#463. Only One Myron Rolle

Editors note: A few new entries have been postponed. SBPDL will be traveling yet again this weekend and is putting the finishing touches on a few gems. Enjoy yet another college football entry, for this reason:

"Many Americans treat the unpaid top college athletes with a reverence that nears worship, and on campus, footballers are besieged with requests for autographs, photographs and dates."

Why is SBPDL so fascinated by college football? For a number of reasons, including this one:

"Even in hard economic times, it looks like people still need to get their fill of college football. For the third straight season, football attendance set a new standard as the 628 NCAA schools combined for a total gate of 48,839,003 during the 2008 season, topping last season’s record by 87,142 fans. See the list here."

Forbes ran an interesting article that showed how much each major university is actually worth:

"In the past few years, there's been a big push by major college football teams to increase revenue through massive stadium expansions, lucrative premium seating and rich sponsorship and broadcast deals--the same blueprint the National Football League used for decades to create billion-dollar franchises.

The game plan is working in college, albeit on a much smaller scale: Last year, 10 college football teams raked in at least $45 million in revenues--among them, the University of Notre Dame, University of Georgia, Ohio State and Auburn University--compared to none five years ago."

The Southeastern Conference (the SEC) has inked a television deal with CBS and ESPN that is worth a combined $3.05 billion dollars:

"It's not just the money in the deal that has people talking - but it's a big part of it. Thanks to these new contracts with CBS ($825 million) and ESPN ($2.25 billion) that were struck just prior to the downturn in the economy, each of the 12 SEC schools will boost its annual national television take to around $17 million a season for each of the next 15 years.

To put it another way, in terms of television dollars rolling in, for Mississippi State - a program with one winning season in the last eight years - it's as if the Bulldogs will get a BCS bowl bid every year for the next decade and a half."

That same conference also spends an unbelievable sum marketing its programs to potential recruits who could one day be the face of one of the 12 incredibly lucrative brands the SEC deploys to rake in such jaw-dropping sums that even Bernie Madoff would be hard-pressed to duplicate:

"Despite this period of widespread economic uncertainty that has included the entire University of Alabama slipping into debt, Moore -- like every other athletic administrator in the Southeastern Conference -- is constantly searching for ways to spend wisely in order to gain an edge in recruiting.

From 2005 through 2008, SEC schools combined to spend more than $17.1 million for the sole purpose of recruiting football players, according to records obtained through open records laws."

This fascinating study can be read here. SBPDL would like to thank the Mobile Press-Register for compiling this data, for it was illuminating when comparing the cash spent to import criminals to the University of Tennessee.

So you can see that college football is an insanely popular spectator sport and a favorite television offering for networks hoping to cash in on advertising revenue profits.

Interestingly, college football competitors are also in school for reasons besides merely entertaining nearly 50 million spectators every fall, but to attain a degree. Athlete-Students must attend classes at their respective institutions of higher learning and stay on pace to graduate, per new rules passed by the NCAA (the governing body of college athletics):

"Every Division I sports team calculates its APR each academic year. The APR is based on the eligibility, retention and graduation of each student-athlete on scholarship. An APR of 925 equates to an NCAA Graduation Success Rate of about 60 percent."

You can view all NCAA APR rankings here.

Black people make up 50 percent of the athlete-students for college football programs (and yet 13 percent of the US population), but find themselves at a major disadvantage academically at nearly every institution they attend (well, the Naval Academy did lower standards so Black people could get in), and this could greatly impact the APR of every school - an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article on APR rankings can be found here - in the years to come:

"Black athletes’ average SAT score was 102 points lower than the average for black students overall. White athletes’ average SAT score was 88 points lower than the average for white students overall. One expert says those numbers suggest schools are motivated by money, not affirmative action."

Black people are recruited to attend historically white college programs for reasons that have little to do with academic achievement. Black people are recruited - as the fine book Meat Market makes clear - to be football players and to produce positive results on the field (off-field problems can sometimes be overlooked as look as on-field results overshadow any legal hiccup that might occur).

How do these titans of the gridiron, yet academic Lilliputians stay eligible to play on Saturday's? The main answer to this million-dollar is coming tomorrow in an in-depth SBPDL, but evidence can be found here, as former Auburn Tiger Patrick Trahan - he failed out of Auburn - and current Ole Miss Rebel has been diagnosed with a learning disability:

"Trahan, like an increasing number of student-athletes, is classified as learning disabled, or LD. These players might have ADHD, dyslexia or—as in Trahan's case—dysgraphia, which makes putting thoughts on paper difficult. On some college football teams, as many as one-third of the players are LD. By comparison, the U.S. Department of Education estimates that just 5% of public-school students are classified as learning disabled.

College gridirons have always been filled with borderline students, some certainly with learning disabilities. Decades ago, it was easy enough for teams to shuttle kids through school with a menu of cake courses. (Rocks for Jocks, anyone?) Then, in the early '90s, when the NCAA started to pay closer heed to enrollment practices, more athletically gifted, academically challenged players went to junior colleges to improve their grades.

The game changed again in 1998, when a learning-disabled college prospect named Toure Butler won an Americans With Disabilities Act lawsuit against the NCAA, which wouldn't recognize high school courses modified to accommodate LD students. The NCAA feared that permitting note-takers, extended test-taking time and specialized tutors would create an environment ripe for abuse, especially at schools where the overriding priority is getting—and keeping—top jocks on the field. Such fears were justified: Many college teams test for learning disabilities, but some blur guidelines by purposely misdiagnosing LD in some players. Although unless reported, these transgressions are impossible to police. "If it's something bogus or fraudulent then obviously we'd look into it," says the NCAA's Diane Dickman."

