Let Mo’Kelly know if he’s reading “too much” into ESPN’s (writer Jemele Hill) “comparison” of Gilbert Arenas, Javaris Crittenton and Plaxico Burress.
Yes, the ultimate “point” may be different, but it still runs too close to Mo’Kelly’s sentiments for his liking…complete with “morality clauses” and “stupidity” references. Not to mention saving one’s career versus saving one’s life…
Just a “coincidence,” to be sure. Then again, maybe Mo’Kelly is just being sensitive.
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It remains unclear whether Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton were joking around or serious when ill will about a card game allegedly led to guns’ being drawn in the Washington Wizards‘ locker room a few nights before Christmas. But if the Wizards and the NBA want to send a message to players that this behavior is unacceptable, here is what must be done once local and federal authorities finish investigating the matter.
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| Plaxico Burress |
1. Arenas and Crittenton should be suspended for the rest of this season.
2. The Wizards should use the morality clause to void the rest of Arenas’ $111 million contract, which after this season will tally $78 million.
3. The Wizards should be fined considerably — I’m thinking a high six figures — for even allowing Arenas to store his guns at a public arena and league facility, regardless of whether the guns were kept in a locked area. Bringing a gun inside a NBA facility is prohibited.
NBA commissioner David Stern doesn’t have to act swiftly, but he must act harshly. Players can’t fool around with firearms in a locker room.
Some reports suggest Arenas wasn’t serious when he laid three guns on a chair near Crittenton’s locker and invited him to choose one to settle their beef over an unpaid gambling debt, but who jokes like that? Besides, if you believe what Crittenton’s longtime friend Kendrick “Bookie Ball” Long told the New York Post — the first to break the story — Crittenton clearly missed the punch line of Arenas’ “joke.”
“[Crittenton] was just defending himself,” Long told the Post.
Although I believe that New York City’s grandstanding mayor Michael Bloomberg used Plaxico Burress‘ case for cheap political gain, it can’t be overlooked that Burress took a loaded firearm into a nightclub, thus putting a lot of innocent people at risk.
7 responses to “I Guess When ESPN Says it…It’s Somehow ‘News’”
Morris,
Maybe white dudes do this sort of thing too, but I am not seeing it written about.
Nor am I saying "There's a black dude, I bet he's packing a pistol."
What I am saying and have said before is that there is a subculture that promotes the possession of handguns in places where people don't typically bring handguns (I'm thinking of nightclubs, for example)…and that this subculture is not white nor hispanic but Black.
As I've asked before: If you hear that there was a shooting in a nightclub, is the shooter (a) white, (b) black, (c) other, or (d) not enough information?
I'd really like to explore this subculture more. It grows out of *something* after all, doesn't it?
And yet it's also true that most crimes committed with a handgun by blacks is against blacks.
Something's very twisted here. Please help me understand it better.
It doesn't bother me that ESPN is covering this and I agree when it's NBA/NFL and guns are involved, it's "fair" to think African-American. We've unfortunately yet rightfully, earned that supposition. It wasn't created in a vacuum.
And yes, Black-on-Black crime is neither new nor revolutionary in nature. It speaks to a lost mentality (some call it thug life) thinking that one's manhood is somehow tied to a gun.
Morris, I also wonder about "street cred" as an issue, and as I observed in the Burress case, once you become a millionaire "street cred" is out the window. You're a rich dude, you made it out, and that's that.
To what extent do you think these guys are still trying to "represent"?
I don't know if I would call it "street cred" but I would characterize it as an over-willingness to prove he/they have not "changed." They visit the same neighborhoods, hang in the same clubs, convene with the same people as before when they didn't have big money.
The inherent problems in that thought process are obvious. So I wouldn't call it street cred as much as a refusal to just grow up and move on. Once you are a millionaire you simply can't live the same life and hang in the same places as when you were destitute.
Morris, is there a pressure in some black sub-cultures to prove that you haven't left your 'hood behind? What I mean is, taking it to the extreme of "Once a Crip (or Blood), always a {member}?" Or as they say in the Sopranos, "Once you're in, there's no getting out."
Is it like that, do you think? Do some of these guys feel pressure to "prove" they are still "down with the gang?" (and please pardon my clumsy attempts at street jargon, but I'm trying to express this concept in the actual terms that would be used to better represent the mind-set.)
Absolutely there's that pressure. Pressure to not "sell-out" and that term has different meanings for different people. For some it's making out of the hood but taking as many people as possible with you…people who probably should have no business in your immediate circle. People who don't have anything to lose and don't understand how their dysfunctional lives often adversely impact their golden meal ticket (think Michael Vick).
I think Mike Vick a lot in this discussion…and as you ask, what does it take to learn the lesson?