Sports media is largely filled with bloviating nonsensical “hot takes” that will make you laugh hysterically about how profoundly dumb their opinion is on the industry.
And these liberal sports pundits annoyingly infuse politics into their discussion when it has nothing to do with the industry.
But you really need to hear this profound discussion about black stereotypes on this Fox Sports One show.
The lone conservative commentator on ESPN who frequents “First Take” and has his own “The Will Cain Show,” was slaughtered this week for his opinion on the Kate Smith controversy; where one person ousted the singer who has a statue outside the Philadelphia Flyers arena and her New York Yankees rendition of “God Bless America,” as being a racist.
There’s no question Smith sang some undeniably racist songs in her career, but it was also the 1930’s.
But now the liberal media wants to erase her legacy from the history books – but what you also may not know about her is that she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from former President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s for her role in World War II.
You have to compartmentalize the bad with the good deeds and that’s what Will Cain pointed out. Then every furious liberal called him racist and asked for his job.
However, on FS1’s “Speak for Yourself,” a sports commentary show co-hosted by Jason Whitlock and Marcellus Wiley, they discussed an important social issue about black stereotypes that was incredibly enlightening.
If you’re not familiar, both Whitlock and Wiley are prominent African Americans in the sports community.
Show producer, Darnell Smith, proposed a question to both of them saying, “How do you guys deal with it when people say you don’t meet the black stereotype?”
Wiley’s an Ivy League Columbia University graduate who grew up in Compton, California and also played in the NFL for years responded, “Our culture has gatekeepers, man. Black expression is limited by these gatekeepers, ‘You can’t do this, you can’t do this, oh that ain’t black enough.’ We know how it goes. And I’ve lived that my whole life, bro.”
Constricting a race to stereotypes is a wrong philosophy to live by and you can expressly see that in the Democratic Party who shame African Americans for being President Trump supporters, like superstar rapper Kanye West, who is unapologetic about it.
Wiley was the Valedictorian of his high school class, and he continued, “You add on top of being a black male that I was educated and prioritized academics, then I was a nerd on top of that. Then I’m from Compton, and the hood, and you ain’t gangsta enough, so I’ve been hearing this my whole live.”
Why are African Americans held to constricting stereotypical standards and anyone who ventures outside of the norm is suddenly referred to as an “Uncle Tom?”
It’s because societal norms placate the idea of anti-establishment following in cultural appropriation realm.
So if an African American person is considered a largely white American term of being a “nerd,” it’s suddenly offensive to be that way.
Wiley also said, “My grandma told me one scripture that crystallizes it all for me – ‘The gates to heaven are narrow and few come between.’ When she told me that, most people have you wrong, most people are going to be doing it wrong, so make sure, if you are on that little narrow path brother, keep on trucking.”
That’s exactly right. It’s almost as if you’re not allowed to be yourself – be the person you want to be – what you’re interested in or passionate about because of racial stereotypes? That’s absurd.
Comedian Dave Chappelle is the embodiment of that philosophy and lives his life unapologetically in that exact same way.
Chappelle may be a famous comedian but he avoided the Hollywood life for nearly 10 years. He bought a farm in Ohio where he currently lives with his wife and three children. What you may not know is that he also skateboards and is a lover of riding motorcycles.
It’s not that should it should be surprising that he lives his life out of stereotypical norms with his profession and race, but he’s just interested in what he’s interested in. It’s that simple.
Whitlock added, “Seriously, growing up, I remember going to Public School 83 in Indianapolis. I got good grades there – ‘Oh man, you trying to act white.’ C’mon, we hear that all the time.”Going to college – ‘Oh you speak proper English, you don’t butcher the language and speak in Ebonics all the time. Oh, you’re trying to sound white.’ No, I’m trying to sound like I want to get a job and take care of me and my family.”
And somehow they’re bastardized for it?
It’s not like the point is to strive against what’s considered to be stereotypical societal norms, but it’s just to be the person you want to be and to do what interests you.
It’s pretty simple.