Local White Man Touts "Many Black Friends And Family Members" As Definitive Proof That He's Not A Racist

Local Man taking photo while NOT being racist.

After posting yet another in what has become a disturbing amount of racially insensitive memes on his personal Facebook account, local White man James Hecker was finally called a racist by local Black man Paris Lay. Hoping to quickly dispel any rumors that he is a racist, James took to Facebook again and touted having "many Black friends and family members" thus making the very idea of him being a racist impossible.

While no African-Americans were able to come to his aid, an assortment of White friends of various ages and genders offered support to James' claim of not being a racist. Connor, (White) Sarah (White), Ron (White), William (White) and James O. (White) were among many, many Whites that vehemently disagreed with the charge of racism aimed at James. Sure they're White and would never be targets of James' racially insensitive posts, but that doesn't matter because they "know James." The many Whites noted that perhaps it was Paris who was actually being racist.

Furthering his case that he's "totally not a racist", James was able to produce ticket stubs from several African-American led feature films he's seen such as "Meet the Blacks", "Tyler Perry's Boo A Madea Halloween" and more recently "Hidden Figures." James also noted to never actually saying the n-word while singing along to rap songs. "I mean it's just silly. I'm not a racist," an incredulous James retorted.

When asked about his thoughts on voter ID laws that almost exclusively seem to only effect Black voters, James was quoted as saying, "What's the big deal with getting an ID? I got one." And when asked about African-Americans protesting social injustices be it in the form of marching or simply sitting during the national anthem James said, "Silent prayer and reflection would honestly be the best form of protesting because everything is fine if you ask me. Complaining only makes things uncomfortable for white people."

Cause and Effect: America's Inevitable Response To Barack Obama and Racial Equality

This night in 2008 sealed America's fate in 2016.

"And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can", Barack Obama exclaimed as a crowd of over 240,000 in Lincoln Park erupted in cheers. When the former Senator and then, President-Elected ended his victory speech after the 2008 Presidential Election my face was wet with tears and a sense of civic pride swelled inside of me, the likes of which I never before and have not sense felt. Four years earlier, when I lived in Chicago, a stone's throw from the same park President Obama would deliver those words, the first vote I would ever cast would be for Obama's senate race versus Alan Keyes. Later to witness that same man soar to such unseen and unprecedented heights was beyond awe inspiring, it was beyond basic comprehension. I'd liken the experience to a blind man being granted sight for the first time, would the comparison not be met with charges of gross hyperbole.

There's a potpourri of subjects in this world I find endlessly fascinating. Sports, politics, film and television, to name a few, but nothing arouses my intellectual senses quite like American History. Look no further than the birth of this nation to find an inconceivable meteoric rise to power that is singularly unrivaled in human history. In only 240 relatively short years, the United States of America clawed it's way from being a handful of backwater rebellious English colonies to becoming the premier place of commerce, technology, medicine, education, and entertainment arts in all of the world. It's history is made even more complicated in that America has had all of those aforementioned triumphs, while simultaneously perpetrating the world's most grotesque form of injustice, slavery, then engaging in over one hundred years of state sponsored overt and latent racial supremacy. I've long held the belief that Thomas Jefferson writing the words, "All Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" WHILE OWNING SLAVES, is, and will be in perpetuity, the planet's primary example of irony.

We don't live in a world where there's this clear, inconvertible evidence of systemic racism. There's no segregated lunch counters to sit at anymore. No stores or buses to boycott. No more Bull Connors or George Wallaces to point to as clear oppressors. The men and women two generations before my own won those battles and when the battle-lines were THAT clear it's easy to see how once those fights were over, one could assume the war was over. As we as a nation have evolved, so has racism. Where pre-Civil Rights racism was Godzilla; this prodigious force that lumbers toward ALL men, crushing anything in it's wake with such obvious force, that even the blind can't deny it's presence, post-Civil Rights racism is more akin to Predator. An equally duplicitous threat that clandestinely maneuvers through an environment now eradicating ONLY it's intended targets and doing so with staggering efficiency. I apologize in advance for the following tautology, but it has to be said again. No one in a Godzilla film could reasonably say he didn't exist, so the collective fight against Godzilla is a lot easier to mount when you don't have to spend time arguing his existence. By contrast, people in Predator films met their end in part because they're too busy questioning Predator's very presence.

