Fallout Follows the Debacle on 34th Street; New York City Retailers Face Heat for Profiling Shoppers

Actor Rob Brown, detained for buying a watch

As a tax-paying, law-abiding African-American man who has been stopped and questioned in Manhattan in the past by members of the NYPD on two different occasions for doing absolutely nothing wrong I know the feeling of hurt, humiliation and outrage for being singled out by members of law enforcement simply because of the color of my skin.

So on the same day that news media headlines around the globe are reporting on the posthumous pardoning of the Scottsboro Boys by the Alabama state legislature in an effort to right one of the most notorious travesties of justice in modern history,  I was personally pleased to hear the news on The Brian Lehrer Show this morning that the city of New York is ratcheting up pressure on 17 local retailers to provide more transparency on their anti-theft procedures and policies in response to the growing media coverage surrounding details from a highly publicized incident of blatant racial profiling at Macy's that's set off a frenzy of national media coverage.

On October 25th actor Rob Brown filed a lawsuit against Macy's following an incident back in June when he was stopped and questioned by plain clothes police in Macy's after he used his own credit card to purchase a $1,300 watch as a present for his mother. Brown stars on HBO's acclaimed series "Treme" (he plays character Delmond Lambreaux) and not only was he handcuffed and detained for over an hour by Macy's, but he has since claimed the police and store security also mocked and insulted him before finally releasing him after determining that the credit card he used to buy the watch was his and the purchase was valid.

Seriously, this is 2013 people, does Macy's have some sort of unofficial price limit on purchases black customers can make before they're assumed to be stealing? Is shopping while black a crime?

Bear in mind this incident didn't take place inside any old Macy's in some mall out in the suburbs; this took place in the Macy's massive flagship store in Herald Square on 34th street in Manhattan. You've seen the holiday classic "Miracle on 34th Steet" right? Yeah, THAT Macy's. Ho-ho-ho indeed.

And what about Barney's? According to the Christian Science Monitor on October 21st a 19 year-old college student named Trayvon Christian filed suit against both Barney's and the NYPD after undercover police stopped him outside the store after he bought a $350 Ferragamo belt with his debit card. Police claimed he couldn't afford it and hustled him off to the 19th Precinct in Manhattan and held him there for two hours; despite the fact that he showed them his identification card, debit card and receipt for the belt.

In the recent wake of demands for changes in the NYPD's "Stop & Frisk" policy, the city of NewYork is stepping up to take a stand. As reported on the Business Page of the NBC News Website on Wednesday:
"The NYC Commission on Human Rights has sent letters to 17 retailers — including Macy's and Barneys — requesting the following information: loss prevention policies; procedures for approaching and detaining individuals suspected of theft; records regarding all individuals accused of theft in the past two years; and what, if any presence, NYPD officers have in the retail locations.
The stores are: Century 21, Loehmann's, Sephora, Target, Bloomingdale's, Bergdorf Goodman, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Sears, Lord & Taylor, Neiman Marcus, The Gap, CVS, Saks Fifth Avenue, Barneys, Macy's, Bath & Body Works/Limited Brands/Victoria's Secret."

While members of the African-American community nationwide have been complaining about being followed around in stores for years, it's an important step for the city which could arguably lay claim to being the shopping capital of America. In the same ways civil rights groups, concerned citizens of all backgrounds, community activists, lawyers, legal scholars, educators and local politicians came together to bring pressure on the NYPD to halt Stop & Frisk - those same forces are bringing the media spotlight to bear on retailers for treating shoppers differently because of their race.

With the biggest shopping season of the year getting underway, maybe some of the retailers (and the undercover NYPD officers working security for them) listed above will rethink the policy of assuming certain people are guilty because of the way they look. We'll see, Stop & Frisk incidents by the NYPD are down 80% in recent months.

Oh one final note of interest. The other week a man called into The Brian Lehrer Show while this same topic was was being discussed. He claimed that in addition to anti-theft measures, retailers also intentionally aggressively profile because it's an easy way for them to 'double-dip'. If someone is nabbed for stealing, whether they actually did steal or not, the caller claims stores often report the merchandise stolen or damaged to their insurance companies, collect on the loss or theft - then put the 'stolen' merchandise right back on the shelf and sell it.

Who's to say? I've written many times over the past few years in this blog that the deeper insidious nature of bigotry and prejudice is that people get so reactionary and emotional over perceived differences that it becomes easy to manipulate people's behavior for financial gain without them knowing about it. Remember bankers, lawmakers, business owners and real estate companies didn't  just cooperate and collude to carefully segregate American neighborhoods out of fear and by perpetuating a litany of racial stereotypes (not just about blacks either); they did it because it was profitable. 

It's a bit late for me to get into that tonight (that's a different blog) but there is extensive scholarly research on the subject, for example take a glance at the titles of some of the discussion panels from this one day conference titled "Cities, Towns and Suburbs" held at The Center for Race and Ethnicity at Rutgers back in March. Or for a little more contemporary perspective check out this article on some of the realities of home ownership from Forbes.com written by Emory University tax law professor Dorothy Brown.

I think I'll do my holiday shopping on Amazon this year.

The Dow is Up, But Donations Are Down for Philadelphia Area Families

Volunteers for the UAC Thanksgiving Basket Program

It was fantastic weather in Philadelphia over the weekend, after dinner with friends in nearby Rockledge on Saturday night I headed to the Eagles Washington game at the Linc on Sunday afternoon.

While the 24-16 Washington loss (despite a heroic 4th quarter rally) was admittedly disappointing, a post-game stop at Tony Luke's for what is arguably THE best cheese steak in Philly did make me feel a little better; (sorry Gino's and Pat's).

To observe the massive glass towers that now define the growing downtown Philly skyline as well as the new football and baseball stadiums and the new Wells Fargo Center indoor arena, the City of Brotherly love exudes an air of prosperity that's at odds with some of the financial realities facing this city of over 1.5 million people and the nation as well.

In light of the record highs reached by the Dow and the S&P 500 on Monday that were so widely trumpeted by mainstream media, one might assume the country has finally turned the corner from the effects of the Great Recession of 2008 that proved so devastating to lower and middle class Americans and entered a new phase of recovery. Unfortunately that's not true for everyone.

That was painfully evident to me on Sunday as we drove from Rockledge down through some fairly depressed looking neighborhood areas of North Philly to get to Lincoln Financial field for the Eagles game. But the signs aren't restricted to any one neighborhood.

Yesterday on NBC 10 News (Philadelphia) a local minister was interviewed to call for donations from the public for the annual Thanksgiving Basket Program, a cooperative effort between the city's Urban Affairs Coalition and Brown's Shoprite to provide Thanksgiving meal baskets to more than 6,000 Philadelphia families living in poverty. Unfortunately the Department of Community & Economic development is no longer funding this holiday program, so the UAC needs to close a $5,000 budget shortfall to purchase turkeys for the meal baskets.  

I was surprised to learn from the minister interviewed on NBC 10 that Philadelphia currently has the nation's 2nd highest rate of poverty at 28% for large cities. Think about that number. 28% of a population of over 1.5 million live in poverty. This is at a time when Republicans in Washington are slashing funding for Food Stamps from the latest version of the Farm Bill and as the UAC Website notes, 3 of every 10 people in Philadelphia are eligible for Food Stamps but not all receive them.

