William "Wes" Wesley in his articles. In a lot of ways glorifying mainstream hip-hop (underground/conscious hip hop is a different story) is the same as glorifying misogyny, drug dealing, and indifference toward formal education. The main idea in glorifying guys like Wesley, Jay-Z, and others is that they make a ton of money. Instead of trying to figure out a way to fix the ills of the community, hip-hop culture and it's defenders take the easy way out and talk about the amount of money the culture generates per year. But how much of that money actually goes into black pockets and actually goes to help fixing the social ills of the black community? As well, they don't talk about the cost benefit analysis of the culture on the community. Just in the way that drug dealing might make a few people rich and kill millions of others, hip hop culture and the worship of it's star figures does the same. It glorifies things that are certain to uplift a few but hold back most. Instead of preaching about the importance of education and the need to give back to the community, it preaches about things that are certain to hold back advancement of our people in much of the same fashion that things such as slavery and restrictive housing covenants have. The entire black community is not going to pull itself out of the predicament that it is in by being a basketball player, actor, rapper, or in Wesley's case...a hustler. Glorifying hip-hop, it's most famous figures, and the culture that underlies it is almost as bad as telling young blacks that their only way out is through selling drugs.
My problem with both Whitlock and Scoop is that they both have a pulpit to initiate change in the community, but instead take polarizing stances that do nothing to solve the problem within the community. Glorying ignorant hip-hop culture is just as bad as sniping unsuspecting helpless black folks from afar. The problem with our community is that guys like Scoop and Whitlock spend most of their time throwing verbal jabs at each other instead of coming together, meeting in the middle and using their power and influence to initiate change.
Mr. Aldridge,
I was so pleased to read your article this morning ("Bad Rap for NBA In Vegas"). It was well written, and very balanced. There is a sensationalism within the mainstream media and the blogs that I try to stay away from. It's refreshing to see that there is at least one brotha doing the same. There is a fear within many people in this country for anything that is different...in other words, anything that is not white bread. Because there were a lot of black people in hip hop garb gathered in one place for an event people automatically labeled the scene as being one that was engulfed by thugs. But the funny thing about it is if you've ever been to Vegas for New Years, you understand that when a bunch of young white folks are together partying, there is as much too be worried about as there is when there are a bunch of young black folks. It has more to do with the place being overcrowded with young people looking to party more than anything. I live in California, and refuse to go to Vegas on major events because of it. I have aspirations of working in the NBA and have interned with a prominent agent that could have easily given me tickets to the event. But I know what's it's going to be like in Vegas during New Years, a major fight, and other events like the all-star game...It's not my scene, so I avoided it. I feel like everyone else knew what it was going to be like too, so I just don't get what people were so up an arms about.
My favorite part of your piece:
"I wish more young black men weren't so seduced by the worst of hip-hop culture: the misogyny, the glamorization of selling drugs and drinking, the indifference to formal education. I wish VH1 could find better depictions of black life than crackhead singers and illiterate sex-crazed fools. But I don't know - and neither do any of the writers and bloggers - if a group of young black man approaching in cornrows and baggy jeans are thieves or pre-med students at Penn. To assume either possibility is to be prejudiced. Period."
As a young black man that's come from a lower class single parent home, but has already graduated from USC's undergraduate business program and is on his way to law school in the fall, I've wondered the same thing. Why can't there be a reality show on a black kid like me, who doesn't fall into this manufactured stereotype that the media and such keeps shoving down our Nation's throat? It's come to the point (even within our community) where if you are young and black and don't act that way, you are deemed less black. And it's not because that is the way that young black people really act, but because that is the image that American mainstream media has chosen to recycle and shove down our throats over and over again.
Everyone in the country should be handed a copy of Cornell West's "Race Matters" so that they could understand the history of black race relations in this country. Despite the explosion of black culture around the globe, most people don't have an understanding of African American history and the African American psyche. It's still something that is relatively unknown and a taboo subject. Without knowledge people just continue to compose stereotypical non-sense like we've been reading in the last few weeks.