Scenes like this pepper America's past.

I tell you all that not to lecture you on America's sins but to prove that despite these missteps, the spirit of the ideals and principles of this country's founding have endured. America itself has endured because our nation is a nation of fighters. It's in our very nature to fight the powers that govern us, but it's also our inherent righteous nature that pulls us forward. Albeit kicking and screaming sometimes, but forward nevertheless. The bedrock foundation of America's core founding ideals are so unflappable, that if you were only to look at the basic essence of the words of our Constitution, and use them as a guide, you'll always find yourself on the right side of any problem. It's chief message is one that calls for common sense, reason, fairness, and freedom that no rational man can reasonably dispute. The problem is those beautiful yet, quixotic words have to be implemented by men, whom we all know are seldom powered by the virtues of our founding documents. Too often men can be governed by less noble traits like greed, envy, hate, and fear. Even with all its rough edges, I still love and admire this country and its history.

One can not love the history of this nation without a certain "love" for the men that have led it. To love America is ipso facto a love of Presidents. Since this country's founding, these puissant men have guided and shaped, not just this nation's history, but the world's history like few other men can or have. I can name them all in succession, tell you the length of each man's term of office, and even offer up inutile facts about each. Knowing what I've know of our history and that office, I believe that I'd sooner live to see my beloved Chicago Cubs win a World Series before witnessing a Black man hold the Presidency. So I naively thought that just the moment itself, living to see this nation, via the freewill of a majority of it's own free citizens, elect a Black man to it's highest office, would be something worth collectively celebrating.

I already mention that the days of "Godzilla" racism are gone so that meant there aren't too many great moments of racial "firsts" to cross. Almost every major entity in this nation has christened itself with the champagne of racial equality. Sports leagues, schools, judges chambers, every field of employment, art, entertainment, all have had someone break through. Yes, many of our greatest Civil Rights heroes are dead and gone but there are still people in our country who can say they saw many of these moments. I had become reluctantly resigned to the fact that my generation's social defining "where were you when" moment was destined to be September 11th. Needless to say, it wasn't a story I would tell with pride to my as of yet born grandchildren. In my mind, November 5th, 2008 had given us "millennials" the a ultimate reprieve. We are a country fueled by the dream and broken promise of equality but built and run on the actions of racial hierarchy. You, reading this, and I, typing this, got to see our country show itself and the world, unequivocally, that that dream and that promise weren't just words anymore. It was real.

Even if this NEVER happened again, even if President Obama had lost his re-election bid in 2012, or worse, he had been struck down that night in Lincoln Park, WE had lived to see the country actually elect him. In my learnt opinion, there is no more enviable moment of American history to have been alive to witness. And yet, why has this nation not overwhelmingly saw the moment as I had? Does my Democratic political leaning, knowledge of history, or my shared race with our President offer me some idiosyncratic viewpoint other people aren't able to see? Upon further examination, it should have been my comprehensive knowledge of our nation's history that guided me to see the rise of the tyrannical right and Donald Trump. Donald isn't doing anything special. He hasn't tapped into some unseen racism that America was waiting to unleash. He hasn't given voice to some "silent majority". Trump is simply put, America's logical and appropriate response to racial equality.

 I was often confused as to how or why President Obama hasn't enjoyed the long established norms and respects that the office in which he holds typically grants someone in his place. Why he's endured historic levels of Congressional pushback. It's safe to say we're all aware of Newton's third law, which states, "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." Given that, and the history of America, I should have known that for every moment of cataclysmic racial equality, there has always been equal backlash. For slavery to meet its end, our country would wage its bloodiest war. A war within its own boarders, among its own citizens. A sweeping change in the voting habits for the country's southern population was the casualty for civil rights being embraced by the Democratic party in the 1960s. The end of Jim Crow/segregation saw the drug war and mass incarceration as it's logical response. Only with hindsight, is it easy to see how fool-hearted I'd been in thinking anything than other the complete opposite of everything that is Barack Obama, Donald Trump, would emerge from the crater of Obama's historical Presidency created in this country's psyche.