Unemployment remains stubbornly high nationwide despite steady monthly job gains, and wages for the working and middle class remain stagnant and virtually unchanged since the 1970's when you factor in cost of living adjustments and inflation. You have to scratch your head when you consider that corporate profits are at an all-time high and the Dow and S&P 500 are breaking new territory.

Just today MSNBC's Now with Alex Wagner had a segment about McDonald's subsidizing it's corporate profits by paying it's workers poverty wages (52% of fast food workers must live on public assistance or Food Stamps).

What's really happening in this country when Congress slashes funding for Food Stamps but allows McDonald's to make US taxpayers fork out a staggering $1.5 billion in yearly government benefits to subsidize the low wages it pays it's workforce? As Alex Wagner reported, the six heirs to the massive Wal-Mart fortune collectively have more net worth than the entire bottom 40% of the United States.

Have you heard about the growing controversy surrounding Wal-Mart setting out plastic bins inside their stores for their own employees to donate food to OTHER Wal-Mart employees in need? Seriously? Wal-Mart spends an estimated $7 billion a year to buy back it's own stock in order to increase shareholder profits, but they can't increase wages for it's employees? Talk about welfare queens, put a crown on McDonald's and Wal-Mart.

I'm no news editor but it seems like the real story about wage inequality in the United States, stagnant compensation and pay and record corporate profits without significant hiring gains ought to be receiving the same kinds of headlines as the Dow trading at over 16,000. At least we can put the trickle-down theory to bed.

While affecting broader changes in corporate responsibility and wage fairness issues will require more sustained efforts by all Americans, at the least you can visit the Urban Affairs Coalition Website and kick in a few bucks to help a Philadelphia area family celebrate Thanksgiving Day with a nice meal.

Renisha Marie McBride, 19 - Another Innocent American Executed for Having Dark Skin?

Victim Renisha McBride

 Has the increasing level racial polarization in this nation so negatively warped the perception of all people of color that it's become essentially OK to simply shoot and kill an unarmed, innocent American person simply because their skin is dark and your afraid of them?

Consider the tragic case of 19-year old Renisha Marie McBride of Detroit, a recent (2012) graduate of Southfield High School. In the early morning hours of November 2nd Ms McBride, allegedly intoxicated at the time, crashed her vehicle into a parked car in the mostly-white Dearborn Heights suburbs just outside the city of Detroit.

Witnesses say she wandered around the neighborhood in a haze before apparently trying to seek help at the home of 54 year old Theodore Wafer, while the facts of what happend aren't clear, Wafer pulled out a shotgun and shot McBride in the face at point blank range killing her instantly.

Was he standing his ground? Did he think she was trying to break into his house? What was going on in his mind? It was the middle of the night after all. I'm not the only person asking those questions, because it's starting to look like a terrifying pattern; innocent black person shot and killed, no charges filed, no one arrested until the story comes under the glare of the media.

That seemed to be the case in Florida with the Trayon Martin case, after all his shooter George Zimmerman wasn't even arrested or charged with a crime the night of Martin's murder and as the entire world knows he walked out of court a free man.

Last month it was Jonathan Ferrell, a 24-year old former Florida A&M student-athlete who crashed his car in Charlotte, North Carolina then went to the home of a woman and knocked on the door for help - she opened the door saw he was black, slammed the door and called 911 in a panicked 17-minute call in which she fretted for her life.

When the members of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police arrived on the scene Ferrell, thinking they were responding to the scene of his accident, ran towards them. They responded by tasering him before 27 year-old Officer Randall Kerrick shot Ferrell ten times killing him.

According to the New York Times Wafer is to be arraigned on 2nd degree murder charges today but who's to say what the result of a trial will be once he lawyers up? The wheels of justice in this nation don't seem to place much value on the life of innocent people of color these days.

I'm going down to Philadelphia for the weekend to have dinner with friends Saturday night then go to the Eagles-Redksins game at the Linc on Sunday (believe me, if MY car breaks down, I'm breaking out my AAA card and calling a tow truck....) but I'll be interested to see the reaction of the mainstream media to this case over the next couple of days because you know what?

The sad truth is that if an intoxicated 19 year-old white girl crashed her car then showed up on my front door step in the middle of the night and I (a 6' 7" African-American man) shot her in the face and killed her, not only would I have been arrested immediately; I'd never walk out of prison again.

What's going on in the mindset of some people in this country? The Pledge of Allegiance I used to repeat each day in elementary school ended with "One nation under God...." but where justice for innocent victims of color is concerned, we seem to be two very disctinct nations; both seperate and unequal.

Richard Cohen's 'Gag Reflex' Comment Makes Many Want to Vomit

Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen

I was checking e-mails tonight and saw this new petition on CREDO Action calling for people to sign a letter to the Washington Post demanding they apologize for an op-ed suggesting 'interracial marriage makes normal people want to throw up.'

Just last week in my post-New York Mayoral election blog post entitled "Colored by Fear" I talked about the segment of people in New York and around the country who are made uncomfortable by the sight of New York Mayor-elect Bill De Blasio, his African-American wife Chirlane McCray and their two interracial children. Is Washington Post columnist and resident foot-in-mouth specialist Richard Cohen a part of that segment?

Yesterday in his regular weekly op-ed in the Post ('Christie's Tea Party Problem') Cohen opined that NJ Governor Chris Christie will never win over Tea Party loyalists and the 'severely' conservative faction of the party to win the 2016 GOP presidential nominee because (drum roll please); he's not conservative enough. Cohen based this analysis on a non-scientific quick-snapshot he took of the state of Iowa's likely caucus voters, the same caucus that selected Rick Santorum last time around.

While many across the media spectrum are rightly incensed by his 'gag reflex comment in the 2nd sentence of the 7th paragraph of his op-ed, I personally found the first sentence almost equally offensive and indicative of deep denial or a disturbing lack of understanding. You can and frankly probably should read the whole piece on the Washington Post Website but here's the paragraph causing such a stir:

"Today’s GOP is not racist, as Harry Belafonte alleged about the tea party, but it is deeply troubled — about the expansion of government, about immigration, about secularism, about the mainstreaming of what used to be the avant-garde. People with conventional views must repress a gag reflex when considering the mayor-elect of New York — a white man married to a black woman and with two biracial children. (Should I mention that Bill de Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray, used to be a lesbian?) This family represents the cultural changes that have enveloped parts — but not all — of America. To cultural conservatives, this doesn’t look like their country at all."

Now I don't know Cohen personally or anything, I don't know what makes him tick. The cynic in me suspects he knows exactly what he's doing when he writes something homophobic or laced with bigotry as he has on so many occasions before; perhaps he derives a sense of self satisfaction by pushing people's buttons and being blatantly politically incorrect.

Maybe he just wants to drive traffic to the Post's Website, after all the editorial staff did sign off on it; it's not like Cohen crept into the WP's offices late the night before and snuck the op-ed in there or anything. But if he honestly believes that what he calls 'conventional people' are sickened by interracial families he doesn't make me want to gag; he just strikes me as a sad, frightened, bitter old man who shut his mind up tight a long time ago against the change happening all around him.

Cohen doesn't seem to grasp that De Blasio and his family are the future of this country; instead Cohen sees the new Mayor of New York and his beautiful family as something to fear. All I can do is shake my head and close with a link to Matt Connolly's spot-on piece on the Mother Jones Website entitled "Richard Cohen's 10 Worst Moments Counted Down" - if you're not familiar with Cohen his offensive 'gag reflex' comment isn't his first time on the dance floor.

