R.I.P. Sean Taylor, Dead at 24 at the Hands of the Black KKK

Before he died, Ralph Wiley was one of my favorite sports columnists. He often wrote at espn.com, and his writings were often controversial, but not in the cheap, tabloid trash way that so much of American media is today. His writings were controversial because they challenged the status quo, the accepted dogma, and they actually made me think. Ralph also happened to be black, and like Bill Cosby, he had no qualms about calling out those even in his own race who were lazy, wrong, just plain stupid, or worse. It's just a tragedy I had to be reminded of Ralph reading this piece by Jason Whitlock about the tragic death of Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor.

I didn't know Sean Taylor, but as a former college athlete myself, I not only knew his type, but I also knew the decisions that had to be made by the most talented ones. Athletes who aren't bound for the NFL or superstardom in another sport don't have to deal with leeches, moochers, gold diggers, yes-men, etc. the way the ultra-talented athletes do. Even so, with a little bit of wisdom and by surrounding himself with good people, a talented athlete can ward off without actually experiencing it most of the woe that comes with those demons. The game gets much harder though, when those people around you are shady, dangerous, bad influences, and even harder still when they are your homeboys you've known since you were little kids. Don't believe it? Just ask Michael Vick. He's doing time in federal prison because he couldn't and/or wouldn't escape his past, but at least he is alive. Sean Taylor is dead because he dared to throw off the gangster creed that kills and destroys the lives and souls of so many black men. For ever 50 Cent that got rich, there are thousands more black men that ended up in prison or died trying. It's funny how you never see the reality of those statistics alongside the bling that too often appears on the CD covers of rap artists.

I'm reminded of Chris Rock's statement that black people are more racist than white people because black people hate black people too. As abhorrent as crimes perpetrated against another human being because of race (i.e. the James Byrd truck dragging death), the black community really should take a long, hard look at itself and the drug-dealing, violent, gangster culture that purports to represent them before it goes blaming white people for all its ills. Similarly, before Muslims complain about perceived American imperialism or Jewish sins, perhaps they might want to do us a favor and rid the world of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda types who they claim are defaming a "peaceful" religion. I'm not saying that people on the outside of a cultural or ethnic-based problem can't help, because they certainly can, but these kinds of problems, as Whitlock says, this kind of dirt is best cleaned up from within one's own house.

Read Jason's whole article, pray that God will provide for the wife and daughter Sean Taylor leaves behind, and that He will comfort Taylor's family in this terrible hour of tragedy.

"Taylor's Death a Grim Reminder For Us All"
by Jason Whitlock

"There's a reason I call them the Black KKK. The pain, the fear and the destruction are all the same.

Someone who loved Sean Taylor is crying right now. The life they knew has been destroyed, an 18-month-old baby lost her father, and, if you're a black man living in America, you've been reminded once again that your life is in constant jeopardy of violent death.

The Black KKK claimed another victim, a high-profile professional football player with a checkered past this time.

No, we don't know for certain the circumstances surrounding Taylor's death. I could very well be proven wrong for engaging in this sort of aggressive speculation. But it's no different than if you saw a fat man fall to the ground clutching his chest. You'd assume a heart attack, and you'd know, no matter the cause, the man needed to lose weight.

Well, when shots are fired and a black man hits the pavement, there's every statistical reason to believe another black man pulled the trigger. That's not some negative, unfair stereotype. It's a reality we've been living with, tolerating and rationalizing for far too long.

When the traditional, white KKK lynched, terrorized and intimidated black folks at a slower rate than its modern-day dark-skinned replacement, at least we had the good sense to be outraged and in no mood to contemplate rationalizations or be fooled by distractions.

Our new millennium strategy is to pray the Black KKK goes away or ignores us. How's that working?

About as well as the attempt to shift attention away from this uniquely African-American crisis by focusing on an "injustice" the white media allegedly perpetrated against Sean Taylor.

Within hours of his death, there was a story circulating that members of the black press were complaining that news outlets were disrespecting Taylor's victimhood by reporting on his troubled past

No disrespect to Taylor, but he controlled the way he would be remembered by the way he lived. His immature, undisciplined behavior with his employer, his run-ins with law enforcement, which included allegedly threatening a man with a loaded gun, and the fact a vehicle he owned was once sprayed with bullets are all pertinent details when you've been murdered.

Marcellus Wiley, a former NFL player, made the radio circuit Wednesday, singing the tune that athletes are targets. That was his explanation for the murders of Taylor and Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams and the armed robberies of NBA players Antoine Walker and Eddy Curry.

Really?

Let's cut through the bull(manure) and deal with reality. Black men are targets of black men. Period. Go check the coroner's office and talk with a police detective. These bullets aren't checking W-2s.

Rather than whine about white folks' insensitivity or reserve a special place of sorrow for rich athletes, we'd be better served mustering the kind of outrage and courage it took in the 1950s and 1960s to stop the white KKK from hanging black men from trees.

But we don't want to deal with ourselves. We take great joy in prescribing medicine to cure the hate in other people's hearts. Meanwhile, our self-hatred, on full display for the world to see, remains untreated, undiagnosed and unrepentant.

Our self-hatred has been set to music and reinforced by a pervasive culture that promotes a crab-in-barrel mentality.

You're damn straight I blame hip hop for playing a role in the genocide of American black men. When your leading causes of death and dysfunction are murder, ignorance and incarceration, there's no reason to give a free pass to a culture that celebrates murder, ignorance and incarceration.

Of course there are other catalysts, but until we recapture the minds of black youth, convince them that it's not OK to "super man dat ho" and end any and every dispute by "cocking on your bitch," nothing will change.

Does a Soulja Boy want an education?

HBO did a fascinating documentary on Little Rock Central High School, the Arkansas school that required the National Guard so that nine black kids could attend in the 1950s. Fifty years later, the school is one of the nation's best in terms of funding and educational opportunities. It's 60 percent black and located in a poor black community.

Watch the documentary and ask yourself why nine poor kids in the '50s risked their lives to get a good education and a thousand poor black kids today ignore the opportunity that is served to them on a platter.

Blame drugs, blame Ronald Reagan, blame George Bush, blame it on the rain or whatever. There's only one group of people who can change the rotten, anti-education, pro-violence culture our kids have adopted. We have to do it.

According to reports, Sean Taylor had difficulty breaking free from the unsavory characters he associated with during his youth.

The "keepin' it real" mantra of hip hop is in direct defiance to evolution. There's always someone ready to tell you you're selling out if you move away from the immature and dangerous activities you used to do, you're selling out if you speak proper English, embrace education, dress like a grown man, do anything mainstream.

The Black KKK is enforcing the same crippling standards as its parent organization. It wants to keep black men in their place — uneducated, outside the mainstream and six feet deep.

In all likelihood, the Black Klan and its mentality buried Sean Taylor, and any black man or boy reading this could be next."