Wait, empirical evidence points out that Black players aren't as intelligent as their white counterparts? Poppycock. So most of the Academic All-American teams are made up of white people... Black people are always the true All-Americans on the field.

Besides, Black people have the most incredible example of true intelligence personified in one Myron Rolle, a Rhodes Scholar and former Florida State Seminole standout (unlike most of his team that could barely read at a 2nd grade level, Rolle is studying at the University of Oxford).

"Rolle was named a finalist for one of the 32 Rhodes Scholarships awarded to Americans each year. His interview for the Scholarship was originally scheduled at the same time as Florida State was to play at Maryland; the NCAA decided to allow Rolle to take a chartered plane from his interview in Birmingham, Alabama to College Park. He was awarded the scholarship less than three hours before the Florida State vs. Maryland game. He became the fourth Florida State student and second school athlete to receive the honor, as well as the only FSU football player to do so.

Rolle announced on January 12, 2009, that he will first study at Oxford for the 2009–10 academic year in order to earn an M.A. in medical anthropology and will then enter the 2010 NFL Draft."

Rolle became the poster child of athletic achievement in 2008, the exact same time that Florida State was being investigated for having a team that can barely read at the level of Dora the Explorer...

Florida State coach Bobby Bowden famously said in Sports Illustrated infamous cover story, "What ever happened to the white athlete?":

"An athlete is an athlete, but, dang it, there just seem to be more black athletes than white," says Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden. "We've got a [white] phenomenon on our team, a quarterback named Danny Kendra, whose vertical jump is 39½ inches—more than anybody else we've got. He bench-presses 425 pounds, and his leg press broke the school record. He runs a 4.5 40. But there ain't many like him. And my thinking is that there's a whole lot more blacks who can do that than white guys."

Like Dan Kendra - who got hosed at FSU during his career there, as he was converted to fullback - Myron Rolle is an example of an anomaly. He, unlike the vast majority of his Black counterparts, excels in the classroom.

Stuff Black People Don't Like includes only one Myron Rolle, for college football is one of America's most important businesses and yet the majority of the participants in this business are barely literate and are a major threat to bring suspensions to their programs if the APR rating falls, thereby costing their programs millions in lost bowl game revenue.

Black people would like every Black person to be a highly respected and erudite student-athlete, yet the data points to a much different reality. Myron Rolle is doing his best to act white and is merely the token Black on the Academic All-American teams.

For an excellent view of college football in Hollywood, check out the 1993 film, The Program.

Read More

#464. No Off-Field Issues in College Football

(SBPDL note - this entry will be expanded upon indefinitely.)

Let's be frank for a moment. College football is a spectacular sport, absolutely fantastic. Going back to watch your alma mater compete and seeing the sights and sounds of your old stomping grounds rekindles memories long since dormant of rush parties, girls you used to know and should instill at least of modicum of pride in your school.

For those incapable of feeling a surge of energy from 80,000+ people singing the fight song of your alma mater in unison and cheering on the exploits of the players on the field as if their very lives depended upon the outcome of the game, well you might need to visit a doctor to ascertain if you are still human.

Some college football cathedrals seat more over 100,000 people and average attendance for some conferences is a jaw-dropping 75,000 for the 13 football Saturday’s in the fall:

“In 2005, a total of 5,593,699 fans attended 75 games hosted at SEC institutions, an average of 74,583 fans per game, which is also best in the nation. SEC stadiums were filled to 97.43 percent of capacity for each home game in 2005, which was also best in the nation. The SEC has led the nation in percentage of capacity since the statistic was first kept in 1983."

More importantly, college football is a big time business as many school’s entire sports budget for a fiscal year can be paid by one football fall Saturday:

“It makes sense that a national champion like last year's University of Texas Longhorns grossed over $60 million in 2005, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s Equity in Athletics filings. (The 2006 season doesn't really end until the last bowl game next month.) But it can also be incredibly lucrative to lose, so long as a team has the right conference affiliation.

Among the on-field dregs of 2005 was 2-9 Washington, a member of the Pac-10 conference. The school's listed revenue was $31.7 million. Big 10 cellar dweller Illinois parlayed a 2-9 performance in 2005 into $19 million, just below the $19.8 million that 3-8 Kentucky claimed for 2005’s last-place finish in the Southeast Conference (SEC).

So, the college athletes playing in these games are hugely important employees to the overall branding of the team and positioning of the program as a major commodity to future recruits who will act as stewards to that programs continued success.

However, with 50 percent of college football competitors being Black people, it is important to point out a trend that can be easily discerned at virtually every school - even the Naval Academy isn't immune from this epidemic - for Black people find themselves incapable of keeping their names out of the press for their on-field talent, but also for their off-field behavior:

"Three University of Tennessee football players and a female companion are in the Knox County Detention Facility this morning on charges of attempted armed robbery.

Janzen Jackson, Mike Edwards and Nu’Keese Richardson, all 18, were charged this morning after an armed robbery attempt at a Pilot station on Cumberland Avenue, according to the Knoxville Police Department.