Unfortunately he seems to be a guy with all the wrong moves.   

Logan's Run: The Media Table is Turned on 60 Minutes

60 Minutes correspondent Lara Logan

It's been a tough couple weeks for 60 Minutes, CBS News and correspondent Lara Logan following a controversial report sharply critical of the Obama administration's response to the attack on the US embassy in Benghazi on September 11, 2102.

There's been a flood of media coverage of this confusing but still-evolving drama but if you want to get caught up on the essentials quickly reporter Doug Stanglin of USA Today penned a pretty concise summary on November 8th if you haven't followed the whole story.

What caught my attention was a revealing interview this morning on the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC with Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow of Media Matters for America who was pretty tough on Logan for her somewhat tepid on-air apology on Sunday night; click the link above to hear the Boehlert interview or see Logan's apology.

As a longtime watcher of 60 Minutes I'm certainly familiar with Logan's reporting and she's certainly been given more than her fair share of choice international story assignments for the nation's most watched news program. Back in 2011 she was the unfortunate victim of a violent sexual assault in Egypt's Tahrir Square while covering the massive uprisings on the day former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's government collapsed.

As far as television news journalists go, she's pretty intense. But for someone for whom objectivity and facts are so essential (it is 60 Minutes after all...) I was surprised to learn just how far right leaning her political views seem to be in a clip that was played during the Brian Lehrer interview this morning - give it a listen for yourself.



Media Matters for America has been all over this story, and were the first to publicly demand an explanation from Logan and CBS News for a high-profile report taking the Obama administration to task for it's handling of the Benghazi incident based largely on an interview with Dylan Davies, the security expert who told Logan and CBS that he was present during the attack on the embassy compound and even fought off attackers where four Americans lost their lives.

His (and Logan's?) credibility was shattered when the Washington Post reported that Davies had offered contradictory sworn testimony to the FBI and the security company that hired him about where he actually was during the Benghazi attack (in a beach-side villa...) lending many to speculate about his real motives.

Oh and 60 Minutes apparently failed to mention the fact that Davies was also promoting a new book about the night of the Benghazi attack he wrote under a pseudonym titled Embassy House. Who published it? CBS subsidiary Simon & Schuster. Ouch. S&S pulled that puppy off the shelves faster than you can say retraction.

And what about Lara Logan's credibility? Does the cool blue-eyed blond facade of the South African-born journalist conceal someone with decidedly conservative political views? If she worked for Fox News it wouldn't be an issue, in fact it would be a prerequisite for the job. But she works for a news program that built a reputation over the years on reputable journalism, exposing of facts and relentless reporting based on a search for the truth.

Republican attempts to fan the flames of the Benghazi story to attack the president have been ongoing for months and if it ends up that Logan pursued this story with an eye towards legitimizing baseless claims of a non-existent cover-up by the Obama administration and the state department to discredit the likely 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, it will be a sad day for 60 Minutes and a tarnish on the polished veneer of Logan's rising star.

Don't expect CBS to pull a Dan Rather on Logan and serve her up to placate the more centrist and left leaning media outlets calling her out for this massive error in judgement; the nation's "most watched network" has way too much invested in her and the demo she appeals to. If this media debacle teaches us anything, as Media Matters argues, it's that CBS is terrified of pissing off the right wing media but not the left.

Let's not forget that broadcasting the story with Davies as the main source would completely tarnish ongoing GOP efforts to fan the flames of their imaginary "Benghazi-gate" - fuel that the right desperately needs to use against Billary in 2016.

Remember the Republican outrage and media storm from the mere discussion of the broadcasting of the Hillary Clinton bio-epic that sent both CNN and NBC packing with their tails between their legs? To soothe the ruffled feathers of the right wing media establishment, both networks shelved that story as fast as Simon & Schuster threw Dylan Davies' Embassy House book back into the box.

And call me crazy but condsidering Hillary Clinton is the defacto odds-on favorite to win the popualr vote for the 2016 presidential race (meaning she would be the first female president and leader of the free world); one would think the American populace, regardless of party affiliation, would be interested in learning some more about her life; even if it was from a made-for-TV movie. Not the GOP; they saw it (as they do most things it seems) as a threat.

Liberal media bias? Riiiight....

The Stars & Bars on People's Cars

The other week in my November 6th blog about the post-election day results, I briefly touched on the fact that Americans as a whole are getting tired of the climate of fear intolerance and hate created by the Tea Party in this nation as a direct result of President Obama being elected in 2008. 

I wanted to share a couple personal observations about how I see the extremist right-wing media message crafted by the current president of Fox News Channels and former Nixon, Reagan and Bush media consultant Roger Ailes (with the blessing of Rupert Murdoch) filters down through the various conservative media pundits (Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck etc.) and ends up on everyday Main Street.

 

If you look closely at the back window of the pickup truck in the photo pictured above, you'll see some anti-Obama stickers and a "McCain-Palin '08" sticker just above a NASCAR sticker professing the pickup driver's support for Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s #8 race car.

I took this photo with my iPhone while I was stopped at a traffic light at the intersection of Quakerbridge Road and Route 33 on Thursday morning August 29th of this year on my way into work in Hamilton, NJ. While I respect the Constitution and everyone's right to free speech, I couldn't help but be curious about the kind of person who would be driving around with stickers like that prominently displayed on their vehicle.

My guess is he or she would probably be listening to Rush Limbaugh or some other conservative talk radio host whipping their audience into a frenzy of anger with the usual assortment of distorted facts, outright lies and tired cliches about the President and other "liberals". What's interesting about this truck is the 9/11 memorial painted onto the back of the truck on the left side. That struck me as somewhat contradictory. 

I lived in Manhattan on September 11th, 2001 and one thing about that horrific tragedy was how it unified most Americans; for a time anyway. The attack was perpetrated by a group of extremist jihadists who'd been indoctrinated with a radical Islamic mindset which essentially encouraged them to murder innocent people in the name of their religion. 

Unlike the quirky fictional television cable news host Will McAvoy (brilliantly played by Jeff Daniels and written by Aaron Sorkin), I don't think the Tea Party is the "American Taliban", but I do think the almost religious fervor they inspire amongst their ranks almost always ends up being expressed in a manner that is negative, fearful, obstructionist, intolerant and angry. 

Remember that long summer 4 years ago when red-faced Tea Partiers packed into Congressional town hall meetings across the nation and angrily shouted-down politicians trying to communicate with their constituents about the Affordable Health Care Act?

Who can forget Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina yelling out "You LIE!" to the President of the United States during a State of the Union address on September 9, 2009? That kind of rage ends up filtering down to individuals across the country and some of them see it as an endorsement of much worse kinds of hatred and bigotry. Let's be frank, the Tea Party has basically made it OK to be a bigot in America again.

  

The other week on my way to work I was stopped at a traffic light preparing to turn left onto Route 29 near the border of Trenton, NJ and I notice this large pickup truck in front of me. 

It was one of those trucks with the full extended cab and I could see this older white couple seated inside talking as they waited for the light to turn. There was a small Confederate flag sticker on the back left bumper that left me with a queasy kind of feeling.

