Saturday, May 14, 2011

D-Nabb: Not Black Enuff




Apparently, to boxer Bernard Hopkins, if you are not from the hood, you are not black.

If you have married, successful and hard working parents, you lack the heart to be a champion.

"Forget this," Hopkins said, according to the Philadelphia Daily News, and pointed to his own skin. "He's got a suntan. That's all."

The Philadelphia Daily News also reported:

According to Hopkins, McNabb had a privileged childhood in suburban Chicago and, as a result, is not black enough or tough enough, at least compared with, say, himself, Michael Vick and Terrell Owens.

Granted, Hopkins has suffered many jabs to the dome during his long career; and hence, his flawed reasoning.

Occupational hazard aside, Hopkins still should have enuff marbles left to realize the absurdity of his comments.

On the other hand, Hopkins does not travel down this road alone. Jalen Rose recently revealed his long held animus towards Duke University basketball players:

“For me, Duke was personal. I hated Duke. And I hated everything I felt Duke stood for. Schools like Duke didn’t recruit players like me. I felt like they only recruited black players that were Uncle Toms.”

Even though, Rose clarified that these were the beliefs of a 18 year old kid from the inner city, the comments still underscores a misconception of what it means to be black.

Ironically, the hood and racists share this stereotype:

Black is ghetto;
Black is crime;
Black is crack
Black equals thuggish;
Black is an one parent home;
Black is not speaking the King's language;
Black is not being a father to your child;


And if you do not represent more than one of the above criteria, you lack street cred to represent blackness.

And to further prove this convoluted nonsense, Hopkins ended his interview by praising McNabb's character:

Hopkins called McNabb a good family man, a good corporate pitch man, and a “fantastic guy.”

Hopkins, now I can see with those attributes, McNabb certainly can not be black!

One Last Sidenote:

What does Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Joe Montana, Doug Williams, Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali and Magic Johnson all have in common?

Answer:

All were champions in their sport, had two parent households and were not from the hood.

4 comments:

  1. I am definitely black. I wouldn't allow a cretin of any race to define who I am. I was born in the ghetto, but the ghetto never resided in me. Now that I am wealthy, after working my tail off to get out. No one from my family bothers to call or to visit me. They are all still in the hood and proud of it. But they also complain a lot about being there. The hood is not a destination, it is a stopover on the way to a better place. People should realize that they shouldn't let dire circumstances dictate their entire live's. We should all be as priviledged as McNabb. But Edwards is wrong. All quarterbacks are tough, just as all boxers are...

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  2. Thanks Ben! That comment from Hopkins bothered me so much! I appreciate that you have given space to this important topic

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  3. I agree with Ronald. The hood is not a life sentence. You can be in it but not of it. You can get out if you work hard. McNabb is a great quarterback. He is also a good person. Hopkins still has a lot of hood in him. I guess money can't buy class..

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  4. Great... There are so many misconcepts that should be openly discussed!

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