Each player and the woman face three counts of attempted armed robbery. The woman also faces drug charges.

UT athletic director Mike Hamilton released a statement this morning about the episode.

“At this time we are currently evaluating the circumstances surrounding an incident involving Mike Edwards, Janzen Jackson and Nu’Keese Richardson,” Hamilton said. “Any decisions or comments regarding their status will not be made until the evaluations are complete.”

An isolated example you might ask? No, this is the true Knoxville Horror to those who follow University of Tennessee football, for any news event that shines a negative light upon their beloved Volunteer program is more important to dispel than any murder that might have happened in that city (here's a 2005 USA Today story about Tennessee Football):

"On the back of the card are the home and cell phone numbers of the Tennessee coaching staff so players can call for help.

The Think Card is part of a safety net of counselors, tutors and role models the university has been constructing since 1995 after eight football players had run-ins with the law in a one-year span.

But during the last 16 months, players frequently have fallen through. Tennessee football players have been in at least 20 incidents involving shoplifting, assault, gun charges, motor vehicle citations, disturbing the peace and failing a drug test."

Tennessee isn't getting a great return on investment for its initial monetary decisions, as the recruiting of these off-field news makers isn't what they were brought to Knoxville to do:

"The University of Tennessee is the runaway spending leader, according to the findings of a Press-Register investigation into recruiting costs for major sports programs among the SEC's 11 public institutions. Expenditure totals from 2006-08 found that the Vols spent an average of $1.15 million annually on football recruiting."

$1.15 million annually is spent by the University of Tennessee to import college football players who by and large are making more headlines off the field than on it lately. Great financial move by the university and a great way to build these players resumes, er rap sheets.

Alas, off-field issues affect every major college football program and lead to major attrition for programs who invest large sums of money into recruitment, only to see players taken away in the back of a police van and equipped with an ankle bracelet instead of cleats (of course, BYU only loses players to mission trips for two-years).

Penn State seems to have imported the same problem that Tennessee yearly brings to Knoxville in February (national signing day for new recruits):

"Off-field issues have managed to do to Joe Paterno what four decades as Penn State’s head coach never really could: tire him out.

“I have to fight sometimes to get out of bed,” Paterno said Monday night. “It’s been a long year. But in a lot of ways, it’s been a good year.”

It goes with the territory now: to win in college football, you must have Black players on your team, and with Black players on your team comes the unfortunate trend of having a criminal element in the mix where it might not have existed otherwise. Take the University of Georgia and the University of Alabama for example:

"Georgia had eight players arrested last offseason, which resulted in six players being either suspended or dismissed.

Some saw a connection between the lack of discipline on the field with Georgia's play on it - the Bulldogs were among the most penalized teams in the nation.

Richt admitted off-field problems created a negative perception about the team. He called it a "distraction," on the eve of last season."

and the BAMA story:

"Remember when "The U" was especially noted for having an abnormal amount of so-called "thugs" on their football team?

Those days aren't too far out of recent memory, but long enough ago that the Canes have forgotten most of their troubles.

Maybe they don't remember them because Nick Saban, former coach of the Dolphins, brought the mystique of players being arrested in Miami to the University of Alabama. The Crimson Tide has become the Cincinnati Bengals of the NCAA as of late.

With eight players arrested since Saban's arrival in T-town, the Tide need to worry about what the kids are doing off the gridiron, as opposed to how they perform on it."

What were some of those arrests for in Tuscaloosa?:

"Alabama linebacker Jimmy Johns was arrested on felony drug charges Tuesday and kicked off the team, the latest in a string of off-the-field problems for coach Nick Saban's squad.

Johns, who moved to defense for his senior year after playing running back and receiver in 2007, was "pretty wide open" selling cocaine to students on and around the University of Alabama campus but tried to hide what he was doing from teammates, police said.

"He didn't want them to know he was involved in it," said Capt. Jeff Snyder of the West Alabama Narcotics Task Force."

A curious search on Google of off-field problems in college football brings back nearly 1 million hits, with every school from the University of Texas to Oregon State represented.

What is the problem? Is their something in the water in all these beautiful college towns that negatively effects only Black people?

Or does Stuff Black People Don't Like include no off-field issues in college football, for the hope of emulating Chad Ochocinco's media savvy can only be attained by entering the police blotter for some Black players?

Check here to see which school's have won the Fulmer Cup, given each year to the university with the most off-field problems.

Read More

Fort Hood Massacre... What Happens When a Nation is Led by Chief Moose's

SBPDL will be posting some interesting stories this week, but on this Veterans Day we would like to honor one of the great Black men in history for his tireless service to his country and to stopping a white male in his 30s from terrorizing Washington DC in 2002: Chief Charles Moose!

You see, only a nation led by men such as Chief Moose could ever allow a Fort Hood-type event to occur - tomorrow's post is all about Big Moose - and only a nation that worships diversity above human life could actually consider this man a hero.

The Muslim murderer at Fort Hood was known to make outlandish statements and threats directed at Infidels. He even had his behavior questioned by superiors:

"A group of doctors overseeing Nidal Malik Hasan's medical training discussed concerns about his overly zealous religious views and strange behavior months before the Army major was accused of opening fire on soldiers and civilians at Fort Hood, Texas.

Doctors and staff overseeing Hasan's training viewed him at times as belligerent, defensive and argumentative in his frequent discussions of his Muslim faith, a military official familiar with several group discussions about Hasan said. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the meetings and spoke on condition of anonymity."