The face of America's logical reply to an Obama Presidency.

Where President Obama was born and raised in the most modest of means, Donald was born to superfluous wealth and prominence. Where President Obama is a tireless intellect, Donald is a lethargic imbecile. Where President Obama is exceedingly humble, Donald is endlessly egotistical. Where President Obama is consciously articulate, Donald speaks in the rambling self-interrupting cadence of your over inebriated uncle. Where President Obama is measured, reasonable, and Spock-esque in regards to logic, Donald is thoughtless, capricious, and seemingly unhinged from reality at times. Where President Obama's professional achievements reach the heights of Nobel Laureate, one could argue that Donald's professional ascension is WWE Hall of Famer.

I honestly believe if I were bestowed the all-reaching and divine powers of God Himself, I couldn't create a more fitting evil doppelganger for Barack Obama than Donald Trump. It doesn't seem real when I think about it but somehow, it seems so perfect. It's not all consternation in this perceived lost cause.

Last week, former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali passed away. From the universal and unanimous outpouring of love and respect Ali garnered you'd think he was always loved by America. I don't think I need to tell you that initially, the braggadocious, loud mouth, draft dodging, handsome, Muslim African-American heavyweight champion of the world didn't go over too well in 1960s America. But history looks kindly at Ali and his stance. Before his death, one could argue that Ali was the world's most beloved sports figure. Only through revisionist history can we all see the just nature of Muhammad Ali's words and actions.

I believe that one day, this inevitable rise of Donald, will become, like slavery and segregation before it, will be but mere battle scars of our country's unique history. That Donald and this shit-show that has become the 2016 election will fade from memory and President Obama will be seen with the rose color glasses history often uses to gaze onto others. Because trust me, one day, and you may not know or believe it yet, I believe near majority of Americans will join me expressing pride to tell the people of tomorrow they lived to see Barack Obama.

"...And Martin Luther King Jr Had Hoes"

“It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity”

As insightful as I am, the quote above is not from my own hand. It’s from the famed African –American socialist W.E.B. Du Bois. What you’re about to read here holds nowhere near the intellectual gravity of something like The Soul of Black Folk.  This is a tongue-in-cheek and very politically incorrect social commentary on a few age-old "certainties" in the Black community.

Self awareness is the hardest thing for anyone to do, so I don't expect this to be easy to read if you're Black. And it shouldn't be. I believe that we, as a Black people, need to shine the brightest light on ourselves. 

The Police Aren’t Always Out to Get Us!

Let me tell you a little secret. Most people live their lives with little to NO interaction with law enforcement. Why is that? Because they don’t place themselves in situations where the police SHOULD be involved. Sure, Blacks are sometimes unfairly treated by the police. I myself have been “harassed” a time or two, but a lot of times, I must admit I was doing something I shouldn't or I was in a place where someone else was doing something they shouldn’t. Think really hard about an interaction with the police. Remove your emotion and you'll see that 99.999% of the time they probably had a fair and reasonable excuse to be there.

Two sides to every story. Don't do anything to get you a**kicked
then mostly you won't get you ass kicked.

During a conversation with a police officer, (And he was a Black police officer) on a film set I learned something that makes a lot of sense. "If the police is soap and every neighborhood is a body, the police in your neighborhood has to deal with the “armpits” and "asshole" " the officer said. "Every part of the body is the same color, and not all parts smell. In fact, some parts are really nice, but when you're always getting jammed in the ass you're just going to assume everywhere stinks and needs to be scrubbed." 



You have to be mindful that the police never get calls where people say things like “Hey we’re having a party and just wanted to see if you guys wanted to come hangout with us.” 

