HUGH DOUGLASS EXITING STAGE LEFT AFTER BLACK ON BLACK SLUR

ESPN is a corporate media giant who I do not resent; in fact if there was any corporate behemoth I would allow to RSDI chip me it would be them-fuck Facebook. But ESPN is refreshingly augmented by websites like Deadspin who call them on their shit and force them to do stuff that in their usual cold corporate matrix they’d rather keep from you. Colin Cowherd dismisses it as “gotcha media” but what he’s missing is some “gotcha” is extremely important and can lead to much larger discussions on society and ethics. In fact, you almost have to have video evidence of something occurring or monoliths like ESPN will kill the story with the astonishing frequency-it are what they call “the good old days”. Can anyone explain how the network was “posted” up at Eagles training camp to document “racial controversy” when they had one in their own house? They chose Riley Cooper oversaturation, and it’s unfortunate because there wasn’t much anyone outside of the Eagles locker room could learn from it.

What Hugh Douglass said to Michael Smith at the Black Journalist Convention was a slur, but it was in a controlled setting filled with super smart folks who don’t pull out the IPhone when something bad happens. Hugh Douglass was drunk off his ass, and threatening but ESPN is using the fact that his conduct didn’t go “viral” as an invitation to go “old school”- when institutions hid everything from the ignorant masses because they could. But since it was important for us to grow up a little and realize that “Good ole Boys” can be NFL wide outs why shouldn’t we be mature enough to discuss “what black people do to other black people”?

Not one Black ESPN “on air” personality known for intellectual invectives took aim at Hugh Douglass last week- you see it’s much easier when the target for outrage is external so this matter was deemed “internal”. The personalities all “seem” like they are socially conscious African Americans who feel deeply for the community- and yet all of them agreed to a gag order from on high. Michael Wilbon can take on “the” Roger Goodell for not suspending Riley Cooper but not Hugh Douglass for perpetuating the worst in Plantation psyche jobs devouring the mentality of black folks?. Some of us grew up hearing “Uncle Tom” and “House Nigga” from people we knew more than hearing what we heard from “goobers” like Riley Cooper. For all we know many of the black on air talent probably didn’t believe Rob Parker deserved annihilation for his silly RG3 statement, but unlike Douglass Parker’s nonsense was disseminated by millions on air. “Cornball Brotha” is merely code for what Douglass actually said to Smith, something no black man should have to take from another, Smith was within the code of arms to “square up” against Douglass as reported and he shouldn’t have to hold his tongue about it. If ESPN can talk extensively about the N word they can open up the Outside the Lines studio for one black man calling another Black Man “Uncle Tom” and “House Nigga”. The Philadelphia Eagles as a brand didn’t matter enough to spare when the story had social relevance so why the hypocrisy when it’s the ESPN brand?

Douglass is gone now, fired unceremoniously, nothing to talk about here folks, besides if blacks stopped hating one another who knows what might happen.

I know I’m talking foolishness; it’s a “dog eat dog” corporate environment where nobody is in the business of showing their own warts to elicit “conversation”. Douglass just kind of disappeared and all that’s left is Smith doing one hell of a job of not mentioning him on a “His and hers” (Aug. 8^th) podcast on the topic of “forgiveness” as it pertains to Riley Cooper. How he could talk about forgiveness for racial slurs while not even hinting in the slightest how he may have some forgiving to do? It must be hard to swallow; until direct deposit kicks in. Listening to @LebatardShow on “790 the Ticket” last week was a tsunami on race, from Riley Cooper to why the white leprechaun “Johnny Football” is the face of NCAA reform despite brotha’s being vilified for the same acts for years- and not a peep about Hugh Douglass. Lebatard admitted it (Manziel) was a “blind spot” and brought in the brilliant Bomani Jones to add black perspective on the topic and it was magic, that is if you like cringe worthy stuff like “race talk”. And yet even he whiffed last week on Hugh Douglass, the one host in Sports Radio who revels in pointing out racial dynamics, the Cuban American who mourns the death of “journalism” has no idea what happened at a journalism conference where most of his friends where.

Such is the nature of “Uncle Tom”, liberals don’t know what to do with the things we do to one another, despite the fact that some of them have endured the same kinds of hazing. Michael Smith wasn’t hearing this for the first time, and had Barack Obama grown up in Chicago instead of Hawai’i he would have surely heard it from some idiot at school. ESPN as a publicly traded company has every right to protect their corporate perception, but you would think a network that has the balls to put on a roundtable regarding race would allow people of color to speak honestly about the ugliness of what Douglass said. Many of us hated when Bill O’ Reilly took the gloves off and called us out on our unwillingness to confront those who destroy our community head on- and he’s right.

God forbid we say anything to Lil Wayne, he’s paid son!

We won’t confront anyone within the community who hurts the community; because our outrage is selective and we nurture a climate that leads to silence in the face of blacks who hate other blacks. Can you imagine if black folks went after glorification of sex and criminality the way they went after Stand your Ground? Hugh Douglass was no drunker than Riley Cooper and his destructive words were more hurtful because many of us have to deal with that pathology in our own damned families. Many of us have to deal with pent up resentments from people we love about aesthetics we can’t control like skin color and diction - it would have been nice to see sports “once again” do what society often can’t. Many of ESPN’s talent had to endure having their authenticity questioned growing up; many of them were surrounded by ignorance just like that shown by Douglass- they deserved to speak their piece last week. If ESPN can ‘kill” this story to the point where nobody can even discuss  “what black folks do to one another” shouldn’t they forfeit the right to sensationalize what others may (or may not) do to us?.

Who was safer, the security guard 20 feet from Riley Cooper surrounded by cellphones or Michael Smith face to face with a 290 lb. ex-Football player and a room full of “company men”?.