More Comments About Niggas...by Jason Whitlock

Kansas City Star sports columnist Jason Whitlock recently did an interview with sports blog The Big Lead and he's made some great comments about the state of the black community. It's truthful and honest, and niggas won't like it...but it's more words that niggas need to hear.

Also, for those familiar with former Slam Magazine and current ESPN columnist, Scoop Jackson, there are some comments about him as well. The contents of this interview got him dropped by ESPN, mainly because they don't appreciate it when you say things against them, even when it's true and needs to be said.

Q: What about Scoop? Based on the way you bitch-slapped him in the KC Star, you couldn’t have liked working with him.

We didn’t work together. But, yeah, there’s a big dropoff from being associated with Ralph, Hunter and Bill than being linked to someone doing a bad Nat X impersonation. It pissed me off that the dude tried to call himself the next Ralph Wiley and stated some [bleep] about carrying Ralph’s legacy. Ralph was one of my best friends. I hate to go all Lloyd Bentsen, but Scoop Jackson is no Ralph Wiley. Ralph was a grown-ass man who didn’t bojangle for anybody. Scoop is a clown. And the publishing of his fake ghetto posturing is an insult to black intelligence, and it interferes with intelligent discussion of important racial issues. Scoop showed up on the scene and all of a sudden I’m getting e-mails from readers connecting what I write to Scoop. And his stuff is being presented like grown folks should take it seriously. Please. I guess I’ll go Bill Cosby on you, but it’s about time we as black people quit letting Flavor Flav and the rest of these clowns bojangle for dollars. There’s going to be a new civil-rights movement among black people and the people bojangling for dollars are going to be put in check.

Q: A Civil Rights movement? In 2006?

Dude, it’s in the air. Black people are tired of letting idiots define who we are. It’s dangerous. I grew up loving hip hop music. But the [bleep] is way out of hand now. Flavor Flav went from fighting the power with Chuck D to a minstrel show on VH1. You have all of these young rap idiots putting out negative images about black men and black women, and it’s on us to stop it and say enough is a enough. It’s not on white people. And it’s not on old black people like Cosby and Oprah. We have to police our own. W.E.B. Dubois talked about the talented 10 percent leading the black masses. We’re letting the Ignorant 5 lead us straight to hell. The Ignorant 5 are telling white folks, “Yeah, this is how we really is. Let me bojangle for ya, boss. You say step and I’ll show ya I can fetch.” And what’s even more dangerous, the Ignorant 5 are telling black kids, “It’s cool to be locked up. It makes a man out of you. And don’t embrace education. Dealing dope and playing basketball are better career choices.” The Ignorant 5 is the new KKK and twice as deadly. That’s why you don’t hear ‘bout the KKK anymore. The Klan is just sitting back letting 50 Cent and all the other bojanglers do all the heavy lifting.

The "Stop Cooning/Stop Bojangling" movement is on.

Jason Whitlock's columns can be found at The Kansas City Star and AOL Sports.

My Kids and My Music

I was just on a friend's blog and I asked a question that's been in my head for longer than a decade: Am I going to introduce my kids to the music of my youth?

When I was a kid, the house was filled with music, and it's music I continue to listen to, to this day. I remember Saturday mornings, when we had to get up and clean the house and the radio would be on (The Big DM 101 FM) or my dad might break out some records. And my dad wasn't that old back then, maybe the same age I am now. He'd start playing something like Earth, Wind, & Fire, The Commodores, LTD, Chic, Ronnie Laws...the list is pretty endless, especially if you see my dad's record collection. The music he was playing was still pretty popular stuff, from anywhere between the mid 70s to the mid 80s. Basically, the music of his early adulthood. That music stayed with me. In fact, I'm playing Ronnie Laws right now. But then, I compare it to the music of MY early adulthood...

There might be five CDs in the whole group that don't have a Parental Advisory warning on the front. And that's not counting artists that my dad introduced me to. The Jeffrey Osborne and Metallica CDs that I wore holes in during college can't be listed here.

I look back on that list of CDs, just the ones from 1998 alone...Jay-Z's "Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life," DMX's "It's Dark and Hell Is Hot," Eminem's "The Slim Shady LP," Big Punisher's "Capital Punishment." A year for great hip-hop. Not counting CDs that I was still playing from years past...Redman's "Muddy Waters," Biggie's "Life After Death," The Makaveli CD. And when I think about the parent I want to be and the mindset and musical tastes I want my kids to have, I don't think I could, in good conscience, allow my kids to listen to that.

