How to Steal from the Rich

Carmelo Anthony, like Ron Artest before him, was just hit with a fine that is nearly $1 million dollars, for a game fracas that he did not start but unwisely got involved in. He also was on track to garner the honor of leading the league in scoring this season – now that is probably a moot point given the length of his suspension. This is a case of VERY rich White owners, legally stealing from NEWLY rich Black players, using a contrived concern for civility to do it, in a sport that is far less violence-prone than football, hockey or baseball. I guess the millions that the owners are stealing with these outrageous fines, can be used to make further campaign contributions to their favorite political parties or however else they care to use it. For them it's a better investment than giving it to Black players who are considered merely rich slaves on their NBA plantation, with David Stern as their overseer. During slavery, the owners brazenly and criminally stole their slave's labor and wages. Today in the NBA, the owners still brazenly steal their slave's wages - nothing much has changed!

It is inconceivable that they would similarly try to steal $5 million from a Larry Bird or a Bill Walton as they did from Ron Artest in his year-long suspension. Everyone knows it would never have happened to them, Stern and the NBA would have found some way to mitigate even the most egregious behavior, had it been Bird, Walton or some other White player.

As one White sportswriter pointed out, “baseball's players are 60 percent White and only 8.5 percent Black. The NHL has 2.5 percent Black players, while the NBA is about 80 percent Black. But I'm sure it's insignificant that the players in the NBA fighting this past weekend were Black. After all, we're a color-blind society, right? We treat everyone the same, and comparing professional hockey or baseball fighting to basketball fighting isn't really fair. And the race of the athletes has nothing to do with how we respond to the fighting in those sports, either. Or maybe in the end, the reaction of our country when NBA players fight says a lot more about us than it does about them.”

This sportswriter correctly identified how race is factored in, depending on who is fighting and if the league is the NBA. There it is determined how much is deemed acceptable to 'steal' if the player is Black. Such a player who happens to get into a fight, whether of his choosing or not, is almost certain to be fined an amount that most of us would need at least a lifetime to earn.

Some might argue, that a player who is earning millions of dollars per year, is by definition exempt from being exploited or treated unfairly, and deserves no sympathy.

But in the NBA, if there is a fight, legalized theft and unfair treatment by the owners toward their slaves, is the rule rather than the exception.

Race or Class?

This is the question that is often asked, and the debate is on which is more important - and which needs to be focused on in pursuit of social justice for all? An increasing number of Americans are convinced that race and racism are all but gone, and should no longer be a factor when we formulate our social policies. At the same time they believe that class inequality is the new frontier and the only one worth examining and remedying.

I say that the two are inseparable, and there is most often a direct link of race to the class one is a part of. Is racism as egregious as it was during slavery and the sharecropping Jim Crow era in the south and the north? Certainly not, but race is still the kindling that begins the process towards inadequate health care, poor housing, inferior educational opportunities, discriminatory charging and prison sentencing, police profiling and excessive force, joblessness and a host of other ills. These are usually what determines the class of those affected, and although remedying class inequities are important, for a significant part of the population, race and racism should, and must be dealt with first.

If and when we muster the will and commitment to focus on ending racism as we know it, we will begin to see the uplifting of those classes that have been negatively impacted by systemic racism. This will benefit all of us who make up American society. We cannot have one without the other.

What Should Be Done About Racists?

Absolutely nothing! They are who they are and unlikely to ever change. Hopefully the laws will be sufficient to prevent them from acting on their racism.

This brings me to the recent, unseemly, racist rant of "Seinfeld' star, Michael Richards, at a Hollywood nightspot. As he later admitted, his racism came from deep inside him - no surprise there! In fact, I am never surprised when the racism finally manifests itself. After all, most Whites harbor racist feelings toward non-Whites, and Blacks in particular. Finding the few that are not racists, is like finding an oasis of tasty water in the middle of a desert, or having a delightful dessert at the end of a meal, or some other unexpected delight.

Would I sue Richards, as it seems two Black patrons who were subjected to his racism are planning to do - definitely not! From my standpoint, it is more reasonable to expect racist words and actions from the majority of Whites, rather than be surprised when it finally happens. I would not even want an apology - let him be who he is, and let them be who they are.

That's the way it is in America, and Black folks should be realists about how they are perceived and often hated by their fellow citizens. Thank God for the few Whites I have met in my lifetime that were truly not racists. They remind me that people have the ability to choose who and what they want to be, and that's good enough for me.

Thanksgiving and America being Thankful They have O.J. to Hate

With O.J. resurfacing in the news once again, and the public outcry at the Fox Corp. attempt to 'pimp' the tragedy with a new book and TV special as so many others have done, it occurred to me that there might be a silver lining in all of this.

Most of America believes O.J. did the crimes, regardless of the botched investigation, or the lying of a racist cop under oath, or the political ambitions of a D.A. that had to have a conviction at all costs, or the fact that the prosecution never proved 'beyond a reasonable doubt' that he did it. So, America finally has a Black former 'beloved icon' of theirs, that they can publicly and unashamedly hate and vent their most racist feelings toward, and the past few days have been filled with a steady stream of all manner of such racist bile.