They get called because someone in f**king up. They’re almost exclusively dealing with people committing or suspected of committing crimes. So when this officer was in a black neighborhood, he was always dealing with the lower end of Black culture, and as unfair as it was he too started to get a “slanted view” of all Black people. Same thing happened with Mexicans when he worked that beat. Same thing was happening now that he was working a beat in a White neighborhood. That's just human nature man. Unfair? Yes, but anyone would start to feel that way. “Cops who work in White neighborhoods look at all White people the same way cops working in our neighborhoods look at all Black people; potential suspects.”

Soul Food SUCKS!

I’m writing a movie and I have a great line about soul food that I’ll use here and now. "The easiest thing for a people to pass down is their food and their recipes. An important part of a culture is what the people eat. Unfortunately for African-Americans we were victims of slavery. This means we were left to eat whatever our masters didn't. Pigs feet, chittlins, hog maws, neck bones and all the other shit that wasn't originally meant for human consumption. So in turn we've passed down a shitty diet from generation to generation."

The "soul" may be the only think this meal is good for,
because it damn sure ain't good for anything else in your body.

There is a reason that Blacks are more likely to have high blood pressure, be obesity, or get diabetes. Most of these diseases are centered on a person’s diet and Black people have been eating so badly for so long that our genes were literally reshaped! As good as soul food is, few things on the menu have real nutritional value. We as a people need to put down the fried chicken and collard greens and pick up some steamed veggies and baked fish. We need to introduce healthy recipes to create a better diet for our children and start to reverse at least one of the effects of slavery that still impact us today.

OJ Probably Did It.

Guilty.

Really nothing else to say. That negro’s guilty.

We Don't Give The Good White People Get Enough Credit

If you know me, I can be a bit… should I say “militant”. There are times where I say things that make Kanye West look like Carlton Banks from Fresh Prince. Look at Civil Rights like a game of a tug-of-war between giants and men. We needed a few giants to switch sides, pull WITH us, and swing public opinion for more giants to join in. Civil Rights took a real turn after this moment.

John F. Kennedy, the most powerful and recognizable White man in the country, instantly helped vilify every racist in a way Martin Luther King JR never could do. They were not only shamed by one of their own but the most important of their own. What JFK really did was act as an example for the rest of White America on the fence about Civil Rights to follow. He helped Whites that would have otherwise continued to stand pat, get off their asses and join our cause. In a sense, he  “co-signed” for us and that helped fast-track civil rights.

My greatest point is this: A White person that TRULY cared about Civil Rights in 1960’s showed real courage. If you were Black in 1960's, you were supposed to show courage. If your house is burning down, you’re SUPPOSE to run in and save YOUR kids. Hell it’s YOUR house! Sure it’s still a brave action but it’s an EXPECTED, and I’d even say a required action. You see your neighbor on the other hand doesn’t have to lift a finger. Why should they? Their house is fine, their kids are fine, why should they risk their lives? 

Can you name the two white guys in this picture and/or tell me
why the greatest Civil Right leader is holding it?

That’s not only a brave action but it’s a selfless sacrifice. A White person siding with Blacks on Civil Rights in early 20th Century would mean becoming a social outcast, and in the south, it could even mean death. Yes, more White people were on the opposite side of the fence, let’s not be so quick to dismiss the ones that were willingly hand-in-hand with us. We should honor those that fought with us because they are just as much a part of Black History. Because Black History is American History.

The Union Winning The Civil War Was The Worst Thing to Happen to The Country.

This is so much more complex than you think. If you’re still reading, this one is going to change the way you view that war forever. It’s going to take a minute but stay with me.

There is no debating it. The Civil War had to happen. Slavery is a black eye that this country WILL never erase. Ever. While the Union’s victory propelled the country forward, that same victory sealed us to a fate, in some respects, far worse.

What makes this country different from every other country on this planet? It’s not our freedoms and liberties. Canada, England, and France enjoy many of the same ones you and I do. In some cases, like free health care, even better ones. What about our wealth and technology? Japan is just as advanced. China’s just as rich. Then what makes us different? We’re the only country where the people have a fear of the government and not the other way around.