I remember back in 1994, when I had Gravediggaz "6 Feet Deep" on constant repeat in my CD player, and I wondered (at the age of 16), how much further could hip-hop go? This was the most graphic CD I'd ever listened to, even to the point where Eminem wouldn't even shock me when he finally came out. I looked back on the evolution of music from my dad's generation to my own. I could see how funk and soul gave way to hip-hop. Sure, it was nasty, raunchy, and foul-mouthed, but it was the music of my generation. And then, I looked at the early days of rap to the (then) present day and how it seemed to become more crass, more nasty, just more, more, more. I began to wonder, "how can they top this?" And I was genuinely worried about what music would be like when I became a parent.

What could possibly top what I heard on "6 Feet Deep?" How much further would the law allow you to go? Would they just put recordings of actual killings on CD? Would they keep saying "Fuck" over and over, for the whole song (as it turns out, Lil Jon's music didn't get much further from this)?

My thoughts brought me to a strange conclusion: What if my kids' generation has a backlash to the music of my generation? What if, instead of being more graphic and violent, they just mellow out? What if their music hearkens back to the music of my parents' generation or before?

As it turns out, that's probably what they're going to wind up listening to in their formative years. Older music has become a larger part of my overall taste since 1994, and personally, I find that I prefer music that's played with real musical instruments. Call me old-fashioned. I want my kids to hear that, and I hope they can appreciate what I expose them to, like I eventually would with my dad's music. I know that when they get older, I probably won't be able to stop them from hearing whatever's going to be playing on the radio at that time, and maybe at that point, I'll let them get a taste of what Dad was listening to when he was a teenager.

In an ideal world, they'll hear the lyrics from those CDs, look at me and say, "Were you having trouble at home, Dad?"

One can only hope. I like to think a good parent would.

Gov. Sonny Perdue's Commercial

For anyone who lives in Georgia:

Is it just me, or is anyone else legitimately creeped out by Sonny Perdue's new "Sonny Do..." commercial? He starts off talking to a woman (about 20 or 30 years his junior) about protecting the children or something, but he's standing over her, like he's trying to set the mood. Then, he slides his arm around her, looks deeply in her probably partially blind eyes, and starts talking in what I can only assume is his bedroom voice. Y'know...just to let us all know that he's about to seal the deal. The room is also dimly lit. The unedited version has him wearing "Let's Get It On," while wearing his tearaway stripper clothes. It made me uncomfortable, just watching it. I can't imagine what kind of woman would even want to open her legs to a guy who looks like a fat James Carville. And anyone who's seen James Carville knows that he looks like a burn victim. Just keep an eye out for this one.

Their conversation ends like this:

Woman: I think we need to put that on your "Sonny Do" list.

Sonny: Yeah, right after I get that booty.

Grrrrr...Or maybe that's what he says in my nightmares.

TM

Fuck Niggas

To anyone who isn't black, this isn't meant for you. You're welcome to read it, though. I don't want anyone, of any race, to come to me later and try to put a positive spin on the videos or dances mentioned below, or anything like it. I'm truly not in the mood. There are no jokes here. Not today. The words "fuck" and "nigga" are sprinkled liberally throughout this piece. Sometimes even together.

Today, a friend of mine put me onto a radio show on the internet that black folks need to listen to, at least for this episode. Click the link below to check it out. Listen to his words and take them to heart.

Some of you out there might know about the "Chicken Noodle Soup" video and dance. Some of you might have seen that "Fry That Chicken" video. If you have, and you aren't mad, you should be. As a black man, I am embarrassed. The aforementioned friend decided that she didn't want to be considered "black" anymore. I thought about it, too, but then I decided that I shouldn't have to change. They should change.

I listened to this radio show and got madder and madder. This guy brings up some excellent points that black people need to seriously sit down and talk about, not only on a national level, but just among our own homes and families, because it's a safe bet that you know someone or are related to someone who's going to fit into the class of people that this man is talking about. There's only one way to describe them. Niggas.

