“… Let me put forth what I think is one of the European’s ultimate weapons- it is the legitimization of his worldview- past and present- in the eyes of the non-white peoples of the world through a vehicle erroneously referred to as ‘world history’. White world history as it has been taught to us, has given us a view of the world that is not lonely anti-black in every conceivable way but has virtually eliminated the positive image of Black people as a functional part of the world’s people.” Haki R Madhubuti Enemies the Clash of Races Third World Press page 1.
If you are a critical thinker you are undoubtedly wondering why all of a sudden there is such a focus and fuss on NFL players who were caught beating their girlfriends, wives or children? Is this a new phenomenon? The answer is no, this is not a new phenomenon nor is it new under the watch of current NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Since Goodell took over as NFL Commissioner in 2006 there have been fifty-six (56) incidents of sexual abuse. For a full list of all NFL player arrests for whatever reason go tohttp://www.usatoday.com/sports/nfl/arrests/. So if fifty-six NFL players have been arrested since 2006 under Goodell, why all of a sudden is he leading a charge to clean up the NFL?
Any kind of abuse is abhorrent but why all of a sudden is NFL player domestic abuse an issue? White feminists have been complaining for years about domestic abuse and the NFL has never said a mumbling word in their support. Why now? I suspect it is because this campaign is another way to demonize African-Americans, it is specially designed to make Black males appear to be the stereotypical brute long used to rationalize the murder and violence against us.
Keep in mind the recent events in Ferguson Missouri put the race issue back in the national media spotlight as yet another unarmed Black male was shot and killed by a white police officer. The situation in Ferguson, like so many around the nation, centers on a white police officer shooting a defenseless unarmed Black male and getting away Scott free.
The Ferguson police department didn’t even want to release the name of the police officer was who shot Michael Brown let alone arrest him or charge him, which infuriated the Black community. Under immense pressure and duress the Ferguson Chief of Police finally named the officer, Darren Wilson a six year veteran. Darren Wilson’s pictures soon circulated on the Internet and the Ferguson police department came under heavy criticism for not suspending or filing charges against the officer. But their main concern was “for the safety of Officer Wilson.”
Shortly thereafter a video was released showing a man who fit Michael Brown’s description causing a scene in a convenience store. The Ferguson police alleged Brown robbed the store and hinted that was the reason he was approached by officer Wilson. They even did the Zimmerman trick claiming Wilson was assaulted and injured by Brown prior to him shooting Brown.
As the Ferguson police stonewalled disciplining and charging Wilson, tensions rose and there was sporadic violence and looting in Ferguson. The police responded by showing up in heavily armored vehicles in riot gear with assault rifles in tow. The governor even called out the National Guard. A Black Missouri State Police Captain Ron Johnson was sent to Ferguson to restore calm and confidence but the almost all white Ferguson police department (they only have three Black police in a town that is almost eighty percent Black) maintained a heavy handed presence and attitude. As conditions worsened, the Missouri Governor issued a state of emergency, imposed a curfew and instituted martial law. In effect the town of Ferguson was put on lock down while a murdering police officer went free! Tensions rose and subsided as community leaders attempted to restore calm and meet with the “powers that be” to broker “justice”.
The family of Michael Brown hired an attorney and an expert to conduct an independent autopsy which revealed Brown was shot at least six times including twice in the head. Details of the autopsy further infuriated the Black community. Why was it necessary for Wilson to fire six rounds into Michael Brown who was unarmed and in a position of surrender, why did he shoot him two times in the head?!
Simultaneously support for Officer Wilson was spurred by the Klu Klux Klan. By the end of August, Wilson’s supporters raised well over $150,000 for his “defense fund”. The facts and the extensive news coverage of Ferguson have made the racial divide wider and the dividing lines between Black and White harder and more rigid. The notion of a “post racial America” as Ferguson has shown is a cruel hoax and a sham. Only the most gullible and comatose Black people believe we live in a “post racial” society whatever that means.