Sure there are other governments that are far more ruthless, but it’s because those governments have a real and palpable fear of its people. For a good reason too. Every great civilization have been able to successfully overthrow their government at one point or another. Look at what happened in the Middle East a few years ago. Those people were successful in overthrowing incompetent and cruel leaders, giving their country new starts from the ashes of rebellion. Of course some of those situations still aren’t ideal and most have years of unrest ahead, but you know what? They were still ABLE to do something which is more than us here in America can say. We can’t do anything to change our government.

Why is that? How can issues that have over 90% of the voting population's support still not pass in Congress? Why can’t something as universally agreed upon like raising the minimum wage happen? How can the vast majority of the public think something should change and it still not change? Why do lawmakers seem to do whatever cooperations want and NOT what the people want? Because all those years ago when Robert E. Lee surrendered, he also surrendered the people’s ability to ever truly question our government ever again. That victory empowered US government over the people and the stranglehold has never loosened. In fact, it was tightened, with added agencies like the FBI, NSA and the CIA. And with laws like the Patriot Act.

 

The Civil War was a MUCH needed moment in
American History, but it was ultimately a waste.

By trying to keep the asinine and archaic practice of slavery intact, those idiots in the South forced the government to stand on the right side of history. We, the Independent American people, post Revolutionary War, used our first chance for Civil Revolution to keep f**king slavery intact! Really?!

It’s like going to a school where some of the policies suck for it's students. Not all but things really need to change. Say you somehow break into the principal's office, hijack the intercom and you have a chance to talk to the entire school. A chance for the students to be heard. A chance to make a real impact, but you use the platform to try and keep an even stupider policy intact. The powers that be then break down the door, kick you off the intercom AND punish you…severely. The school then goes against your suggested policy, thus making them look smarter and you dumber. Because of your stupidity the school tightens security and kills any chance of EVER letting a student speak up. All the while masking the real problem; that some kind of CHANGE needed to happen. You’ve successful empowered a flawed system into thinking it’s flawless.

Since 1865, the government's have been looking at the American people as simpleminded boobs that can’t think for themselves. Foolish simpletons that would be lost without Uncle Sam’s guiding hand. They don’t listen to the people because the last time the people had a real chance to talk the people stood up for something really really really stupid.

Closing Thoughts

Now before you call me an "Uncle Tom", let me tell you a few things about me. That opening quote you read? I knew it by heart. I’d venture to say before reading this, most of you didn’t know who W.E.B. Du Bois was, much less read something like The Soul of Black Folk, which I have. I can tell you the day Fred Hampton died. Do you know who that is and why he's important? I’ve read Alex Haley’s The Autobiography of Malcolm X… twice. I knew about Solomon Northup some ten years before his story became the Oscar winning film 12 Years A Slave because I read part of the book in high school. I say all these things to let you know I'm someone that knows my history and knows the history of his people.

I get it. There are tons of things that happened in this country that were well beyond our control. If life is a race, and America is the stadium, from 1776 to about 1900, Blacks were expected to run AND win a race from OUTSIDE the stadium. From 1900-1975 we were in the stadium but expected to win starting 20 yards behind the other runners WITH 15 pound lead shoes. From 1975 to now, Blacks are running that same race, finally free of the weighted shoes, but we still start about 15 yards off the pace.

If anything, our disadvantages should make us stronger, better, faster, and smarter than everyone else not weaker. But we don’t think like that. We just see limits and hurdles rather than building blocks and strengthening opportunities. Too often we quit before we even try. We don’t have the same drive as the generations before us. We’re too comfortable. Most Black folks think "The Struggle" is over. Why? Because we have a Black President, we can sit in the front of a bus and sh*t in same toilets as White folks?

Even with those early handicaps, Blacks like Fredrick Douglas, Mary McLeod and Garrett Morgan STILL made something of themselves. They found a way to rise above the circumstances of the world they lived in and outshine Whites that had far greater advantages. If you're reading this and you're Black tell me something; what's your excuse some 100 years later? I'd hate for heaven to be a real place, have someone like Booker T. Washington ask me how come I didn't make something more of myself, me have to look him in his eyes and say, "It was too hard". 