In regards to Whitlock...he's what Dr. West would call a conservative behaviorist or a member of the black conservatives. He's a black man that has worked his way up to middle class status, probably has a ton of white friends and is tired of being grouped in with the "black kkk" (as he calls them). He's more worried about how his racial group is viewed affects him than with actually fixing the problem. By attacking young black culture as a whole he sets himself apart from the group as a whole and makes white people say: "that's Jason Whitlock, he's black, but not that kind of black...he's more like us." But my problem with Whitlock as with all conservative behaviorists is that he throws out general stereotyping accusations without acknowledging what is the crux of the problem with young blacks in this country today. Yes, Mr. Whitlock has made it. But just because he's made it and become mainstream, doesn't give him a right to be critical of everyone that hasn't and that doesn't have the benefit of being a college educated professional such as himself. As you know there is a long history of alienation and degradation of blacks in this country that goes beyond slavery and is rooted in the quilt of almost everyone that is African American. Given the circumstances that most are born into (single-parent low income homes, poor schools, zero health care, etc.) it's not surprising that not all young black men know how to act. Especially when most don't have a father figure in their home, and the only ones there as an example of how to be a black man are the rappers and entertainers they see on their television screens (portraying the only same stereotypical images that America demands of most blacks in the media). Yet blacks like Whitlock that have been lucky enough to make it don't take advantage of their standings as powerful black figures and encourage young black males to become something different. He doesn't use his articles for that. Instead like a cowardly sniper from a far, he shoots snipes on his unsuspecting and vulnerable young black victims. It's almost very Ward Connerly like in a sense.
Just as Dr. West stated in his book, there is also an inexcusable liberalism that permeates amongst blacks in defense of the antics of some of our youth. As Whitlock is the sports media spokesperson for the black conservatives, Scoop Jackson is the sports media spokesperson for the black liberals. Unchecked liberalism from guys such as Scoop can be just as devastating to our community as the verbal snipes sent from high and mighty blacks such as Whitlock. I don't fault Scoop in the same fashion that I fault a guy like Whitlock, but Scoop often glorifies hip-hop culture and its figures to the point that black folks can do no wrong. He's the kind of guy where black is always right no matter what the situation is. He's also the kind of guy that glorifies an unethical, influence peddling, street hustler like William "Wes" Wesley in his articles. In a lot of ways glorifying mainstream hip-hop (underground/conscious hip hop is a different story) is the same as glorifying misogyny, drug dealing, and indifference toward formal education. The main idea in glorifying guys like Wesley, Jay-Z, and others is that they make a ton of money. Instead of trying to figure out a way to fix the ills of the community, hip-hop culture and it's defenders take the easy way out and talk about the amount of money the culture generates per year. But how much of that money actually goes into black pockets and actually goes to help fixing the social ills of the black community? As well, they don't talk about the cost benefit analysis of the culture on the community. Just in the way that drug dealing might make a few people rich and kill millions of others, hip hop culture and the worship of it's star figures does the same. It glorifies things that are certain to uplift a few but hold back most. Instead of preaching about the importance of education and the need to give back to the community, it preaches about things that are certain to hold back advancement of our people in much of the same fashion that things such as slavery and restrictive housing covenants have. The entire black community is not going to pull itself out of the predicament that it is in by being a basketball player, actor, rapper, or in Wesley's case...a hustler. Glorifying hip-hop, it's most famous figures, and the culture that underlies it is almost as bad as telling young blacks that their only way out is through selling drugs.
My problem with both Whitlock and Scoop is that they both have a pulpit to initiate change in the community, but instead take polarizing stances that do nothing to solve the problem within the community. Glorying ignorant hip-hop culture is just as bad as sniping unsuspecting helpless black folks from afar. The problem with our community is that guys like Scoop and Whitlock spend most of their time throwing verbal jabs at each other instead of coming together, meeting in the middle and using their power and influence to initiate change.
19 comments:
Good synopsis of Whitlock and Scoop. I would add that the problem goes beyond just those two - that many black people with influence fail to do much more with it than exploit the weakness of the communities that support them. Its up to black people with influence to make sure names like Paul Robeson and William T. Coleman are in the conciousness of the black community as well as the whole country.
No PS about where he thinks Paul Pierce will be next season? C'mon, Jones.
Jones,
This is Jason Whitlock. I found your blog from a Big Lead link. Good stuff. I am not a conservative, at all. Nor am I liberal. I abhore politics of all kind. I don't vote and I don't participate in politics. And I certainly don't spend any time worrying about what the mainstream community thinks of me or my work. I do have lots of friends, black and white.