And yet, even though more than 10 people are dead and more than 30 are wounded, the main concern our Army chief of staff has is for Muslim soldiers:

"General George Casey Jr., the Army chief of staff, said on Sunday that he was concerned that speculation about the religious beliefs of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, accused of killing 12 fellow soldiers and one civilian and wounding dozens of others in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, could “cause a backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers.”

“I’ve asked our Army leaders to be on the lookout for that,” General Casey said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union. “It would be a shame — as great a tragedy as this was — it would be a shame if our diversity became a casualty as well.”
General Casey, who was appeared on three Sunday news programs, used almost the same language during an interview on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos,” an indication of the Army’s effort to ward off bias against the more than 3,000 Muslims in its ranks.

“A diverse Army gives us strength,” General Casey, who visited Fort Hood Friday, said on “This Week.”

Diversity is strength. It has bequeathed unto us the grandeur of a thousand replicas of Chief Moose, whom are now leading us into the 21st Century proudly and united in the common cause of eradicating white racism and ensuring that multiculturalism will be the driving force of change and hope for all.

So remember, as Veterans Day 2009 passes into memory, go to the graves of those who gave so selflessly so that America could be a free and safe place. The millions of servicemen who have fought in wars long since forgotten, Real American Heroes, do deserve to be remembered and honored.

However, any military commander that places diversity above actual human life deserves our contempt.

Robert Putnam showed us what diversity actually does, in his monumental (and almost self-censored study):

"Diversity, it shows, makes us uncomfortable -- but discomfort, it turns out, isn't always a bad thing. Unease with differences helps explain why teams of engineers from different cultures may be ideally suited to solve a vexing problem. Culture clashes can produce a dynamic give-and-take, generating a solution that may have eluded a group of people with more similar backgrounds and approaches."

Diversity has shown itself to be like the initial sightings of the city-wide spaceships from the 1996 film Independence Day. At first they looked nice, new and inviting. Full of hope, awe and the chance that humankind could see a new destiny unfold with the divine guidance of inter-planetary beings as their guide, they presented.

Yet, this initial hope gave way to shocking fear as one of the spaceships opened fire on a helicopter that attempted to make peaceful contact with the now-exposed invaders.

As the world watched this unfold - helpless - a TV anchorman is heard to say, "God help us all."

With men of Chief Moose's caliber now at the helm of the United States government, military, educational system, business community, etc., it is obvious that it is time to mutter the same... "God help us all."

Only a government led by men and women who have the moral fiber of Chief Moose could have allowed the warning signs to pass without notice and granted Major Hasan access to killing 13 people.

A bakers dozen in lives hardly amounts to ending the dominance of diversity in every aspect of our life, as the Army chief of staff intimated above.

Thank you Veterans for all your service, and to those who died so that others could be free we at SBPDL salute you.

An age of patriots we do not live in. The Age of Chief Moose we do, however, live in.

Read More

A Teachable Moment from Lionel McIntyre?

Stuff Black People Don't Like considers every post a teachable moment, just as Mein Obama decided the Beer Summit after the infamous Cooperating with the Police incident occurred at Harvard (or, the lack of cooperating with police).

A lot of people come to this website, unsure of what to make of what is written here (the initial efforts were to post daily, but to get in-depth material up an occasional day or two lapse of time will occur between posts).

Simply, SBPDL exists to elucidate upon the topics of the day that most people are of incapable of discussing for the simple fact that most people find Hate Facts so disagreeable.

Take for instance the incredibly intoxicating story of the altercation that took place at Columbia University, as a Black professor - Lionel McIntyre - found a conversation about "white privilage" so stimulating, he decided to sucker punch the white woman he was engaging in dialogue with (obviously on accident, for this fine, upstanding Black professor of architecture was intending to hit what he thought was Gazoo from The Flintstone's cartoon, when her face got in the way):

"A prominent Columbia architecture professor punched a female university employee in the face at a Harlem bar during a heated argument about race relations, cops said yesterday.

Police busted Lionel McIntyre, 59, for assault yesterday after his bruised victim, Camille Davis, filed charges.

McIntyre and Davis, who works as a production manager in the school's theater department, are both regulars at Toast, a popular university bar on Broadway and 125th Street, sources said.

The professor, who is black, had been engaged in a fiery discussion about "white privilege" with Davis, who is white, and another male regular, who is also white, Friday night at 10:30 when fists started flying, patrons said.

McIntyre, who is known as "Mac" at the bar, shoved Davis, and when the other patron and a bar employee tried to break it up, the prof slugged Davis in the face, witnesses said.

"The punch was so loud, the kitchen workers in the back heard it over all the noise," bar back Richie Velez, 28, told The Post. "I was on my way over when he punched Camille and she fell on top of me."

The other patron involved in the dispute said McIntyre then took a swing at him after he yelled, "You don't hit a woman!"

Camille Davis should know better than to engage a Black person in the sensitive subject of white privilege, for this is a tender and touchy subject for Black people to ponder since so many disingenuous white liberals have gone out of their way to ensure that all white people are the subject of widespread dispossession.

Hold it... what is white privilege?:

"In critical race theory, white privilege is a set of advantages that are believed to be enjoyed by white people beyond those commonly experienced by people of color in the same social, political, and economic spaces (nation, community, workplace, income, etc.). Theorists differentiate it from racism or prejudice because, they say, a person who may benefit from white privilege is not necessarily racist or prejudiced and may be unaware of having any privileges reserved only for whites."