The Great American Blackout: Why it doesn’t PAY for the Black Athlete to be BLACK

BE ADVISED, SOME LANGUAGE AND IDEAS MAYBE VIEWED AS OFFENSIVE

I’ve always thought that sports are the world’s greatest reality TV-show. It’s unscripted and unpredictable. Sports are equal and fair. (Save for some funky refereeing every now and again.) You roll a ball onto a field, or a court, you throw away your differences, all the talking ends, the game is played and the better men, or women, win. It’s simple. You’re completely at the mercy of your and your teammates’ ability to overcome the other team’s desire to win. Sports has always been the place where it’s about the team you’re on, the color of your jersey and NOT the color of your skin. They (Sports) provide an easy way for White America to accept a black man as “one of their own”. People have a vested interest in their team, so why wouldn’t they have a vested interest in the players, even if some of those players were Black. That’s why sports stars of color had an easier time being accepted than they would at any other job. 

Earlier this year, I had the honor of speaking with a retired Black police officer from Jackson, Mississippi. He was an older gentleman that served as one of the first Black police officers in Jackson’s history. We talked about the struggles he and his fellow Black officers had to endure. When the Black officers tried to arrest White suspects, they were sometimes “vetoed” by White officers. If they did arrest White suspects, the Black officers had to speak to them (the White Suspects) like they would any other law abiding White citizen; like a child speaking to an elder. “I always found it humiliating to have to watch my words when speaking to a criminal" the gentleman said. "With the White officers around, we were always on eggshells. It’d always be “Boy what da hell you just say to him” or “Boy he’s a White man and you’re still just a nigger. That badge only gets you so far”. What we got from the community was bad, but the treatment from our fellow White officers was far worse.”

Sports are nothing like that. Teams were usually isolated from that level of hatred. When your livelihood depends on someone else’s actions, or non-actions, you tend to bond with them regardless of who they are. (When I was in the US Army, a White superior once told me about an old Army saying. "When the bullets are flying, I've never seen a nigger, or spik, or a kike in a foxhole. Just someone in the same uniform that I got on, who could save my ass.")That “us against the world” mentality always helps a team grow closer together. Teams are like families and what's the best thing about family? Family accepts you no matter what. In Mississippi, Texas, and Alabama, places where Blacks aren’t "too popular with the locals", there are plenty of White people in those same stands that cheer like crazy for Black athletes all day that wouldn’t stop for five minutes to help me fix a flat tire.

Somethings need not be said on TV. Even if you are on First Take. Rob Parker knows that now.

About a week or so, ESPN First Take contributor Rob Parker questioned if Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III was a “real brother” or a "cornball brother". Whether or not he was “down with the cause”. (Parker was subsequently suspended for 30 days by ESPN and forced to issue a public apology.) I’m not going to lie, I’ve had conversations like that about some black athletes, not RG3, and none of those conversations took place on national TV, nor should they. Questioning something like THAT about a Black person shouldn’t be discussed outside of the barbershop. Your barbershop, with people you know and people who know you. It's like calling a Black person an “Uncle Tom”. (Put it this way, I’d rather be called a “nigger” by Rush Limbaugh than be called an “Uncle Tom” by a random Black person on the street. I’m going to go out on a limb and say a lot of black people feel that way.)

Does this make you uncomfortable America?

In sports nowadays, it’s almost career suicide to be too “Black”. It’s good to be a "little Black" because being Black/Urban is seen as being “cool” or “hip”, but it’s a very fine line to walk. Only a few Blacks have the same "pull" in the Black community as they do in the White community. (Only White person I can think of that does this, Eminem.) Hip-Hop provides the perfect example of this theory. Jay-Z can go into any "hood" in America and get just as much love as he would in any suburb in America. Nas is equally, if not more talented in some people’s eyes, as Jay-Z but he doesn’t have nearly the same level of overall appeal. Nas crosses the line of what makes White people "comfortable" and he doesn’t care. Jay-Z doesn’t touch on the same social issues plaguing the Black community that Nas willingly addresses.  (That clearly keeps Jay-Z “cool” in the eyes of White America. Jay-Z's Black but not Nas "free my people" Black or Kanye "Bush hates Black people" Black.) Black athletes are forced to walk that line. It’s why Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson didn’t want Cam Newton to get any tattoos. It’s why the NBA implemented a dress code. It's why Kevin Durant and Dwyane Wade don't have any visible tattoos. Being too black hurts the bottom-line. The leagues know it, the owners know it and the players know it. (The tattoo thing doesn't hurt LeBron James because he's so freaking talented he could come out on the court wearing a blonde wig and he'd still be loved.)