It just occurred to me that in my lifetime, I probably will never learn who really did this crime, because I truly believe that even if the killer or killers came forward and confessed, it would be covered up and withheld from the public - perhaps it already has! This is because America's investment in O.J.'s guilt is so huge. And like all investments, no one wants to lose what they have invested - this investment is no exception.

Perhaps O.J. deserves this for committing the ultimate sin in America, being Black and wanting to and having a White woman, who unfortunately turned up dead. He should have known better, now he will have to pay for his sin for the rest of his life.

This Thanksgiving I am truly thankful for the many blessings of Almighty God. I am also thankful that in the next life I will finally learn who is guilty and who is innocent of this crime - that's the silver lining!

A Right To Bear Arms?

David Stern's problem is that he sees himself as the overseer of a NBA plantation populated mostly by high-paid, child-like, irresponsible Blacks that he feels have to be controlled, regulated and restricted from carrying guns to protect themselves and their families, lest they embarrass or endanger the White fans and the owners. Denying players (effectively all Black) from going to the plantation directly from H.S., is also part of the mentality, that if they get rich too soon, they may get swelled heads and become unmanageable later. The other leagues don't have this concern since most of their high schoolers turning pro, are safe White athletes. The NBA under Stern, is a perfect metaphor for the slavery system in which Blacks were feared, controlled, harshly punished (like the unjust 1 yr suspension of Artest and loss to him of multiple millions), and were powerless to protect themselves, as Stern now seeks to do by denying them the right to carry their guns for protection. Stern and his owners do not see these players as full persons entitled to the respect accorded to other athletes, but instead sees them only as the 3/5 that the constitution mandated. His overtures to European players is his attempt at 'whitening' the league, thereby depressing salaries and making the NBA less dependant on the labor of Blacks. I've been watching Stern for a long time and I've become more and more convinced of his racist, patronizing mind-set.

Genetically Destined or Merely More Motivated?

I agree that those sufficiently motivated to start over in a strange land (or even a different part of the same country, such as the northward and westward migration of southern Blacks starting in the early part of the last century) are probably destined to succeed, even beyond most of those that are natives of the new land. The Jamaican immigrants, Marcus Garvey and Colin Powell comes to mind, among others. However, I think it goes beyond being merely more motivated, focused, educated and purposeful. I would not discount the possibility that those who are so motivated, could be part of the 'talented tenth' of each particular ethnic/cultural group, as W. E. Dubois discussed in his writings. Could there be a superior gene common to these who have this drive and willingness to go beyond their comfort zones to migrate to succeed? If so, then it might indeed be said, that the 'best and brightest' who migrate elsewhere, are probably 'better' than the average of the persons who are native to the new land they have come to. This might be a more satisfactory explanation for their dominance, since they as a group (1st and 2nd generations) appear to achieve even more, than those natives among them, who could be characterized as focused, educated and purposeful.

Spiritual Fruits or Religious Nuts?

What does Jim, Jimmy, Paul, Ted, James, George, Jeff, and Mike have in common? The first four; Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggert, Paul Crouch, and Ted Haggard, are all right-wing, republican Evangelicals who have railed against sexual sins in others, but have been exposed and outed for having secret sinful sexual lives themselves. The next two, James Dobson and George Bush, are close friends and confidants of these and the recently outed, Ted Haggard, a mega-pastor and head of a 30 million member evangelical association. The last two, Jeff and Mike, are admitted male prostitutes. Jeff Gannon was given cover and unlimited access to the White House as a fake journalist in the press corps, and Mike Jones is the male escort that has accused Haggard of paying him for monthly sex over a 3 year period and also was the procurer for his drug of choice, crystal meth. At first Haggard denied knowing Jones, now he flip-flops and says he went to him only for a 'massage'. He also admits to buying crystal meth from him, but "threw it away before using it". We don't need to speculate if he is telling the truth or not, but it should be noted that he has quickly resigned from both of his high-profile evangelical positions. If I were similarly accused but innocent of these charges, I would never resign, but instead, sue my accuser for slander, and every publication that printed the accusation. Let's see if he does this. The experts say that $200 worth of crystal meth, is not a quantity that a first-time user would buy. Instead it is the quantity that only a regular user committed to this drug and it's effects, would buy. Further, buying this drug in any quantity is a felony in Colorado, so Haggard is probably not only a regular user, but is also an admitted law breaker and felon as well. Rumor also has it that the gay community in Colorado Springs has known about Rev. Ted for years and that he not only has had sex with gay prostitutes, but has also had a ten-year long affair with one of his male aides, and has come on inappropriately to many of his young staffers. Once again it seems, here is a case of another so-called 'godly' person, who along with right-wing pundits like Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly, regularly brand the rest of us as 'godless, leftist secularists' in the culture war, but who has now been exposed as the ultimate hypocrite that we suspected, but did not have proof of, until now. These are the fruits of the more moral, more holier-than-thou crowd, that wraps itself around the flag and the Bible, and proclaims their righteousness and morality, while savaging and persecuting gays and other undesirables, and conducting their own depraved lifestyles in private. These are also the phonies who claim to be 'pro-life' while supporting a war which has killed thousands of innocent Iraqis and American servicemen and women, using lies and deceptions to justify their actions.