People of color have every advantage white people have and many more. Were it a white man who punched a Black woman, this incident would be the ultimate manifestation of a hate crime.

So, you now have a - as Barack Obama would say - teachable moment emanating from New York. Black people are allowed to get angry and upset when insipid and completely baseless ideas such as white privilege are discussed, for regardless of the facts that a white person uses to debunk this conspiracy theory - a product of the The Man - all intellectual roads traveled will be guided by Hate Facts, and Black people find anything that runs counter to their worldview a pernicious attempt to return them to subjugation.

White people should never, ever enter into a cordial conversation with Black people that includes the topic of race, for you will instantly be labeled a racist for even pointing out the slightest difference in the races that can't be attributed to white racism.

SBPDL recommends not talking to Black people about race in person, unless you want the Chris Brown treatment, as our Black architecture friend from Columbia employed this tactic on Camille Davis, who substituted for Rihinna.

White privilege in the new world we live in? The only white privilege left is that of keeping your mouth shut, lest you be sucker punched by Black people. For, we do live in a Black world after all.

Since Obama knows all of the distinguished Black professors around the country - like Henry Gates Jr., - can we infer that Mr. McIntyre acted stupidly?

Read More

#540. The Michael Oher Story

Question: What is 6'4 and 310 LBS. of cuddly warmth? If you answered Michael Oher, you would be correct.

Oher is a member of the National Football League and one of that organizations most prized employees, for he is also the subject of an upcoming movie that details his incredible life:

"The Blind Side" depicts the remarkable true story of Michael Oher, a homeless African-American youngster from a broken home, taken in by the Touhys, a well-to-do white family who help him fulfill his potential. At the same time, Oher's presence in the Touhys' lives leads them to some insightful self-discoveries of their own.

Living in his new environment, the teen faces a completely different set of challenges to overcome. As a football player and student, Oher works hard and, with the help of his coaches and adopted family, becomes an All-American offensive left tackle."

Be honest with yourself: what is more heartwarming and touching then a bourgeois white family opening their home to a down-trodden Black dude in need of an abode and vast amounts of tutoring to ensure he can stay eligible in high school to one day need even more tutoring to stay eligible in college?:

"Oher's father, murdered while Oher was a senior in high school, was not involved in his upbringing. His mother was addicted to crack cocaine. As a result, he received little constructive attention during his formative years. He repeated both first grade and second grade, and attended eleven different schools during his first nine years as a student. He also alternated between time spent in various foster homes and periods with no fixed address until he was sixteen years old.
That year, Oher applied for admission to a private school, Briarcrest Christian School, at the instigation of acquaintance Tony Henderson, with whom he was staying temporarily. Henderson was sending his son to the school in order to fulfill the dying wish of the boy's grandmother, and he decided that Oher might as well come along. Although the school's football coach was interested in Oher, school administrators did not feel that he was capable of handling the school's academic workload due to his scant educational background; however, he was admitted after he attempted to qualify for admission through a home-study program that removed him from the public education system.
A couple with a daughter at the school, Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy, allowed Oher to move in with them and began taking care of his needs after becoming familiar with his difficult personal circumstances. They also connected him with a tutor, who worked with him for twenty hours a week. He eventually brought his 0.9 grade point average up to 2.65. Later, the Tuohy family adopted him."

Stuff Black People Don't Like has pointed out one truth that cuts to the core of modern America: were it not for sports, it would be next to impossible to find a positive example of Black people in America. Black Entertainment Television (BET) does a wonderful job in perpetuating negative stereotypes of Black people, as does all of gangsta rap and Chris Brown and Rihanna.

However, sports (especially football) offer a rare glimpse into an activity that Black people excel at, without any mention of affirmative action or special privileges being put in place to grant Black people a competitive advantage over white people.

Watching Football Night in America on NBC (or any NFL telecast) one would be led to believe that America is a land where Black people are worshiped (consider the NFL is 65 percent Black, yet the United States is only 13 percent Black), since the vast majority of spectators in the stands are white people.

Mr. Oher is an admirable chap, as he went to both the University of Mississippi and was the Token Black at his high school - demographically speaking, Briarcrest Christian School is hideously white.

Yet, this story doesn't have the fairy tale ending that it should have, because it bespeaks an uncomfortable truth to all Black people everywhere: the only way to true success in life - if you are a 6-4, 310 LBS. Black dude - is to be adopted by a rich white family where you can live a peaceful life, which is not available in the Black community.

Is the white community that much more stable than the life that Black people and Black fathers can provide their children? Since Hollywood is producing a movie, starring Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw, based on Oher story, SBPDL would like to suggest that Hollywood is trying to say only white people are capable of raising non-white children in a loving, nurturing environment.

Why else would the commercials for this film be so ubiquitous on television? Had Oher never been adopted by this loving white family, then he would more than likely have failed out of his high school, never have played college football and never have been drafted by the Baltimore Ravens.

Instead, he would be a statistic, much like the ones denoted in this recent article:

"For example, most of the black characters in Mad Men have servile jobs. Today, of course, things are infinitely better. Black men are seldom seen in servile jobs (unless they are African immigrants or gay). In fact, black men aren’t seen in any jobs as much anymore: ten percent of black men were out of the work force in Don Draper’s 1960 versus 24 percent in booming 2000.