Things like this don't happen anymore.

 We’ll never see athletes like Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Bill Russell again. Mostly because we don’t need them anymore. In the 1960’s, for real change to happen, we needed the best and brightest Black stars to stand up and be heard. The biggest Black stars back then were the athletes. (For the reasons I mentioned above.) When things in America “changed”, White people stopped wanting to hear about “Black problems”.  They felt/feel like things are fixed. Like racism is dead because we all use the same bathrooms and water fountains. (Now that we have a Black President, that narrative has gotten a million times louder. RACISM ISN’T DEAD JUST BECAUSE “YOU GUYS” VOTED FOR AND ELECTED A BLACK PRESIDENT... AND I DON’T CARE IF “YOU” DID DO IT TWICE.) White People don’t like to talk about racism the same way your friend doesn’t want to talk about the fat chick he nailed when he was drunk. Like your friend, America didn’t “know any better” at the time and they’re totally ashamed of what they did. Your friend and America don’t want to be reminded of the horrible mistakes they made. The only real social issue left for athletes to tackle is gay rights. (I really doubt an active Black athlete will “champion” this one first, only because being gay still isn’t widely accepted in the Black community, AKA "Da Hood". Which is bull, because WE OF ALL PEOPLE KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE TREATED UNEQUAL.)

Who RG3 decides to marry doesn't say
anything more or less about him as a Black man.

So yeah, RG3 has a White girlfriend and he may very well be a Republican, but that’s not why Rob Parker and other Black people are questioning his “blackness”. RG3 just said he didn't want to be the best BLACK quarterback. He even said he didn't want to be labeled as a Black quarterback. Some Black people, like Parker, think HE SHOULD. (Want to be the best Black QB that is.) If he doesn't, that somehow makes him less "black"? He didn’t/doesn't want to limit himself. He just wants to be seen as the best at what he does, regardless of the color of his skin. Professional athletes are like that though. Ali wasn’t in the ring screaming, “I’m the greatest Black boxer in the world!”. Those guys aren’t wired that way. I’m a screenwriter. I have Black friends that are screenwriters and we often talk about wanting to be the best black screenwriter. The level of competition in screenwriting is nothing like it is in professional sports. (It's definitely competitive, but lets just say there's more testosterone at Girl Scout meetings than there is at screenwriter meetings.)

A lot of things come to mind before you get to
"Black man" when you're thinking about Michael Jordan.

One last story to leave you with. When I was younger, a White friend and I were trading basketball cards. I had an extra Kareem Abdul-Jabbar card and I wanted to trade for a John Stockton card. (Not a smart trade, but it was a rookie Stockton card and my extra Kareem card was a “final years, I shouldn’t be playing anymore” Kareem card.) He wouldn’t do it. I jokingly said, “It’s because he's Black huh?” I laughed but my friend stayed quiet. I asked “Really? I bet if this was a Michael Jordan card you’d do it.” "Yes" my friend said. “But Kareem was a better player than Stockton is. Besides, Michael Jordan is Black too” I said. “No he’s not”, he replied. “Whoa, you’re saying Michael Jordan isn’t black?” I said shocked. “No, he’s black but... I don’t know. Michael Jordan isn’t black, he’s just Michael Jordan, you know?” Right then and there, on that bus, I learned of the power sports can have. The power to transcend a person beyond their race. That there's a whole other level of famous a Black person could be. But you know who else use to be talked about like that... OJ.

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