Rob Parker, a former Detroit News columnist, questioned the blackness of Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III and claimed he wasn't authentic. "Is he a brother, or is he a cornball brother," Parker asked. "I keep hearing these things. We all know he has a white fiancée. There was all this talk about he's a Republican."
The bombastic Smith had to put an end to it. "I'm uncomfortable with where we just went," he said. "RGIII, the ethnicity or the color of his fiancée is none of our business, it's irrelevant, he can live his life in whatever way he chooses. The braids that he has in his hair, that's his business, that's his life, he can live his life."
ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys said Thursday evening that "the comments were inappropriate and we are evaluating our next steps."
A transcript of the discussion is below:
Rob Parker: "But my question, which is just a straight, honest question, is: Is he a brother or is he a cornball brother?"
Cari Champion: "What does that mean?"
Skip Bayless: "Explain that."
Parker: "He's not real. OK, he's black, he kind of does the thing, but he's not really down with the cause. He's not one of us. He's kind of black but he's not really, like, the guy you want to hang out with because he's off to something else.
Champion: "Why is that your question?"
Parker: "Well because that's just how I want to find out about him. I don't know because I keep hearing these things. We all know he has a white fiancée. There was all this talk about how he's a Republican, which, I don't really care, there's no information at all. I'm just trying to dig deeper into why he has an issue. Because we did find out with Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods was like, I've got black skin but don't call me black."
Robert Littal of BlackSportsOnline.com ripped Parker for the comments and added the most important point of all:
If being a cornball is being engaged to someone you love, not speaking like [rapper] Trinidad James, not getting in trouble and playing the QB position at a very high level, I wish more NFL players would be cornballs
1 comment:
There are a number of issues here that I have a problem with. Let me start by saying I saw the entire video and I think you're letting Stephen A. off the hook because you read/saw just that first comment he made. What you quoted was followed up with talk about how blacks who succeed have an obligation to relate with their people. In other words, it's important that they "keep it real." He may have been "uncomfortable" with where the conversation went, but he didn't disagree with Parker.
This topic, as it relates to RG3, was inevitable. Here we have a young, highly educated, highly introspective, and incredibly unique black man who happens to be a tremendous athlete. He fiancee is white and he openly says he doesn't believe his race or ethnic background defines him. In my mind, the sum of all this is a person who thinks on a higher plane than most others can, which is nothing short of admirable. I wish all people could think this way. The world would be a much different place.
Parker attempted to bring the topic of RG3's ethnicity to a disgusting low. He, himself, is a highly educated man who went to Brown University, but he proved to be nothing short of narrow minded and highly ignorant by presenting this topic. The fact that ESPN actually chose to air a show with this discussion as part of the scripted topic of discussion is appalling. The channel has attempted to distance themselves from the issue by suspending Parker indefinitely, but it is equally at fault.
As long as people like Parker have a voice on nationally televised shows, this sort of ignorance will continue to be perpetuated. It's sad that a black man can sink so low to racially stereotype people of his own background and accuse another of not fitting that stereotype. What's worse is that there are a lot of people who agree with him. This country and our society has a long way to go before racial equality is achieved. I'm sure Dr. King is rolling over in his grave right now.
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