Indeed, black men aren’t even seen at all as much anymore because a million are now locked away in prison. (The incarceration rate of black male high school dropouts was one percent in the Bad Old Days of Dwight Eisenhower’s last year in office versus 25 percent in Bill Clinton’s glorious finale.)"

The moral of the story is simple: Michael Oher would be in jail or the streets were it not for the benevolent actions of a white family to magnanimously welcome him into the home, where he found compassionate people who cared for his well-being:

"Michael Oher grew up in inner-city Memphis. In and out of foster care, Michael’s lucky break came when his dying grandmother extracted a promise from a family friend to get Michael into a private school.

Michael was enrolled in a private Christian school called Briarcrest. On a cold day, a parent of another Briarcrest student found Michael breaking into the school to stay warm. The parent, Leah Anne Tuohy, a successful interior designer and wife of a Memphis businessman, took Michael in. Despite the fact that Michael scarcely spoke, a bond developed between the Tuohys and Michael and they eventually adopted him.

Although he had never played sports Michael was a natural athlete and was identified immediately by college scouts as a potential NFL left tackle. If Michael could get to college and play football, he was very likely to win a multimillion dollar contract to protect a quarterback’s blind side.

The Tuohys and the faculty at Briarcrest engaged in a Herculean effort to make Michael eligible for college. When Michael came to Briarcrest he had only erratically attended school, could scarcely read and knew little about anything.

Lewis skillfully explains the role of poverty in education, writing, “Michael wasn’t stupid. He was ignorant, but a lot of people mistook ignorance for stupidity, and knowingness for intelligence. He’d been denied the life experience that led to knowingness, which every other kid at Briarcrest took for granted.”

Michael was not unintelligent, but he was profoundly uneducated. Leah Anne would, for example, take Michael to an Italian restaurant and order multiple meals in order teach him the difference between different types of pasta dishes.

The implications of Michael’s story for public policy are profound as well. Lewis writes, “Michael Oher was in possession of what had to be among the more conspicuous athletic gifts…and yet, without outside intervention even his talent would likely have been thrown away…If Michael Oher’s talent could be missed, whose couldn’t? Those poor black kids [in the inner-city] were like left tackles: people whose values were hidden in plain sight.”

With a committed family, school, and private tutors, Michael was accepted to college.

Today he is approaching his senior year at the University of Mississippi, made all-conference as a sophomore and junior, and carries a 3.7 grade point average.

Michael made it. But he is very much the exception. For every six inner-city Memphis public school kids with the athletic ability to play college sports, only one qualifies academically to attend college. This says something about the state of inner-city public education."

Let's be honest: the gregarious nature of the white family to spend vast amounts of money to ensure that Mr. Oher was eligible to play football is the sole reason why the Chinese are buying United States debt, for the Chinese are so worried about the melancholy existence of Black people in the inner-cities of America.

Of course, not everyone shares the exuberance that SBPDL does for the film (release date set for 11/20/09):

"The book is an analysis of the evolution of the left tackle position, using as illustration the story of why seemingly every rich white person in West Memphis was willing to bend over backwards for a young, disadvantaged man who perfectly fit the physical specs of an LT. It tells the story of Michael Oher, a black teen who out of sheer luck ends up at a nearly all-white prep school. His coaches and other school parents see his potential as a pro athlete and take him under their wing.
I loved Michael Lewis' book for a couple of reasons. First of all, I love football, and offensive linemen are my favorite unsung heroes of the game, so the fact that Lewis focused on their work was fascinating for me. But the book also brings up some pretty heavy issues for discussion (though certainly not as in-depth as I would've liked), namely: if Michael Oher weighed 90 pounds soaking wet and showed zero athletic ability, would the well-off families who helped him still have put so much effort into his rescue? Would his adoptive parents and school officials have worked so hard to get him into college? Had the family who wanted to pull him out of his horrific upbringing NOT been wealthy, influential and white, would they have been able to quasi-adopt him?
There are several places in the book where Michael is torn between returning home to his estranged mother and staying with his adoptive family. He also wants to play basketball, but his benefactors push him into football because he's such a perfectly prototypical left tackle. (Football FYI: after quarterbacks, left tackles are, on average, the highest-paid offensive players in the NFL.)
This story is tailor-made for Hollywood, with all the big issues - race, class, redemption. Unfortunately, from the looks of the trailer, the film version of "The Blind Side" seems to center on the wife and mother of the family who takes Michael in. Not surprising, since she's played by Sandra Bullock. Sure, it's easier to get a film made if you can turn it into a vehicle for a star. But I'm disappointed to see that Michael's voice appears to be many rungs down on the importance ladder, as compared to Sandra.
Race, and class-based racism, played such enormous roles in Michael Oher's youth. As a teen, the kid had something like a first-grade reading level. That scene in the trailer about him never having had his own bed was straight out of the book. And the social agencies that were supposed to protect him lost track of him for years. I'm glad that Oher managed to get out of this situation (after a few years at Ole Miss, the Baltimore Ravens drafted him in the first round earlier this year). But there are thousands of other kids out there in the same circumstances who don't have his luck and physical gifts that, at the moment, happen to be in demand by pro teams.
I sincerely hope that this movie version doesn't ignore those realities in favor of giving us yet another iteration of Caucasian Mighty Mouse is Here to Save the Day."

