The Ace of Race
A few thoughts on race which have arisen lately:
1) Both Jermaine O'Neal and Al Sharpton recently dropped the race card in response to the NBA's proposed age limit rules and the FBI's surveilance tapes respectively. I find both instances of race card dropping to be incredibly counter-productive.
NBA. First, for every 18 year old who is precluded from entering the NBA, a 20 or 21 year old will take his place. Why are we to believe that the racial makeup of the 20 and 21 year olds will be any different than that of the precluded 18 year olds? Second, for every O'Neal who came out of high school and eventually succeeded, there have been plenty who never went to college, played in the NBA for a year or two, and then were left with zero schooling and zero job.
FBI. Sharpton's race card dropping is plain silly. It has been widely reported that he's been an FBI informant for years, based on an old tape showing him carry out a cocaine deal. Furthermore, it's just no different than DeLay claiming that the latest attention on him is because of his political leanings. When leaned on, politicians lean back with what they can.
2) Two stories have dominated this morning's news. A story of a "Pony League Murder" where a 13 year old hit a 15 year old with a baseball bat over the head. A second, the story of a missing Florida girl. Before I saw either one on television, I heard them on the radio or read them in the paper (local). When you read about things like that happeining in Florida and California in the local paper, you can almost always conclude one thing: the parties involved are white. Stories similar to those happening right here at home don't get the same attention. It's sad, but true. See this as an example. http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/42714.htm
No national coverage for that story or a million others.
1) Both Jermaine O'Neal and Al Sharpton recently dropped the race card in response to the NBA's proposed age limit rules and the FBI's surveilance tapes respectively. I find both instances of race card dropping to be incredibly counter-productive.
NBA. First, for every 18 year old who is precluded from entering the NBA, a 20 or 21 year old will take his place. Why are we to believe that the racial makeup of the 20 and 21 year olds will be any different than that of the precluded 18 year olds? Second, for every O'Neal who came out of high school and eventually succeeded, there have been plenty who never went to college, played in the NBA for a year or two, and then were left with zero schooling and zero job.
FBI. Sharpton's race card dropping is plain silly. It has been widely reported that he's been an FBI informant for years, based on an old tape showing him carry out a cocaine deal. Furthermore, it's just no different than DeLay claiming that the latest attention on him is because of his political leanings. When leaned on, politicians lean back with what they can.
2) Two stories have dominated this morning's news. A story of a "Pony League Murder" where a 13 year old hit a 15 year old with a baseball bat over the head. A second, the story of a missing Florida girl. Before I saw either one on television, I heard them on the radio or read them in the paper (local). When you read about things like that happeining in Florida and California in the local paper, you can almost always conclude one thing: the parties involved are white. Stories similar to those happening right here at home don't get the same attention. It's sad, but true. See this as an example. http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/42714.htm
No national coverage for that story or a million others.
posted by mattguiney at 4:39 AM
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