So, niggas...from me to you, from the bottom of my heart: Fuck you. Fuck you for making the rest of us look so bad. Fuck you for being so visible that the rest of the world thinks that we all act like that. Fuck you for thinking that using proper English is "talking white." Fuck you for glorifying ignorance. Fuck you for acting an ass in public. Fuck you for supporting other niggas, even when you know they're wrong. Fuck your rap career, your singing career, or your sports career (cuz that's all niggas seem to know how to do that doesn't involve doing something stupid). Fuck you for perpetuating every stereotype there is about black folks. And fuck you for doing it even harder in the new millenium. I hate niggas.

Apparently, you don't understand that you are embarrassing the shit out of us. No, I'm not hating, and no, I'm not trying to stop you from "makin dat paper, dawg." I'm tired of the bullshit. That's all. You are not a criminal. You are not a gangster. You are not a pimp. You are an idiot, a fool, a fucking clown. And it would be one thing if it was just a handful of niggas on one side, doing this all by themselves, but it's not. It's a lot of niggas out there, with their pants hanging all off their asses, mouth full of gold teeth, with 20-inch rims on a car that costs less than the tires that the rims are inside of. And all these niggas are out there raising a bunch of nigga babies. All these niggas are all on TV, making other stupid niggas think it's okay to act like that.

You look like fools and you're making the rest of us look like fools. I'm not going to say anything about us having a storied history back in Africa or anything about the Civil Rights Leaders of the 60s suffering so you could coon all the time. I will say this: As a race, no one takes us seriously. No matter how much money you ever earn, those white people at the top, those foreign leaders, those rich people of all races around the world...they'll never take you seriously. Just because you have money doesn't mean they'll accept you. Just ask Master P. And since most of you don't have any money, that means you're just looking stupid for free.

So, to every black person that reads this, please send that link to every black person you know. It's got some strong language, but it's truthful and real. It's something that all black people in this country need to hear and take to heart. Since black folks don't want to listen to Bill Cosby, saying it in a respectable way, how about you listen to this guy saying it in a language you can understand. Instead of wasting everyone's time with some forward about how some TV show is getting cancelled, or some made up fact that's supposed to be "patriotic," or something BS about how you're going to Hell for not sending around a forward about God, try sending some real words that some of you could use. And if reasoning to your intellect doesn't get you to send it, how about I do it like this:

If u dont sned this fowrard u will go to hell and you dont love God and you wont have sex with anyone for 14 years....ROFLMAO!!!

Black folks...stop being niggas. Be something that the rest of us can be proud of.

A Bitter Blow-Job For Dominique Wilkins

It's about time Dominique Wilkins made the Hall of Fame. Apparently, the world of basketball has finished screwing with him.

One of the greatest basketball players of all-time and a player on par with Michael Jordan when it comes to scoring brilliance, and one of the most charismatic and popular superstars of his day, Dominique Wilkins has been overlooked his entire career.

Maybe it was because he played in Atlanta. He spent 12 seasons here in Atlanta (1982-94), usually being the only worthwhile player on the floor. He singlehandedly put Atlanta on the map and kept the team in playoff contention every season. The team recorded four 50 win seasons during his time here, despite a glaring lack of talent, and an abundance of front-office incompetence. Dominique was an unstoppable scorer and a phenomenal athlete, whose incredible dunks earned him the nickname, "The Human Highlight Film." Unfortunately, despite staggering scoring performances against the likes of Michael Jordan and Larry Bird, he was always mentioned after them in discussions about the game's best player.

The team also had a general manager who had an IQ that was a third of the average retard's IQ. His name was Pete Babcock, and he thought it would be a good idea to trade the only great player that Atlanta had ever seen. Some people in Atlanta, myself included, and STILL upset about this. Instead of surrounding a great player with great talent, he traded the only scoring threat Atlanta had in the middle of one of those 50 win seasons. Atlanta would go on to lose to the New York Knicks in the semi-finals of the 1994 Eastern Conference playoffs. It would be the last time Atlanta even had a realistic hope of going to the NBA Finals, or even being a respected NBA team.

Dominique would play the rest of the '94 season with the Los Angeles Clippers, a team so historically bad that they went 30 years without reaching the playoffs. He was probably traded there, because Babcock knew that if Wilkins was any closer, 'Nique would come to his house in the night and beat the crap out of him. And Dominique would be right to do so, because Babcock traded him from a potentially championship team to the Clippers.

