If you have a sore spot for
African American males who have strong opinions and make you feel like they
view everything through the chasm of race; this one is not for you so leave
your racial epithets at the door with your parting gifts please. Now that we
have that shit out of the way let’s make a few disclosures; I am an extremely
liberal man so you don’t have the puritanical “card” to play after I lay down
my race card. I’m also a man who favors more of the Christina Hendricks “full
grown woman” look but I can see why many would find Suzy Favor Hamilton
extremely sexy. I also believe that what Suzy Favor Hamilton was “caught” doing
should be legal for a myriad of reasons; I also believe consenting adults who
choose to marry aren’t bound by monogamy nor anything else the general public
“believes” they should be doing in their bedroom. Now that we have all of it
out of the way and you know who you are dealing with lets’ play a little game I
like to call “What if that Chick were Black?” I think it’s important because
when you consider some of the scrutiny Black Female Athletes have to endure you
can’t look at the Suzy Hamilton Favor controversy and believe it would be
covered in the same if she were a Sista. Don’t get me wrong, Mrs. Favor Hamilton
is being shamed but there is a difference in the tenor of exposure and
vilification, in fact I may already be late in commenting on the “story”. Lo Lo
Jones was brought to tears for being a young girl capable of profiting from her
sex appeal, something the All American girl (Hamilton) did way back in the
1990’s before the age of social media. Marion Jones lied about PED’s, and she
and he co conspirators went to jail for it, real jail, where she had to fight
women who were probably prostitutes at some point in their lives for way different
reasons than suburban malaise.
Mrs. Hamilton with Favors may not
know this but she fits a profile that is becoming increasingly more prevalent,
but the luxury of being white means she’ll never be profiled. Her so called
crime is given the benefit of individual examination, if she were Black the
case would open up a larger discussion about the ills of our community and the
ravenous sexual nature of “those people”. You see if you examine modern pop
culture there’s been a favorable emphasis on 40 something white women –still
hot and behaving badly. “Desperate Housewives” is a signal to a culture that is
now glamorizing attractive white women in their 40’s with names like “cougar”
and “MILF” all wrapped in a neat little marketing bow to suggest “empowerment”.
Favor Hamilton is already receiving the benefit of individual examination based
on race, because some have opined whether her “crime” will bring more awareness
to depression and postpartum issues-in other words when you’re a certain kind
of American “pie” your issues can be “flipped” into the next sparkly new PC
cause. When you’re black you struggle with cultural stereotypes 300 years old,
with no spin available to sanitize what the hell you just did. If you listen to
her, she isn’t speaking like a spokesperson, she sounds like most people in the
hood who rail on "snitches getting stiches"-unapologetic is an understatement.
She can afford to be, while Gabby Douglass has to smile and bite her lip as
others gripe about her hair and nose, you see the price is much higher for her
to become America’s sweetheart than it is was for Favor Hamilton back in 1997.
The Wisconsin Potato Growers and "Rock and Roll Marathon" can take their
miniscule little checks and integrity away but they will be quickly replaced by
more edgy, trendy Corporations willing to take a chance on the blonde
bombshells “infamy”. If Hamilton Favors were black we’d be reading jokes about
her last name being “Favor” and despite working for a high end “agency” the
cultural images of pimps would be dusted off and re introduced to the Twitter
generation. If she were black she wouldn’t be afforded the class that most of
her clientele are afforded, especially if it were public knowledge that these
men were “willing to go bankrupt” for what “Lil Kim” likes to call the “Ill Na
Na”. As of this writing, ESPN hasn’t gone near the topic while comparatively
Marion Jones was raked over the coals for wanting to win at any cost-like any
other red blood American. Language is important, and Favors –Hamilton is
allowed to control it with words like “illicit midlife diversion” but if she
were black the words would be “Federal, criminal prostitution” and “failure to
report income”. We’d even be informed on just how many years a Sista would be
facing but hell all I know you can still bounce a quarter off the woman’s ass
and nothing more. Remember, this is a media climate whereby serial scumbag Don
Imus called Collegiate Athletes “Nappy Headed Ho’s” because they didn’t look
like Mrs. Favors Hamilton so you can imagine what Imus would say if he knew the
lady hoopsters were turning tricks?.
She told you she’s not a
victim, but the media will make her one to keep from saying things about her
that they’d gladly serve up in relation to a minority. Maybe she missed the
exhibitionism (and admiration) the little track uniforms afforded her in her
prime, maybe she still has issues surrounding her brothers passing- both of
which I personally have empathy for. But I don’t think the general public has
any empathy for the supporting factors that lead a lot of black women into the
Sex Trade even though the factors are often WAY direr-and they aren’t in the
same Tax Bracket as Suzy Sunshine. Black women in the worst areas of this
country aren’t filled with Athletes invincibility or the confidence of someone
supported by major Corporations like Nike and Disney. They don’t feel
“untouchable” because they are often the most vulnerable, selling themselves on
the streets for survival purposes not “diversion”. If they could somehow get
out of their situations they’d gladly go on speaking tours and be grateful for
the money Suzy Sunshine received as a “Motivation” to many. A lot of them are
drug addicted, something that is less glamorous than being a bored MILF and far
less forgiven by the mainstream public- because no one gives a shit when a poor
person has to sell themselves sexually. They don’t have “Hobbyist” nor Clients
willing to pay to keep them from getting in trouble, they have Tricks who are
actually scumbags unlike the silly braggart who outed Suzy Sunshine. Tricks
don’t do survey’s when they’re done, and some of them are capable of killing a
prostitute. The bottom line is Suzy Favor Hamilton would already be in jail if she
were black, because the website who outed her would have allowed the police to
set her up for a sting- Marion Barry style. So before this story evaporates to
dust just know this; men who can pay 600$ an hour for “ass” won’t let this
chick spend a day in jail (she didn’t out them) and they know just who to call;
and she won’t have to even thank them…they’ll consider it a “Favor”.