Jason Whitlock
Jones,
This is an exceptional breakdown of the situation. I've had trouble clearing the cobwebs in the minds of my friends who are failing to understand what the whitlock/simmons/scoop/aldridge hoopla is all about, and I know I can just show them this.
Keep doing how you do.
As with most people, I felt that reading the articles bout the Vegas incident instantly pulled me to the chorus group for naysayers about the black community. Again, I fell victim to making instant conclusions and reading your piece really made sense of how foolish I am jumping quickly on the hoopla of parading problems more than solutions.
Best.
I have some questions. Some may be more or less rhetorical in nature.
What about Whitlock makes him "lucky enough to have made it?" I am not familiar with his background. Did he win some sort of lottery?
Isn't saying that he was lucky enough to have made it "throw(ing) out general stereotyping accusations"? I know that depending on which direction it comes from, saying black people are only capable of "making it" through luck would probably be considered a racist statement.
"He's more worried about how his racial group is viewed affects him than with actually fixing the problem. " Beyond projection, how do you know this? How do you know he doesn't think and feel that describing the problem as he sees it isn't his way of trying to fix the problem. Some might say downplaying or denying a problem is counterproductive to fixing it.
"But just because he's made it and become mainstream, doesn't give him a right to be critical of everyone that hasn't..." Where did Mr. Whitlock criticize everyone that isn't as successful as him? I saw the article where he criticized certain behaviors, but I missed the one where he criticized everyone. Would you mind linking it please?
What about Whitlock, Scoop, and yourself renders you in the same community? Did you ever see the Eddie Murphy SNL skit where he dressed up in white face and went around NYC and everyone gave him free stuff? Man, that's a funny skit.
Here's a final few questions. If you knew that Vegas would be sketchy that weekend and chose to avoid it (but that wasn't about race), and I chose to avoid Vegas that weekend (and it wasn't about race), how can you be so sure that everyone who is criticizing what went down is all about race? Isn't that just more projecting?
Outside of your professional dealings do you have "a ton of white friends"?
All the white people on VH1 are crackhead singers and illiterate sex-crazed fools as well. VH1 isn't even part of the problem.
Good post though.
I don't think you've read much of whitlock if this is your conclusion of his writing and his stance. I beleive from reading whitlock over the last 7-10 years that he's very much about a solution. If you read any of his AOL stuff, it was a huge part of the crux for his relocation from ESPN to AOL. Read up.
I appreciated your opinion on the rest of your post though.
In response to anonymous 2:02:
-I was wrong to say that Whitlock was lucky enough have made it, because obviously there was a lot of work involved in getting him to where he is.
-In regards to how I know he’s not really interested in fixing the problem? Well read his comment from above that says he’s not interested in politics and doesn’t vote at all. How can he be a person that’s interested in fixing a social problem but doesn’t participate in the process that would aid in fixing the problem?
-I agree more than anyone that ignoring the problem is wrong. I knocked Scoop Jackson in this post for doing that exact thing. But throwing people under the bus without explaining to his audience why some of our young black youth act the way they do is also wrong. He shouldn’t be excusing the acts of the people, but he should say: I’m sick of this, we need to change it, but I understand why these people are this way. He should explain the history so people understand. And then since he wants to see change occur he should roll up his sleeves and do something to make that change happen. I have a ton of friends that aren’t familiar with the social issues that have plagued the African American community beyond slavery and Jim Crow. But once I hand them a book, or explain to them the history of the matter they open up and change their opinion about things. The key here is to be balanced.
-The community that I refer to Scoop, Whitlock and myself all being a part of is the African American Community. We all have the blood of African Slaves running through our veins. That’s our common bond. I’m sure we have other common bonds, but for the purpose of this post, that’s the community I’m referring to.
-Outside of my professional dealings, I do have a TON of not just white, but all kinds of friends. I have made it my mission to become as diverse a person as possible, while still holding on to my African American culture. I have a ton of Jewish, Korean, Persian, Latin, and multi-ethnic friends. And I work everyday to educate them all about the history of African Americans in this country.