Next season, Dominique would sign with the hated Boston Celtics. The team that would cause Dominique Wilkins more playoff headaches than any other...and now he's playing for them. The same team that he took to seven games in the 1988 Easter Conference Finals and went shot for shot with Larry Bird IN the Boston Garden. And it never seemed to look right. He must have felt the same way, because his game seemed to suffer. He was good, but he didn't seem to be the same player. So after a season there, he bolted to Greece, to play ball for Panathinaikos Athens, a top-ranked team. They won the championship, and he won MVP honors before coming back to play for the Spurs during a season where he'd ultimately get shafted again.

This was the season that David Robinson didn't play due to a back injury. This is the year before Tim Duncan came out of Wake Forest. This is the year that the Spurs had the worst record in ages. Dominique Wilkins played for THAT team. And he showed he still had it, by still having enormous scoring games against teams like the Lakers. He averaged about 18 points and 7 boards a game for that team and to reward him for his hard work, they let him go at the end of the season, instead of listening to me and trading the rest of the team. The Spurs would go on to draft Tim Duncan and David Robinson returned the following season. In 1999, they won an NBA championship. If they had kept 'Nique on the roster, they could have won one in '97. Who needs an explosive scoring threat when you've got Vinny Del Negro and Avery Johnson?

And to pile it on even further, the NBA had released its list of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players. Dominique Wilkins was not on it. Shaquille O'Neal was on it, but Dominique Wilkins wasn't. I won't get into why Shaq shouldn't have been there, but that's not important. What's important is that 'Nique should have been. So, on top of missing the '92 Dream Team because of injury, on top of being snubbed for the '96 Olympic Team, on top of Pete Babcock making one of the stupidest trades in NBA history, on top of always being second to Michael Jordan, he couldn't even get recognized for being one of the 50 best ever, which he clearly was. I guess being one of the most feared players ever ranks lower than being the Johnny-Come-Lately-Dunk Machine known as Shaquille O'Neal.

Dominique would play one season for Teamsystem Bologna, in Italy and one riding the bench for the Orlando Magic, despite his scoring numbers when he was in, before retiring at the end of the 2000 season, completing a brilliant career that was clearly unrecognized by the NBA and the sportswriters' community. In 2001, the Atlanta Hawks would retire his number 21. In 2004, he would be inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall Of Fame. In 2006, he would be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, but not after being snubbed in 2005, the first year he was on the ballot. I guess being the 8th all-time leading scorer (and all-time Hawks leading scorer, by far), 9-time All-Star, 2-time Dunk Contest Winner, and gold medal winner on the '94 USA World Basketball Championship Team didn't really mean much to the voters.

At the very least, Dominique was recognized by his peers and the fans who saw him play. We all knew he was one of the greatest and finally, the man is getting some of his well-deserved recognition. Thanks for being one of the last to show us how to ram a basketball down the opposing center's throat, 'Nique.

Today, Dominique is a part-owner of the team that drafted him, as well as ruined his life, the Atlanta Hawks.

Keep Your Racial Issues Outta My Rasslin'

Wrestling. A semi-sport based on pretending to fight and trying to make the crowd cheer or boo in response to the wrestler's actions. The way it's supposed to work, the wrestler will incite the crowd by calling people names or telling the guy in the front row how good his mother was in bed last night. Or say things about great the crowd is to make them cheer. It's really simple stuff.

However, every so often, someone will come along and try to use serious subject matter as a way to get crowd response. I'm here today to tell you all...stop it.

Back in 1996, a group called the "Nation of Domination" started in the WWF. Led by Faarooq (Ron Simmons with a snappy new Muslim sounding name), this Nation of Islam analog was a heel faction (of course) filled mostly with black wrestlers. They came out with their suits and bowties, usually at least 15 of them (eventually whittled down to four), and before all their matches, raised their right fists to the crowd in unison and said, "by any means necessary." They spoke out against perceived racism in the WWF and engaged in some good ol' black-on-black crime at one point. Nothing makes the white folks smile and laugh like black-on-black crime.

Every so often, they'd speak out about some real racial issues in America or in American history, as get booed for it by the largely white audiences. Why? Because they're talented bad guys and have a way with a phrase? No, because white people don't want to hear that crap. We have a hard enough time talking about racial issues in everyday life. No one wants to deal with it at a wrestling show, regardless of how true it might be.

