Buncha losers, some people.
This entire week, I have been reading all kinds of articles and hearing all kinds of commentary about Sean Taylor pre-shooting. In the midst of it, I have come to a few conclusions.
- People don't do research
- When a black person debases black men at large, it must be true
- When talking about us black men, statements about us are based largely on stereotypes
- People should go to hell. I hope they do.
Now first, let me state that my anger at this whole debacle isn't even wholly about Sean Taylor; it's the fact that people have equated this to being wealthy, Black, and from some notorious "hood". Sean Taylor dies, right? Very little mourning for him. Not even on this board. People in here talkin' bout "oh I'm not surprised", "based on his past, I saw it coming", or some other nonsense. Because obviously, the people who made these comments new Taylor personally and grew up with and around him.
You will never cease to find some idiot rambling about a gun charge, the same of which Taylor had been PROVEN innocent of. See bullet one. That's not even the half of it. After that, you'll find that people will be quick to equate living a harsh childhood/adolescence to not being able to lose the "thug" mentality that the majority think all of us Black people have.
Michael Wilbon wrote an article in the Washington Post following Taylor's death.
His rant falls in line with bullet one and two...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/27/AR2007112702680.html
...because IMMEDIATELY after, no shortage of writers nationwide came up and proposed the same nonsense about Taylor's past, gun charge (acquittal), and being from a rough neighborhood and being unable to leave that nonsense behind.
Do not pay any attention to the fact that the rest of the thousands of us from the 'hood are still alive and well. Jay-Z, the wealthiest rapper of all time, is from the Marcy Projects in Brooklyn, and is still breathing. Ain't been shot (at), ain't shot anyone, and he's a RAPPER.
Carmello Anthony is a fellow Brooklander, sporting cornrows in the NBA, the biggest rap/hip-hop hating entity on the non-athletic side of Bill O'Rielly, and he is still sucking down oxygen as we speak. (Also, before some fool mentions it, there is no proof that Biggie or Tupac were killed by inner-city violence relating to hip hop, as Wilbon would like to insinuate.)
Hell, I am from Washington, D.C. I've done my dirt, been in my fights, and got jumped once. I never shot anyone. Yeah, I carried a knife at times, but I've never stabbed, or maimed anyone. I'm now alive in Japan with a beautiful fiancee, and am enlisted in the United States Air Force. As a matter of fact, all of my friends who did carry weapons (projectiles or blades), are all in college as we speak. But it doesn't matter, right? Because despite the fact that we move on, get a PhD or other degree, we will ultimately be gunned down in our own homes because of what we did years prior.
Even though we left that life behind. Hell, next December, when I find myself back in Iraq, and my head perhaps become a bullet or mortar sponge, it's my fault. Right? Whenever one of us dies in a gunfight, it's because we were in the 'hood, and as such, apparently had it coming. Whenever one of us, regardless of occupation or education, is hanging out with at least 2 other black men, our "boys", as Mikey says, it's a gang. We're up to no good. Just ask Wilbon. He knows. See bullet three.
And whats so sickening about this is the fact that these lies are spread with absolutely NO consideration for those who have lost family members, in this case, the 18mo old girl who just lost her father. Rather disheartening for a society in which people belive that fathers are not around. What is supposed to happen when those of us who have some sort of pull in the media do not even support us? Yeah, Oprah, Bill, Wilbon; I'm talking to you all.
The obituary in the Washington post for Sean Taylor was so scathing, that it, coupled with the pompous, arrogant article from another Cosbyite (Bill Cosby can go get bent too. At least I graduated high school, senile fool.) made me unable to take my dinner for the night, and I like Sukiya. An obituary is intended to summarize a life in a few well worded sentences. Referring to his life as "troubled" is not accurate. These incidents are merely 4 or 5 bad decisions made in a lifetime of a million good ones. These writers have attempted to take take away from the tragic nature of this incident, the loss of a human life, and minimized it to the result of a (at best) rumored life****of which they are too afraid to research and discover, therefore know nothing about, and THUS are not QUALIFIED to speculate about. One Pacman Jones and one Michael Vick out of 60+ years of an (integrated) professional sports league, in wake of the most powerful and influential subcultures in history are not enough to paint black men, especially black athletes, in such a broad stroke.
I am fully appraised of what a columnists boundaries and obligations are. I am also similarly informed on what human decency and respect for the critically wounded and not-buried are. Wilbon's willful disrespect of Sean Taylor, Taylor's family and his audience in the wake of this brutal slaying is one of the most egregious, cynical and pathetic spectacles I have ever witnessed, personally or professionally. And this guy couldn't even WAIT until Taylor was buried to spew his venom. A young man of 24 is dead, shot down while trying to protect his child, his girlfriend and his home. There is NO defense for Wilbon's -- nor anyone else's -- nonchalance with that being the case. Son, father, brother is gone, forever. Even if Sean Taylor was really guilty of everything he had been accused of, brandishing guns on people that steal his four-wheelers, and beating up people in altercations, the timing of these absolutely vicious and callous articles is uncalled for.
These are some of the most personally offensive pieces of prose I have ever come upon -- I can't believe Mike Wilbon could not even wait for Sean Taylor to be buried to make the comments he made, callously, both in this article and in his Monday chat about a young man gunned down in his own home at the age of 24 while trying to protect his property (which is his legal and especially MORAL right) and more importantly, the mother of his not-even-year-old daughter, and said infant.
...You know, things that MEN are OBLIGATED to do.
However, these are not the things that we are hearing. Not in the way that they should be said, at least. What we hear from these fools that the man was a crazy thug who brandished guns on people to get his things back. Get your facts straight, people. In fact, he was a very good kid. Polite to all, loving towards his family and generous with his money to his community. I am appalled at what Wilbon has said and written in the wake of Taylor's brutal murder, a killing which took place in his own home -- not at a club, or a brothel, or any other such place. For the love of God, he was trying to protect his baby.
I am just deeply saddened for Taylor's family to the point of a fever. That they have had to endure this type of 'commentary' BEFORE SEAN EVEN PASSED and now that he has yet to be buried is one of the cruelest, most tortuous things I can think of. Forget about Sean the son, Sean the dad, Sean the man -- let's just talk about "Thug Sean."
I will never, ever watch PTI again, not even to watch Tony. This is it. Wilbon had a chance to apologize for his insensitive remarks made Monday, and not only did he not do that, he wrote a defiant column complete with "how dare you's" to try to cover his tracks.
I feel ashamed that I ever held Mr. Wilbon in high esteem. But those feelings of respect are as gone as Sean is, and just as is the case with Sean, they aren't ever coming back.
If you detractors had one one-thousandths of the courage of Sean Taylor, Taylor's girlfriend or Taylor's father (and the rest of his family), you would have written a piece apologizing for these utterly uncaring remarks made on Monday. But you vitriolic haters, like Wilbon, do not, and so instead of feeling like the writer cares about his readers or the people that care about the family of the deceased. we were treated to chickenhawk "how dare you's" attempting to hide Wilbon's lack of feeling in the aftermath of the brutal killing of Sean Taylor.
Wrong, lamentable, outrageous, sickening -- choose your own adjective.
See bullet four.
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