It wasn't like some of those pickups you see on the road now and then with the full actual Confederate flag filling the back window of the pick behind a gun rack, but this one was small enough not to attract too much attention, but large enough to be seen none the less. With the atmosphere created by the Tea Party it's hard to discern what the person who puts that Confederate flag on their vehicle actually thinks and means by openly displaying it - especially when you see it here in New Jersey. 

Are they racist? That's the very first thing that popped into my mind as an African-American driver when I saw that flag on the pickup the other day. Something about the flag just disturbs me because of the legacy of what it represents - a terrible war that killed more than 500,000 Americans and a vanquished foe who went to war for the right to keep black people enslaved in a state-sponsored system of enforced human bondage.

Controversy and fallout from the Confederate flag flying over state capitols (including South Carolina and Georgia) continues to this day. As reported by David Slade and Jeff Hartsell in the Charleston Post and Courier in August of this year, South Carolina removed the Stars & Bars from atop the state Capitol building but placed it on a memorial on the grounds; which the NACCP and others are still fighting to remove.   

Just like the Swastika the Stars and Bars should be banned in my opinion but here we are 148 YEARS after General Lee surrendered at Appomattox and people of all races are still actively engaged in attempts to remove that symbol of division, death and human bondage. It's not fair for me to judge someone I don't personally know who puts a Confederate flag on their vehicle, but I can't help but wonder what's really going on deep inside their heart when they do.

Going Incognito: The Complex Case of NFL Player Jonathan Martin

Jonathan Martin's Stanford Univ media photo

Ever since the unusual story of Miami Dolphins offensive lineman Jonathan Martin broke, the eagerness of the media to report the truth about his abrupt departure from the team last week has only obscured what is actually the complex merger of a truly unfortunate set of circumstances.

The bottom line is this case has much more to do with the behavioral issues and troubled past of Richie Incognito, the suspended offensive lineman with an extremely troubled past accused of bullying Martin, than they do with Martin himself.

The facts in this still evolving case have been clouded by a range of stereotypical assumptions about body type, demeanor, intelligence and race; and they offer a rare glimpse of the difficulties faced by large African-American males who play football at the Division-I and professional level.

I was fortunate enough to have earned a full athletic scholarship to play Division-I college football at Penn State University from 1987 - 1992 and I went on to play for two and a half years in the National Football League; so my perspective on this story differs from much of what has already been reported in the media.

According to NPR sports correspondent Mike Pesca, who spoke about the shifting media coverage of the Martin story earlier this evening with host Brooke Gladstone on NPR's ''On The Media" program, a lot of the confusion about the story stems from the Miami Sun Sentinel initially reporting that Martin's October 28th departure from the team had to do with his own "emotional" issues. It was only days ago that media reports about Martin being unable to cope with the routine hazing of rookies which is a normal part of the NFL culture, was part of the cause of his leaving the team.

A couple days ago I heard a television commentator on ESPN News and more than one sports radio analyst recycling the oft-repeated reports of Martin being too "soft" a player who was in need of some "toughening up" by fellow Miami Dolphin teammate Richie Incognito; and who was allegedly ordered to do so by Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin. Before we get into Incognito let's look at that accusation of being too "soft" for a moment.

First off, what does that even mean?

What's unfortunate here is that widely held myths and assumptions about black athletic prowess and aggressiveness still tend to permeate the media and the broader American culture. Many fans, casual observers of the game and members of the media who've never actually played football on the college or professional level (or spent any significant time with the players who do) tend to confuse the intense physical nature of this full contact sport, the body type and appearance of players who train much of the year to prepare for it, and the calculated, carefully packaged media product broadcast on ESPN, NBC, CBS or ABC with WHO the players actually are as people. 

The game of football is replete with 'experts' who analyze the game for a living and really don't know all that much more than any average person who takes the time to sit down and read up on the players, statistics, strategies, rules and tendencies of the game. A lot of football analysis is opinionated speculation meant to fill air time that's often rendered meaningless at the first snap of the ball. So when these experts and media pundits sniffing after the story repeated the idea that Martin somehow washed out or caved to the pressure because he was "soft", did they really know what they were talking about? Consider the stats.

According to Pro Football Weekly, Jonathan Martin was a standout offensive lineman who started 11 of 13 games as a sophomore in 2009 at left tackle (one of the most complex and difficult positions to play in football) and successfully protected the blind side of eventual first-round NFL draft choice quarterback Andrew Luck on an offensive line that helped rack up a school-record 2,837 rushing yards and allowed a conference low of seven total sacks all season.

Over the next two seasons in 2010-2011 Martin started all 26 games at left tackle; in 2010 the team compiled a 12-1 record and went 8-1 in PAC 12 Conference play and finished the season ranked 4th in the nation. In his senior year at  Standford in 2011 (where he studied classics) the team compiled an 11-2 record (8-1 PAC 12) - he stood 6 foot 5 & 3/8 inches and weighed 307 pounds. 

As Martin's lawyer, noted attorney David Cornwell observed in a statement dismissing accusations questioning Martin's toughness; Martin was a standout starter on two of former Standford head coach Jim Harbaugh's teams known for their brand of "smash mouth" football. He was selected as the 42nd overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft by the Miami Dolphins; where he started 12 games at right tackle.

Now, what part of that sounds "soft" to you? You simply don't start that many games on a team that good without being tough. Too often, where black players are concerned, the medias focus on larger than life standout NFL players who are as quotable as they are skilled on the field tends to skew the image the public has of the demeanor of all NFL players.

Take recently retired Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, or Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor. The endless video clips and reels of players like that pacing the sidelines yelling at people, firing up teammates or talking smack to opponents are like a marketer's wet dream for the NFL, the networks that pay billions of dollars for the right to broadcast professional football and the companies that pay millions to associate their brands with the League.

Their off-field incidents and dramas only increase their fascination factor with the media and the public. As I've repeated so often in this blog, there are so many different socio-economic backgrounds, beliefs, opinions and family histories within the wider spectrum of the African-American community. Different skin shades, hair styles, religious or political beliefs, food, dating, car or music preferences; but the media still holds a certain fascination with black male athletes who fit comfortably into the mold of an ideal stereotype that fits the preconceived notions many Americans seem comfortable with.

 The media loves a popular black athlete who's "street" enough to be "authentic", who can communicate well with just the right mix of Ebonics in his accent. Part of the complexity of the Jonathan Martin story is that the media really doesn't know what box to put him in. Look at his college media photo above.

He's a bright, well adjusted kid who attended a prestigious prep school in Los Angeles, scored a 1,400 on his SAT's and boasts an impressive family pedigree by any standard. According to Martin's Wikipedia entry, his father Gus is a professor of criminal justice who graduated from Harvard, his mother Jane is a corporate lawyer for Toyota who also graduated from Harvard. No less than NINE of his relatives graduated from Harvard including his grandfather and maternal great grandfather.

That kind of intelligence, demeanor and upbringing packaged into the 6'5" 317 pound frame of a professional football player leaves some people confused; depending on the kind of atmosphere created by the coaching staff and the players in the locker room, Jonathan Martin could in fact be intimidating to some players. I believe it is this cultural difference which is at the root of this most unusual story; there were certainly few if any other players with his kind of background in that Miami Dolphins locker room.

As a 6'7" former professional football player, I can say from my own personal experience that many people, teammates, coaches, strangers could be very confused when they met me. The football part made sense to them as an African-American guy my physical size, but when I spoke very often I could detect a sense of confusion.