Stuff Black People Don't Like strongly endorses The Michael Oher Story and the movie The Blind Side for all to see, for Disingenuous White Liberals and Crusading White Pedagogues worldview will be available for all to see in this film.

The thesis of the film: all Black children should be removed from their parents pronto, so that they can be privy to the glorious family setting that white people provide, for only a white family can provide stability (you have to love the movie poster for the film... a white woman pushing a large Black man to the promised land of football glory and NFL riches).

For only Miss Congeniality herself (Bullock) could dare bestow wisdom and intelligence upon Oher, and yet, Stuff Black People Don't Like includes the Michael Oher story. If you can't figure out why, then you don't understand SBPDL.

Read More

SBPDL Sees the World

SBPDL has been traveling around the country as of late, enjoying the sights and sounds of the United States.

New posts detailing the travels will be coming, as well as the finish of Halloween week.

Stay tuned. Tomorrow and this week will be fun.

Read More

#101. Losing Power in Atlanta (Part Deux)

Stuff Black People Don't Like finds the topic of Atlanta too enjoyable a topic to pass up discussing. The city has been the subject of conversation in the past on SBPDL for a number of reasons, the most glaringly being that the city provides incredible fodder for stories that Ripley's would have a hard time passing off as truth.

Georgia Tech students continue to be the object of Black peoples continuing source of funds and robbery subjects: Condos are still empty in the city, despite Black people trying to enjoy the wonders of the $8,000 tax credit; Morehouse is still trying to fight the epidemic of beltless Black people on their campus; Clayton County continues to provide the blueprint for the future of the United States; and Black people are in mortal danger of losing power in Atlanta, the ultimate Black Mecca.

(More stories of Atlanta and the incredibly proficient Black population will be discussed, but the media of the United States has been focused with a laser intensity on the the mayoral race in Atlanta that saw a white woman force a run-off with Black man, so we must discuss that first)

The city of Atlanta is the Black Mecca in America and yet, this status is giving way to a new hue of white as the city is gentrifying at an alarming rate:

"For decades as white residents fled to the suburbs, Atlanta's black political establishment, led by a string of strong mayors, revived the moribund economy and so revamped the city's image that it earned a national reputation as "Hotlanta."

Ironically, that success - including a winning bid to host the 1996 Summer Olympics and a slew of Fortune 500 companies relocating to the city - has brought white voters flocking back to the city and, for the first time in 36 years, could put a white candidate back in the mayor's office when voters go to the polls Tuesday"

"We haven't always gotten the credit for that, no," said former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, who oversaw the early days of the city's rebirth during the 1980s. "I brought in 1,100 companies from around the world - $70 billion in private investment - and generated more than a million new jobs.

"But most people think that's automatic, that that would have happened anyway," he said with a laugh.

Black mayors have occupied City Hall since 1973, but this year, a white City Council member is leading in the polls, even though two black civic leaders urged black voters to unite against her.

Mary Norwood, who has served on the Atlanta City Council for eight years and lives in the upscale, mostly white neighborhood of Buckhead, has been expanding her lead over the past six weeks. In a poll released last weekend by Survey USA, 46 percent of respondents said they would vote for Mrs. Norwood over several black candidates. State Sen. Kasim Reed followed with 26 percent and City Council President Lisa Borders came in third with 17 percent.

The contest is posing some delicate questions for a city that has long prided itself on its progressive racial attitudes - the "city too busy to hate."

In the 1960s and '70s, whites fled the city, with the black percentage of the population soaring to about 70 percent in the 1980s.

But between 2000 and 2006, Atlanta's white population grew faster than that of any other U.S. city, according to the Brookings Institution. In 2000, Atlanta was 33 percent white and 61 percent black. In 2007, the numbers were 38 percent white and 57 percent black, according to U.S. Census data.

"Black voters have been moving further and further out of Atlanta, and whites who wanted to be closer to work have been moving in," Mr. Bullock said, noting that the city has grown by 100,000 residents since 2000.

Wait... the article quotes above never mentions why white people fled Atlanta, but one of those reasons is the intriguing amount of crime that was committed by Black people and the simple fact that Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam pointed out about diversity: it doesn't work:

"Urban renewal" laid waste to hundreds of acres in the city, much of which would lie undeveloped as "white flight" and general disinvestment sapped the city's vitality and diminished its tax base.

As the city began to lose population and crime rates soared, Underground Atlanta struggled to survive in the mid-1970s, and when construction of the city's new heavy-rail transit system demolished some of downtown's most important buildings in 1975, Underground Atlanta withered away. "

But going back to the article from The Washington Times, it is important to confront the historical revisionism that the string of Black mayors - such as the incorruptible Bill Campbell - have attempted to pull in their contributions to Atlanta and its growing success. Atlanta grew IN SPITE of its Black population and Black mayors, as companies found the proximity of Atlanta to other major cities desirable for corporate headquarters and distribution hubs for the city is centrally located with easy access to major highways and key distribution networks.

Still, these Fortune 500 companies came to Atlanta well aware of the crime rate, but even more aware of the white flight and the brain power that existed in these Whitopia's that could be put to work and also house transplant white people from around the country.

The city would have grown with or without Black people (historically speaking, the Black population made many parts of Atlanta unlivable, thus creating Whitopia's around the city).