I don’t know Scoop or Whitlock personally. But I just have seen the back and forth battle between the two over the last year, and noticed that the battle between the two of them had already been outlined in Cornell West’s “Race Matters.” Whitlock might not be a conservative per say, but for this issue the stance he was taking on the issue was almost identical to what Dr. West described as the conservative black, while Scoop’s stance seemed identical to that of the black liberal that was described. I don’t think either is totally right, just like I don’t think either is totally wrong. What I did is point out the areas of their arguments that I found wrong, and then encouraged them to drop the verbal back and forth come together and use their pulpit as national columnists to implement change.
Anonymous 7:42:
I actually have read a lot of Whitlock and am one of his BIGGEST fans. I think he's an excellent writer that covers many issues that hardly ever get talked about in sports. That doesn't mean I don't have the right to disagree with him about the way he is handling a particular issue. Jason means very well, and he is right to call out black folks for being ignorant. But I feel that he is wrong to call them out without explaining why they act that way and then outling a plan for a solution. I know that Jason is just a columnist, but he has a national audience. If he is going to get on a pulpit and preach, don't you think he should also have a solution to the problem he's talking about? As well, don't you think it's unfair to talk about how bad some of these black folks bojangle and then don't explain why?
Good letter, but before you start law school, you might want to consider learning the difference between 'their' and 'there.' Just a thought. Thanks!
"Why can't their be a reality show on a black kid like me, who doesn't fall into this manufactured stereotype..."
Nic, I know the difference between their and there...sorry for the mistake. But this is a blog that for the most part I don't edit at all. If you found one mistake in an unedited 1500 word blog post, well kudos to you. But thanks for pointing out the mistake.
Sorry your comments didn’t escape the spam trap over at my blog. I think the link tricked it into thinking your comment was spam…. anyway, I’m glad I caught it….
Jeez, I wish you and others would cease talking about the Simmons piece and its tenor as if this is the only post I've ever written about race, media, and sports, or this is the only manner in which I can write.
If you check out the comments section accompanying the piece you'll see why I wrote the Simmons post in the manner I chose.
If you peruse my blog you'll see many different voices used to discuss the topics of race, sports, racism and sports, and media bias in sports.
nate,
yours is a well thought out and intelligent take on the subject of all star weekend, so i hope that this is an appropriate place for me voice my frustration. My issue is this ... how can it be we 1) universally acknowledge that hip hop culture glorifies misogyny, drugs, violence, conspicuous consumption, and general contempt for mainstream "white" society, including the derision of the value of education 2) acknowledge that vegas was swarmed with persons who have bought into said culture 3) acknowledge that vegas is a place where people go when they want to get out of hand ... and then say that it is racist to write an article on an atmosphere that was less than law abiding? I guess that a white man who covers the NBA for a living is going to be overwhelmed by racist feelings when "suddenly" in the racial minority?
As a white man I resent the implication that if I am in a situation where I am in the racial minority and feel threatened, that my feelings of fear must be the result of latent (or not) racism. Are you saying that I cannot accurately judge my relative safety due to the dress and skin color of those around me ... or is ti because of the color of my skin? ... I'm confused ... which means I'm in trouble, as I live in downtown Baltimore and work in downtown D.C.
I believe everybody's take on the weekend, be it Simmons, Whitlock, Windhorst, Aldredge ... it was their experience, and was I assume, an accurate description of how they felt ... and I can understand how they differ. What I don't buy, and what I am infuriated by, is someone like Scoop Jackson pimping antisocial elements of hip hop culture on one hand, and then hurling accusations of racism when those things are put on display en masse for all the world to see ...
Haha, thanks for the reply Nate. Sorry to nitpick -- I just see that their vs there (vs they're) a lot -- call it a personal pet peeve I guess. Hate to see a thoughtful and intelligent post such as this marred by it. Keep up the good work, good luck to ya.
Well said family...Well said!
Great piece...I especially liked the point you made about people who 'make it' and unfairly criticize those who 'don't'. I am not sure if this applies to jason whitlock (I've only read a few of his columns), but it surely applies to many people of all races.
Please keep up this good work, and I wish you the best for your future endeavors.
Additionally, I'm sure you already do this, but just in case, I hope you are willing to read stuff like Cornell West and make your own judgement. Being an academic myself (from MIT/Harvard), I would encourage you to not to give us too much credit for our views based solely on our credentials...the world needs people like you who can improve upon what Cornell West has himself improved upon.
Learn the difference between "their" and "there" nate. LOL hahahahahahah what kind of doofuses manage to find your blog?! NICE WRITING NATE.
-=Ken Tate'
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