Both my parents were college-educated professionals (unlike many of my teammates in college) and I was raised in the middle-upper class suburbs of Bethesda, Maryland. There was never any Ebonics being used in my house growing up, I enunciate each word, have a substantial vocabulary and speak clearly and without any traceable accent; that certainly doesn't make me better than anyone else, it's just the way I was raised and who I am. When I told some of my college teammates that I liked to read in my spare time or argue about politics; I often got funny looks.

My point is, I understand Jonathan Martin better than most of the media pundits and experts talking about him do. People tend to project all these internally held perceptions onto large black athletes in America and when they see or hear things from them that doesn't fit into what they PERCEIVE, they sometimes get confused.

Take Rosey Grier for instance. He graduated from my Alma Mater Penn State in 1955 years before I was even born, and he played college and professional football as well; and much better than I did too by the way. At the height of his fame in the late 60's early 70's when he publicly talked about being really into knitting and macrame as hobbies; that totally baffled a lot of people. Some even thought it made him "soft" despite his being a member of the Ram's "Fearsome Foursome" or being recognized as one of the top college student-athletes of all time. Knitting didn't fit in with the way many people perceived him.

It's this perception problem that's at the heart of this debacle in Miami; and it has everything to do with race and how African-Americans are perceived in this country. That's why Jonathan Martin left the Dolphins on October 28th. Not because he was scared, but because the man is far too intelligent to simply remain in an abusive work environment where his own teammates treated him like that.

Many of the media pundits have it wrong. This isn't an NFL problem (but it will be spun that way), it's a symptom or rather a result of a much deeper problem rooted in American society. That's why most of the media got this wrong, the real reason is too much for them to take on; it's much easier to just say that Jonathan Martin was"soft" than to acknowledge that race has clouded this distorted coverage from the beginning.

Really confronting the racial angle in this case would have required some of these sports reporters and pundits to roll up their sleeves and stare something ugly and uncomfortable in the eye, but as we all know no one succeeds like Americans in squirming away from engaging in genuine dialog about topics that make us uncomfortable - especially race.

I want to conclude by saying it's been very insightful to observe the strange arc of the media coverage surrounding this case. For days, members of the media and even some his own teammates were casting blame on the victim Jonathan Martin. But as more details about his ex-teammate Richie Incognito's violent and troubled past begins to emerge; it begs the question, why weren't the Miami Dolphins and the media focusing their attention and speculation on him in the first place?

Richie Incognito is a like a walking time bomb that keeps going off wherever he ends up; but he keeps showing up somewhere on another team. Passed around like a Catholic priest who can't stop molesting children; so rather than really deal with his behavior, they blame the victims and ship him off to another parish. Incognito has been kicked off at least five different college and pro football teams for ostensibly the exact same behavior; how did the Miami media miss that?

It really doesn't matter now, Jonathan Martin has left Miami and retained expert counsel in the form of David Cornwell, one of the most highly regarded sports attorneys in the country. If the media was reluctant to get to the real cause in this case, this man will. The NFL has hired top defense lawyer Ted Wells to head an investigation into the Dolphins role in this case. Expect to see head coach Joe Philbin of the Dolphins resign or be fired very soon. I watched a clip of him in a press conference talking about this case the other day and he seemed woefully uninformed and didn't seem to really grasp the seriousness of the case. Plus it's clear he has absolutely no control over his own locker room if he even jokingly suggested sticking a maniac like Richie Incognito on Martin to "toughen him up" as alleged.

As for Richie you judge for yourself, earlier this evening Bill Pennington of the New York Times penned the most revealing and disturbing portrait of this disturbed borderline psychopath I've yet to see. Read it for yourself, the real truth of this story is in the facts. Facts much of the Miami media seemed to miss.

Colored by Fear?

Bill De Blasio and his family celebrating on election night.

Even though I no longer live in New York City, my sorely missed home of 15 years, I still pay very close attention to the local political issues impacting the Five Boroughs because by virtue of New York being the media capital of the world, its politics end up influencing the national and global political scene.

For my money nothing beats the political coverage on The Brian Lehrer Show (heard daily from 10am to noon on WNYC.org) and his coverage of the recent Mayoral, Public Advocate and Comptroller elections was simply outstanding. In the months and weeks building up to the New York Mayoral election all the candidates were given ample time on Brian's show to state their case, field questions and pitch themselves to potential voters; so I was eager to hear listener opinions and comments the day after former Public Advocate Bill De Blasio was elected in a landslide to become the city's first Democratic mayor since David Dinkins.

One thing that really struck me from the calls I heard (and from many reader comments I've read on the New York Times Website as well) is the very real sense of fear and apprehension some New Yorkers have about the direction of the city under a progressive Democrat like De Blasio. He ran a strong campaign centered on a consistent theme of bridging the divide between rich and poor in New York, asking people earning a million or more per year to pay a little more in taxes to help fund adequate Pre K educational programs for all children in the city and eliminating the NYPD's policy of stop and frisk. A majority of voters in New York endorsed that change of direction; but some New Yorkers are frightened by it.

The unfortunate irony of the historic election of President Obama in 2008 is that it sparked a troubling increase in the racial polarization of the nation that helped create a climate where it quietly became acceptable for some Americans to express open hostility and even contempt towards people of color, immigrants and members of religious minorities. Look at the Birthers still desperately clutching onto their delusional beliefs about the President's nationality and religion. Consider the anger, intolerance and coded language of the Tea Party - or worse, the GOP's nationwide efforts to use the majorities in state legislatures around the nation to enact laws to proactively suppress the rights of citizens to exercise the most basic Constitutional freedom - the right to vote.

In the same way some Americans were made uncomfortable by the image of a non-white President and his family occupying the White House, there are New Yorkers made uncomfortable by Bill De Blasio, his African-American wife and his two inter-racial children occupying Gracie Mansion. I heard one caller on the Brian Lehrer show the day after the election who identified himself as a white male Democrat who had voted for the Republican candidate Joe Lhota because he was concerned with what would "happen" to the city if De Blasio was elected mayor.

I'm partially paraphrasing here but he stunned me and many listeners when he suggested that De Blasio's policies would be tilted in favor of "the coloreds." That's literally the word he used, "coloreds". It's not that the guy was a racist or anything, but using that word made him come off as so out of touch with the cultural zeitgeist, or as I prefer, the culturegeist, that he seemed like he was living in the 1950's. In fact a white male caller from New York came on the air after him and expressed complete shock that the guy had used the word "coloreds" to describe a huge percentage of the population of New York. Only guy I know who wonders why he can't use the word "colored" to describe black people is perpetual cultural dinosaur  Glenn Beck.

Now if you happen to be white and are reading this, please understand that using the word "colored" is not like calling someone a nigger; not even close. But the use of the word "colored" is more associated by many black people including myself with the 1930's, 40's or 50's when segregation in many parts of the US was state-sanctioned and legal. Black and white photos of signs reading "Colored waiting room" or "Colored water fountain" are stark reminders of a much darker period in this nation's history when people of African descent were considered less than equal; even less than human by some.

So if for instance you hear someone say, "I knew a colored fella once..." black people within earshot of that are going to turn around and look at that person with a really puzzled expression. They may not SAY anything but believe me, they're going to be thinking, "WTF did he just say???" And if I need to remind you not to call a black person a Negro then you should just take a class or something because seriously I can't help you....