Now, something has happened that threatens to pull the curtain back on the fatuous facade of a post-racial America, for Atlanta is the city that isn't too busy to hate:

"Some analysts have said the potential election of front-runner Mary Norwood as the city’s first white mayor in 36 years would prove that America is undergoing a generational shift toward colorblind politics. Others saw the struggle for traction by African-American “card carrying Democrats” in a liberal, majority-black city as a sign that Mr. Obama’s coattails have proven woefully short.

Conclusions will have to wait until next month. In a Dec. 1 runoff contest, City Councilor Norwood will face off against Kasim Reed, a state senator with ties to hip-hop artists and the city’s civil rights old guard."

The ultimate choice between a black man and a white woman seems to have cooled voters’ ardor in a city where a white influx in the past decade has changed the racial dynamics of the majority-black Southern metropolis.

“Now the two candidates have roughly a month to fight for every voter among an electorate that seems to be exhausted and mistrustful,” writes the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Cameron McWhirter. “And the ever-present issues of race, gender and class … likely will be amplified in coming weeks as the contest settles into one between a white woman and black man. Many Atlantans found the prospect unsettling.”

The poorest black neighborhoods on the West and Southwest sides saw dismal turnout, with one precinct receiving only 5 percent of eligible voters. Turnout was higher in Atlanta’s primarily white neighborhoods.

Pre-election polls indicated that about 30 percent of black voters intended to vote for Norwood. Between 52 and 70 percent of white voters intended to vote for Norwood, depending on which poll is cited.

In the end, Norwood received 46 percent of the vote and Senator Reed 36 percent. Both candidates will aggressively go after those who voted for third-place finisher Lisa Borders, who received 14 percent.

Reed, who counts as fans the rapper Ludacris and much of Atlanta’s civil rights power base, did capture much of the vote on the largely black Southwest side. But Norwood, a former radio executive and neighborhood booster, made surprisingly deep inroads into the black community, and she is viewed by many as a gung-ho proponent of rich and poor neighborhoods alike."

We don't live in a fantasy world where identity politics don't dominate every facet of our lives; in the real world, Black people fall in line lockstep behind whichever candidate looks exactly like them and has the same skin pigmentation that they do, damning Dr. Martin Luther King's excoriations to stop judging by the color of skin, but by the contents of ones character:

“The fact that you are an African American will not guarantee that you win the mayor’s office,” Reed said. “I think that’s healthy. If you cannot walk a path through various communities, you will not be mayor now, or in the future.”

Norwood likewise stressed her connections and grass-roots support in every area of the city, black and white, rich or poor.

“Dr. King said we should be evaluated on who we are, not what we look like,” Norwood said. “I’m very hopeful citizens of Atlanta will evaluate me on who I am, not what I look like, and they will select me to be their next mayor."

Race is all that matters. Black people - to their credit - understand this, for they view any attack on one of their own as an attack on all:

Race was a leading predictor in whom Atlantans chose for mayor last Tuesday, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of election data shows. While some voters crossed racial lines, the overwhelming majority did not.

Data show:

● Norwood won more than 58 percent of her vote from three predominantly white council districts — on the north and northeast sides of the city.

● Reed won 57 percent of his votes from five predominantly black council districts — on the east, west and south sides.

● Some voters crossed over racial lines. Norwood did better in predominantly black council districts than Reed did in white council districts. She won 23 percent of the votes cast in black council districts, beating Borders’ 15.5 percent there.

● Reed won 14.5 percent of the vote in predominantly white council districts, compared to Borders’ 12.3 percent.

● Turnout in white areas was about 10 points higher than in the black areas, but turnout everywhere was low (only about 30 percent).

● In mixed-race council districts, the two candidates battled more or less to a draw, with Norwood getting about 40 percent of the vote, compared with Reed’s 37.5 percent.

Norwood is just a disingenuous white liberal, who actually believes Dr. King had any desire to create a color-blind world. Black people will never want to live in a world that is color blind, for their race and melanin-enriched skin is what gives them any separation in this world and to lose that gravy-train would leave them truly disadvantaged.

Black people will lose power completely in Atlanta. That is not the main worry though... the main worry is that a new administration might audit the previous Black people run governments and discover incongruities in financial reporting, city contract distribution and cronyism that crippled the city, or worse, find financial cover-ups that make the Reality of Jefferson County (in Alabama) look like a mere accounting hiccup.

Stuff Black People Don't Like includes losing power in Atlanta (part deux), because that city grew in spite of Black people and will continue to grow and become a majority white city and much greater (and safer), without a majority Black population. Hotlanta? Black people are well aware this phrase will be a thing of past, resting in the lexicon graveyard with Freaknik.

Mrs. Norwood might not win the run-off, but the truth is simple: race is an issue that will never, ever go away. Ever:

"A look at the top black and white precincts in fact shows a serious racial split. In those five top white precincts, Reed never topped 7 percent. But in the top black precincts, Norwood ran as high as 28 percent. Prying those voters away from Norwood is likely to be one of Reed’s top priorities in the coming days.

No doubt Norwood’s organization should be credited for much of her performance in African-American dominated precincts. And black voters have had a history of voting for white candidates — more so than the other way around."

SBPDL fears no truth. Honest people who care about the future of country - white liberals need not apply - and what this election shows us about actual race relations in America must engage in a true dialogue, or suffer the results of Balkanization.

Read More