At one point, they actually started a storyline where the Nation was actually victimized by a white group (D-Generation X) and another group (The Hart Foundation) was blamed for it. Apparently, someone had broken into the Nation's locker room, tore up the place and spray-painted racial epithets on the walls. The Nation was rightfully upset and called upon the WWF to do something about it. When they didn't, they got upset and started talking about racism again. D-Generation X got involved again and began to try to instigate a fight between their enemies using racism.

Now, being completely in the right, you'd think the crowd would support the Nation. But since it's a racial issue, it played out just like you'd expect: Down racial lines. White people supported white wrestlers. Black people supported black wrestlers. And it being a majority white audience, the black fans were drowned out. Four black wrestlers who were completely justified in their actions were being booed, even though they were right.

Now, I know you're probably be thinking, "Damn, it's just wrestling." And it is. And because it's just wrestling, that fact that a very real and very serious issue is being trivialized by being used in this way. Seriously. Let's look at some of the more common ways that feuds happen in wrestling: "You stole my girl," "I want your title," "You're holding me back," "You accidentally hit me with a chair, but I'm going to be mad, anyway." You're lumping "blatant racism" in with that stuff. Suddenly, the Civil Rights movement has become Jerry Springer-level fodder.

Now, why am I even bringing this up? I mean, this happened from 1996 to 1998. It's over, right? Well, no. No, it isn't. In TNA, Konan and his Latin street gang, LAX (Latin American Exchange) started right back down that same road again. Recently, they won the tag team titles and they came out and started talking about their "Latin heritage" in wrestling, which is fine. But these guys are heels. Bad guys. They're supposed to be gang members. So when the crowd starts cheering the names their dropping, well-respected names in wrestling, like Pedro Morales, Mil Mascaras, the Guerrero family, LAX makes it a racial thing. Then, they bring up dedicating their title win to all the immigrants both legal and illegal and something about them being here to stay...etc., etc. It made me roll my eyes and change the channel. Again, it's a real issue and a serious issue that people feel very strongly about...why trivialize all that by making it a part of wrestling?

It's one thing to be proud of your heritage. No one's going to have a problem with that. If you do, you've got an issue that needs to be worked out. I hear that therapy works wonders. But it's another thing entirely to bring politically charged issues into an entertainment arena that's geared around inciting the emotions of those watching.

It's not just racial issues, either. Back in 2003 or 2004...I don't remember...they had a "debate" in the ring, with known Bush-supporter, Bradshaw debating with Mick Foley about the mess in Iraq. Foley was bringing up real issues (Bush not being honest, and such) and Bradshaw, like all Republicans were doing at the time, was going right for the base human emotions (hit 'em in the patriotism!). The two wrestlers weren't even feuding with each other. They just had this just to do it. Bradshaw, based on crowd response, supposedly won the debate.

What's entertaining about that? Going back to 1997 again...there were real-world issues going on between USA and Canada. So what does WWF do? Make a storyline out of it. And it's really no big deal, because there's always been a rivalry of sorts between the two countries. But when Bret Hart, a Canadian, starts taking digs at the US that I personally agree with...I'm supposed to boo that? Hell, for the entirety of the storyline, I was practically Canadian.

Earlier this year, Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon teamed up to wrestle Shawn Michaels, known born-again Christian, and his tag-team partner...God. I guess it was supposed to be comedy, but it wasn't. It might be because Vince McMahon just isn't funny, though. I wasn't offended or anything, but the thing is, I don't want religion mixed in with my degenerate wrestling. As best I could tell, the whole thing was met with indifference. I'm not religious, but about 5.85 out of 6 billion people on Earth are. Apparently, people weren't big on wrestling openly mocking one of the lynchpins of their lives. Who knew?

So what I'm saying is...it's entertainment. It's supposed to be an escape from the real world. Why not keep it that way? It's not even deep entertainment. It's not like Gray's Anatomy or something, where the intricacies of an issue can be worked out amongst the characters in an hour long show. All you can do with wrestling is just rile people up. And sure that's what you're supposed to be doing in wrestling, but some of this stuff hits a little too close to home. Like racism. Some things are just too serious to make light of.