What does this have to do with the NFL and domestic violence you ask? Everything. Keep in mind there have been fifty six incidents of domestic violence, abuse and assault under Goodell’s eight year watch; the most famous cases involve African-American players. So now all Black men are being demonized and vilified because of the actions of a few. There are less than two thousand NFL players total, 1,696 to be exact. The Ferguson police department’s attempt to smear Michael Brown didn’t work so now the mass media has to smear all black men to justify and rationalize the ongoing pattern of police officers like Darren Wilson shooting and murdering us.
Remember how they tried to portray Trayvon Martin as a thug and Zimmerman (a man who obviously has issues) as the good white man who was viciously attacked by Martin, the narrative was that Zimmerman feared for his life so he had to shoot Trayvon. This is the same thing they tried to do with Darren Wilson but it turned out to be just as flimsy and fake as Zimmerman’s excuse. So the Florida authorities rigged the whole trial so Zimmerman would walk, just like they will probably do for Wilson in Missouri.
So now they are painting all Black men, from the round the way Brothers to NFL icons as inherently violent; so pathological that white men of all stripes and persuasions are justified shooting us down like dogs.
Blacks make up seventy (70) per cent of NFL players, during the season these Black men are extremely visible on Sunday, Thursday and Monday on the televised games. NFL players are icons in this culture so if a diabolic powerful group of white men wanted to really demonize Black males, they could successfully do it by pointing out the pathologies of a small percentage of Black males albeit extremely high profile Black males.
This is an insidious psychological operation (a mind game, image perception manipulation) to further the very open and overt war on Black males. This war has been going on in this country since colonial times. Black men are being demonized on every level from the block boys to highly paid professional athletes.
You say all the media is doing is reporting the news. Not really; there were fifty six domestic abuse cases from 2006 to now. Do you remember all this brouhaha being made of them? Why now? It’s not about them wanting to clean up the NFL. They could have swept these incidents under the rug or minimized them like they did the others. They need to vilify Black males. WHite men beat their wives and children all the time, do you see them paraded and vilified in the media? There is an obvious double standard.
Look at how the Donald Sterling issue was handled. Here was a lecherous old Jewish white man who owned the Los Angles Clippers NBA franchise who uttered racial slurs about Blacks and said the Jews in Israel treat the Blacks there like dogs. Sterling’s statements were recorded by his “girlfriend” and sent to TMZ a cable gossip channel. As a result the NBA swiftly moved to “punish” Sterling by taking away his franchise. It’s not that the NBA owners abhor racism; they just didn’t want the world to know they are racists. Fact: Donald Sterling originally paid thirteen million for the franchise. Fact: in 2014 the LA Clippers were worth five hundred seventy five million according to Forbes http://www.forbes.com/teams/los-angeles-clippers/. The NBA Commissioner and the other NBA owners forced the sale of the team and it was sold for two billion dollars to ex Microsoft Executive Steve Ballmer. Two billion dollars, how is that a punishment? Donald Sterling was examined by two doctors and he was ruled mentally incompetent by a judge, his estranged wife was given trusteeship of the franchise and she made out like a bandit! Aw poor Donald is mentally ill so he couldn’t be blamed or held accountable for his racist rant and he walks off with one and a half times more than the franchise is currently worth and way, way more than he first bought it for, how’s that for punishment? How’s that for justice?
Meanwhile Black men (young brothers and NFL players) are being vilified and criminalized as part of an overarching program to make all of us look bad. But no one talks about the role racial and psychological oppression/conditioning play in the maladaptive and pathological choices and behaviors we exhibit or how we are demonized and vilified every day in the media.
“The perpetual domination of African Americans by White Americans psychically requires the White American criminalization of the African male, i.e. the White American perception of the African male as inherently criminal. In the context of White American domination there is no innocent Black male, just Black male criminals who have not been detected, apprehended or convicted. Their mere presence inspires in White Americans, fears of being assaulted, raped, robbed or some other indefinable dread of being criminally victimized.” Amos N. Wilson Black on Black Violence The Psychodynamics of Black Self-Annihilations In Service of White Domination AfriKan World Infosystems page8.
The global psychological, psychic and physical war against Black people rages on, and it impacts all of us no matter where we are on the rung of the social ladder, including star athletes. No matter how much money we make if we are psychologically damaged and traumatized, unless we recognize we are ill and seek real healing, our illness will remain and the war against us takes its toll generation after generation.