Now I'm kinda kidding about that, but I'm not. That guy I mentioned on the Brian Lehrer show who used the word "coloreds"? He also expressed the concern that by eliminating the NYPD's Stop and Frisk policy, the city was going to descend into some kind of crime-ridden hell. And I have definitely read those same concerns voiced by a lot of semi-anonymous readers in the comment sections of the New York Times - that by not permitting the NYPD to routinely violate the Constitutional rights of thousands of innocent African-Americans and Latino men, the city is going to erupt into chaos. Which is of course, absurd.

I for one happen to think Bill De Blasio and his family (pictured above) represent the wonderfully diverse nature of New York; and symbolize the kind of progressive society most New Yorkers want to live in and project to the world. But there are those who will be threatened by that, or even worse - but that's okay, their perceptions are just colored by fear instead of open to the possibilities of what real progressive change could bring to the city; and to the world. Bill De Blasio is the future, not the past and like many other ex-New Yorkers I endorse his vision for the city, let's see what unfolds.

Protesters Push Brazilian Fashion Industry for More Diversity on the Catwalk

Quick, think "Brazilian Fashion" and what comes to mind? For most it's probably skimpy bikinis with outrageous thongs worn by models who tend to look like the two lovely ladies pictured at left from a blog about the 2013 Fashion Week in Rio de Janeiro.

Don't worry I'm not going all pervy on my blog or anything, my question was actually inspired by 'Black is the New White at Rio's Fashion Week' a really thought-provoking radio essay on diversity in the Brazilian fashion by Claire Lancaster on today's edition of PRI's 'The World'.

She notes that over 50% of Brazil's population of over 201 million is comprised of people who are of African descent (a testament to the vast scope of the African Slave Trade), yet the vast majority of models seen strutting down the catwalks of Rio or Sao Paulo or in Brazilian fashion campaigns tend to be those of German and Italian descent. Case in point Giselle Bundchen; arguably Brazil's most famous model ever.

So where are all the models of color in a nation with the largest population of black people outside of Africa? As today's edition of 'The World' notes, a growing movement of protesters in Brazil are calling for that nation's fashion industry to address that very question. There have been demands for more diversity on Brazilian catwalks for years, but now according to PRI a non-profit charity based in Sao Paulo called Educafro that advocates on behalf of poor Brazilians of African descent has reached an agreement with the organizers of Brazil's Fashion Week to establish quotas for models of color and indigenous models to be represented.

It's a start and it's got the backing of Rio's Public Attorney but time will tell. In the meantime give Claire Lancaster's essay a listen for yourself.

And let's not forget, Brazil certainly doesn't have a monopoly when it comes to lack of racial diversity in fashion. Check out this piece from Neon Tommy by Gabi Duncan dated September 15, 2013 on the lack of diversity at New York's Fashion Week and a group calling themselves the Diversity Coalition trying to do something about it.






   

Is the Tea Party Almost Over? Nov. 5th Election Results Set Tone for 2014 Mid-Term Elections

Democratic Governor-Elect Terry McAuliffe

The election results in New York, New Jersey and Virginia  have given me a sense of hope that I haven't felt about this country in awhile.

As I sit here writing this, I'm listening to Democratic New York Mayor-elect Bill De Blasio give his post election victory speech from Park Slope, Brooklyn - which in itself is a pretty big statement for New Yorkers. The former NYC Public Advocate's lofty goals for a more progressive direction for the city include universal Pre-K for all children, an end to the widely discredited Stop and Frisk program by the NYPD and efforts to bridge the growing income gap between rich and poor.

Down in Virginia a majority of voters elected Democrat Terry McAuliffe governor by a slim margin, rejecting the extremist Tea Party ideology of State Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, the first state attorney general to sue the Obama Administration over the implementation of the Affordable Health Care Act and a climate change denier who supported archaic state legislative anti-abortion laws that mandated intrusive and unnecessary vaginal probes for women seeking abortions.

McAuliffe on the other hand is a supporter of sensible gun restrictions backed by most Americans, abortion rights for women and same sex marriage - of course having President Obama stump for him, raising over $34 million and being a close ally of the nation's resident "Explainer-in-Chief" former President Bill Clinton and his wife the presumed Democratic Presidential front runner didn't hurt either. 

In my home state of New Jersey voters overwhelmingly passed a ballot initiative mandating a raise in the states minimum wage that is now permanently linked to the Consumer Price Index. This is a huge step in the growing movement towards a living wage standard for American workers and an important move towards recovery for the working and middle class.

NJ also re-elected Chris Christie by a wide margin, demonstrating to the extremist ideologues who now control the GOP that a moderate Republican who has (gasp) hugged President Obama can actually sway African-American, Hispanic and younger voters, who nationwide tend to avoid Republicans like the plague.

Time will certainly tell but these election results are looking more and more like a broader mandate on the Tea Party and their recent disastrous shut-down of the Federal government.

There's a growing sense that Americans have simply had it with the tiny faction of politically right-wing obstructionists who've decided opposing virtually any initiative the President supports, even efforts that would benefit the American people and improve the economy. Opposing even basic gun restrictions in the face of week after week of public shootings (LAX? Paramus Mall?), denying science, tolerating bigotry, ignoring outright racism and shutting down the Federal government to pass policies that mainstream Americans would never vote for is NOT what this nation is about. And it's too late for me to get into voter repression laws (peekaboo North Carolina!).

But don't take my word for it, the numbers speak for themselves. In Virginia a number of the states top Republicans voted for McAuliffe. Tonight New York Times reporter Eric Lipton reports that tomorrow a newly-formed political group of moderate Republicans (remember them?) calling themselves Main Street Advocacy will begin airing political ads opposing the Tea Party and holding them accountable for the kinds of political party losses the GOP suffered tonight. Admirable effort?

Maybe, but frankly mainstream Republicans are a dollar short and day late to finally start taking on the wing nuts who've seized control of the GOP and seem determined to steer it into total oblivion. Where was MSA when the Tea Baggers were questioning the President's birth certificate or Donald Trump was questioning whether Obama's Law degree from Harvard was legitimate? Hell, where was the MSA when Clint Eastwood was standing on the stage of the GOP convention talking to an empty chair?

Not that I don't wish the MSA luck but based on tonight's results, it's pretty clear Democrats are on track to reclaim the House Majority in 2014 and if you think a delusional self-serving Tea Party hack with no original ideas and an agenda from the 12th century like Senator Ted Cruz has a prayer of beating Hillary Clinton in 2016 I got a bridge to sell you. The country has a long way to go, a lot of folks are still out of work and wages are still low - but tonight I'll sleep a little better, I may even dream of hope.

"The Landlord" - Hal Ashby's 1970 Film Teaches and Inspires

Woody Allen in "Annie Hall", 1977

Turner Classic Movies has been featuring some amazing films during the annual "31 Days of Oscar" but to their credit they've also showed some unconventional and distinctly 'Un-Hollywood' movies as well.

Last night I watched "The Landlord" starring Beau Bridges, Lee Grant, Diana Sands and Pearl Bailey; with Louis Gosset and Robert Klein rounding out an excellent cast as well. This hilarious racial satire was also the amazing Hal Ashby's 1970 directorial debut and was produced by prolific director Norman Jewison. The story, based on the novel by Kristin Hunter, follows a naive and privileged young man named Elgar Winthrop Julius Enders (brilliantly underplayed by Bridges) who leaves his family's cushy suburban enclave to buy a building in Park Slope, Brooklyn. This is most definitely NOT the gentrified Park Slope of today and Elgar's initial plan to evict the black tenants from his building falls apart when he begins to become attached to the various characters and their lifestyles. 

While Hal Ashby is perhaps best known for directing "Shampoo", "Harold and Maude" and "Coming Home", I am a huge fan of his 1979 film "Being There" with Peter Sellers and many of the elements that are characteristic of his visual style, pacing and editing can be seen in "The Landlord". The film is way ahead of its time in terms of the unflinching portrayal of bigotry, snapshots of urban African-American culture of the early '70's and on-screen inter-racial romance. The culture clashes between Elgar and his domineering mother (played by Lee Grant) over race are hysterical, poignant and revealing; especially when they come face to face with the black residents of Park Slope.

So let me cut to the chase as I figure some of you who have bothered to read this far are wondering why I have a photo of Woody Allen when I'm talking about Hal Ashby. The reason I decided to blog about this film is because of one particular scene that stood out to me as emblematic of Ashby's skill as a film editor (he won an Oscar for editing "In the Heat of the Night") and made me suspect Woody Allen may have, shall we say, been quite inspired by it during "Annie Hall".

By the 2nd act of "The Landlord", Elgar has begun to loose patience with his parent's quaint racist attitudes and he angrily confronts his mother's prejudice by confiding to her that he's been seeing a black woman. Ashby cuts in close on Lee Grant's horrified expression and for a brief moment, it cuts to a scene of a tribe of African women in traditional costume dancing and singing in native tongue. The whole sequence lasts maybe 15 seconds but to me it was absolutely hysterical; and a brilliant way to use film and humor to illustrate how prejudice can distort thinking and perception.

For me Woody Allen's 1977 film "Annie Hall" is one of the funniest movies ever and in the same way Ashby uses humor to explore black/white relations, Allen uses it to examine his own cultural identity as a Jew who's more of an atheist constantly struggling to understand his own identity and place in the world. Like "The Landlord" one of the main sources used to examine anti-Semitism is a wealthy WASP family.

My absolute favorite scene in Annie Hall is when Woody Allen's Alvie Singer drives up to Connecticut with Diane Keaton/Annie Hall to meet her family for the first time. During dinner it becomes clear that Alvie is painfully self-conscious and that the Hall family are politely shocked that their daughter is dating a Jewish man. During the meal, Hall's grandmother doesn't say anything; she just stares at Alvie Singer with a nasty expression. At one point, Alvie glances at Grannie and dips his spoon into his soup; for a micro-second, Woody Allen suddenly appears dressed as a Hasidic Jew complete with the beard and hat as he sips the soup then it cuts back to Grannie glaring at him.

For me part of what makes "Annie Hall" a brilliant film, is Allen's choice to consistently break the 4th Wall and not only narrate the story directly to the audience, but also at times literally step outside scenes his character is in to talk about what's happening. In fact he confides his observations to the audience and calls grandmother Hall a "classic Jew-hater" then uses a split-screen flashback to compare and contrast family meals at his own house in New York as a child as his stereotypical Jewish mother argues back and forth with the relatives at the table as she cuts the father's food for him.

So I'm not accusing Allen of ripping off Ashby or anything. My sense as I thought about the two scenes and their similarities was that Allen was clearly inspired by the scene with Lee Grant in Hal Ashby's "The Landlord" and decided to employ the cut in his own script/film. To me that reflects the power of cinema, to both inspire and teach. And hopefully in the process, broaden our perspective by teaching us that it's okay for all of us to look at ourselves through a different lens and find the ability to laugh; even when the subject is as painful and uncomfortable as the racial and religious prejudice that's interwoven into the thread of American society.

Perhaps we have to embrace that before we can overcome it, what better tool for such a noble purpose than art?



    
   

 
 

Nicole Lyons Sets Her Sights on NASCAR

Nicole Lyons

Amidst the slew of depressing discussion about toxic Congressional dysfunction and the impact of The Sequester, I watched a pretty fascinating interview on CNN with aspiring NASCAR driver Nicole Lyons.

Lyons is one of the latest African-Americans (and select few females) making inroads into the exclusive male-dominated ranks of American auto racing.

She joined the cast of Speed TV's Car Warriors in 2011 and has  been attracting media attention for years as an accomplished and talented NHRA drag racer, but has literally been driving since she was 7 years old. Her father was the infamous and influential Los Angeles, CA street racing legend Jack Davis and she's been hooked on speed since she was 2 years old when he took her for an 11-second pass down the 1/4 mile strip in her car-seat.

Lyons inherited her father's love and knowledge of race car engines and in addition to her skills behind the wheel she's also an accomplished custom hot rod builder and owner of Cole Muscle Cars, a Sylmar, California-based car restoration shop staffed by female mechanics.

According to the CNN interview earlier today, Lyons isn't just content with being a successful businesswoman and car builder. After mastering several different classes of NHRA drag racers, she's been testing NASCAR race cars and is looking to make her mark on the nation's most popular racing circuit.  For me, a black guy who's always been into hot rods, racing and custom American cars, it's really encouraging to see African-Americans distinguishing themselves in the ranks of American motor sports.

Three months ago back on December 8, 2012 Paul Franklin wrote a nice feature in the Trenton Times on drag racer Antron Brown, who became the first African-American winner of a major auto racing title when he was crowned the NHRA Top Fuel World Champion in November, 2012. Like Lyons, Brown also had early exposure to racing from family members who were into the sport. The Trenton native was the son and nephew of African-American race car drivers and graduated from Northern Burlington High School in New Jersey and was the first person in NHRA history to earn titles in both Top Fuel and Pro Stock Motorcycle.  

On a day when Rep. John Lewis joined Vice President Joe Biden in leading marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in a re-enactment of the notorious march for voting rights on "Bloody Sunday" back in 1965, it's encouraging to see people of color making an impact and finding success in different segments of American auto racing. Change is exciting.

Bill O'Reilly Blunders Into Controversey Over Comments on Asian-Americans

As much as I would really like to offer up some kind of eloquent rebuttal to the unquestionably racist comments and bigotry-laden assumptions on the political leanings of Asian-Americans offered up by Fox News stalwart Bill O'Reilly, Hawaii Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa has already summed up the views of hundreds of millions of people across the globe.

Let's review: During his show on Wednesday, in response to his own bafflement that despite the presence of a large Asian-American populace, the state of Hawaii faces the very same social challenges impacting Americans all across the nation including financial debt, substance abuse and homelessness, O'Reilly offered up the ludicrous assertion that: "Asian people are not liberal, you know, by nature. They're more industrious and hard-working." 

If this ass-clown of a television host was an influential sociologist, he might just be dangerous. But since he can't possibly testify as to what millions of Asian-Americans think and believe, he comes off as ill-informed, dense and as detached from reality as Donald Trump. And as an increasingly irrelevant right-wing media pundit/wind-bag who's famously long on opinionated, cranky nonsense and short on logic or reason, he's just plain useless to a decidedly (and increasingly) multicultural society that's evolved beyond some kind of strange nostalgic desire for the kind of endearing cultural intolerance of Archie Bunker.

As Congresswoman Hanabusa astutely observed, "Leave it to Bill O'Reilly to thoughtlessly insult 1.3 million people with one sweeping misstatement." The rest of her comments are a spot-on summation of the growing disgust with his simplistic efforts to paint easy-to-digest stereotypes over a diverse Asian-American culture that spans a broad range of nationalities, religions, beliefs and perspectives.

Sadly, Asian-Americans have long been used by conservatives in the US to justify outmoded beliefs and prejudices about non-whites in this nation. From disenfranchised Chinese-Americans workers building canals and railways alongside other Americans under horrendous labor conditions, to loyal American citizens of Japanese descent being herded into concentration camps during World War II (which never happened to German-Americans or Italian-Americans...) Asian-Americans have long been used by conservatives to inspire fear, loathing, jealously, patriotism or loyalty depending upon the need to scapegoat or hold up as a "model minority" in a deceitful effort to malign other minorities in the US.

As if detached conservatives like O'Reilly use Asian-Americans to serve a duel purpose in the US; to inspire either racial fear or hatred. Case in point: hopelessly confused self-hating Filipino and right-wing extremist media pundit Michelle Malkin's book 'In Defense of Internment: The Case for Racial Profiling in World War II and the War on Terror' defending America's imprisoning of Japanese citizens. Or by projecting sweeping generalities and positive "super-attributes" about Asian-Americans (all Asian-Americans are great at math, great students) to subtly justify bigotry or prejudicial beliefs against other minorities; as in O'Reilly's misplaced use of code words like 'industrious' and 'hardworking' as a not-so-subtle indirect attacks against Hispanics and African-Americans.

But don't take my word for it, I just watched former 'Star Trek' actor George Takei on television being interviewed on MSNBC's 'Ed Show' in response to O'Reilly's detached ramblings; the man who brilliantly played 'Mr. Sulu' on the deck of the U.S.S. Enterprise is even more offended by O'Reilly's statements than I am.

And he rightfully pointed out that not only did an overwhelming majority of Asian-Americans cast their votes for President Obama in the 2012 elections (73% according to some polls, so much for O'Reilly's "Asian people are not liberal" theory...) , the most influential Asian-American politicians (including the recently passed and well-respected Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii) in the US have been Democrats and tend to align themselves with liberal agendas and political objectives; begging the question so many of us have asked before - what the hell is Bill O'Reilly talking about?

Jon Gruden's "Beast" Comment Reflects Disparities in Media Coverage of Black Athletes

ESPN football analyst Jon Gruden

Like millions of other Americans I spent the first day of 2013 nursing a hangover and watching college football; caught a good game between #10 South Carolina versus #18 Michigan in the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Florida.

But listening to ESPN football commentator Jon Gruden analyze South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney gave me a bit of a headache that had nothing to do with the Stoly and tonics I drank last night.

Clowney is African-American, in the first quarter while previewing the key player match ups, Gruden, attempting to convey the 6'6" 256-pound player's incredible talent, offered this three word analysis, "He's a beast."

Seemingly innocent comments like that, often said in front of millions of viewers during moments of passion and excitement, bother me as a former college and professional football player; and as a person of color.

Calling a young man a "beast", even though Gruden obviously intended it as a compliment, tends to have the unintended effect of dehumanizing Jadeveon Clowney to a degree, reinforcing myths of inherent physical superiority and minimizing the intelligence, exhaustive mental and physical preparation and skill required to perform at that level.

 Over the years I've watched enough football and basketball games to credibly make the observation that television sports color commentators and analysts who use adjectives like "beast", "animal" or "monster" to describe a player, tend to use those kinds of simplistic animal metaphors to describe African-American athletes much more so than white or Hispanic athletes. Conversely, comments about white players tend to revolve around assumptions about inherent mental superiority; for example a white quarterback makes a good pass and he's "got a good head on his shoulders" or is a "very smart player."  

I've lost count of the number of times an African-American basketball player blocks a shot, or a linebacker makes an intense tackle and the very first thing out of the color commentator's mouth is, "This guy is an animal!" Now I'm not suggesting the "beast" comment Gruden made was racist, but I do think it reveals and reinforces some unconscious, very old and deeply ingrained assumptions and myths about black physicality and black athletic performance that many Americans (especially sportscasters) unknowingly perpetuate.

Like race in America, sports broadcasters and the way they cover and talk about black athletes is a very complex issue as evidenced by infamous career-ending verbal gaffes by Jimmy the Greek and Howard Cosell. Or much more recently the media controversy created by ESPN "First Take" co-host Skip Bayless's moronic observations about Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin, III; or Terry Bradshaw's idiotic "bucket of chicken" comment which I blogged about recently.

But let's focus on Gruden's comment for a moment. Now I generally like Gruden as a color football analyst, he's got a decent sense of humor and he offers some valuable insights into the game. I don't think he's a racist or anything, but what exactly is going on in his mind when he comes up with the word "beast" to try and describe Jadeveon Clowney? Is he referencing his physical stature, his hard-hitting style of play, or something else?

Clowney is certainly an imposing presence on the field, but he also made an impact last season as a freshman in the SEC (Southeastern Conference) the toughest athletic conference in Division I college football. Not only was he the first freshman defensive lineman to start at South Carolina since 2007, Clowney was selected as the 2011 SEC Freshman of the Year, second team All-SEC, honorable mention All-American for SI.com, was selected to numerous Freshman All-America teams and was the only freshman in the SEC to be in the top ten leaders in sacks (8.0) in 2011. This year as a sophomore he won the Ted Hendricks Award which recognizes the nation's top defensive end; which analyst Desmond Howard noted over on ESPN's sister channel ABC during the half-time show.

Does that sound like a young man you would describe as a "beast"?

Or does it sound more like a committed student-athlete who's spent countless hours in the gym strengthening his body, hours studying game preparation film to analyze his opponents and critique his own practice tapes in order to become a better player? Not once did I hear Jon Gruden credit or mention the University of South Carolina's defensive line coach Brad Lawing; a man with 17 years of coaching experience who's a big part of South Carolina having back to back 11-win seasons and has clearly helped Clowney develop into the player he is.

Did Gruden bother to mention that Clowney was the nation's consensus top high school recruit as a senior? Nope, he pretty much summed up Jadeveon Clowney as a "beast".

Interestingly enough during the very same game a University of Michigan linebacker named Jake Ryan (a white player with long blond hair streaming out of his helmet) cut across the field and made a nice tackle, Gruden lavished him with praise too. But he didn't call him an "animal" or a "beast". Noting Ryan's outstanding play Gruden said admiringly of the Michigan sophomore, "Jake Ryan is a fine player from St. Ignatius High School in Ohio, I know exactly what kind of stock he comes from."

Jon Gruden's comments are neither unique, uncommon or unexpected. I conclude my first blog of 2013 with an excerpt from the forward of a fascinating paper written by Emily Plec, a faculty member of the Western Oregon University Communications Studies department entitled:
 "The Great White Hype:Rhetoric and Racial Biology in the Coverage of the 1968 Olympic Protest"

Plec observes:
"Since the 1950's, U.S. Americans have experienced a substantive shift in public discourse about racial identity, difference, and inequality. Despite those changes, popular ideas about inherent African-American physical prowess continue to demonstrate, and likely reinforce, racist thinking and rhetorical practices. Such discourses contribute to the production of racism in three major ways: (a) by essentializing difference in racial terms, (b) by alluding to a "law of compensation" in which physical ability is juxtaposed with mental acuity, and (c) by utilizing dehumanizing animal metaphors."