The definition of the noun mum•mer is; an actor in a traditional masked mime, especially of a type associated with Christmas and popular in England in the 18th and early 19th centuries, a pantomimist, archaic derogatory.
In the 1970s there were protests from various African American individuals and organizations in regards to participants in the annual New Year’s Day Mummers parade held in Philadelphia wearing “blackface” makeup.
Anytime that an African American has to wear whiteface or a European American has to apply blackface just to “entertain” or gain attention profiles the fact that the talent of that person more than likely is severely limited.
Let’s take a look at the 20th century radio and television show Amos ‘n’ Andy. From its inception the “entertainment” show was purposely dedicated to ridiculing Black culture in every way, shape and form.
“Amos ‘n’ Andy was an American radio and television sitcom set in Manhattan’s historic Black community of Harlem, which was popular from the 1920s through the 1950s. The original radio show was created, written and voiced by two White actors, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, who played a number of different characters, including the titular Amos Jones (Gosdon) and Andrew Hogg Brown (Correll).
As the show came to television, Black actors took over the overwhelming majority of the roles; White characters were infrequent.” As long as the show was on radio, Black actors were not needed because no one could see the faces behind the voices. However, when the show evolved into television, the producers and the casting directors were forced to hire Black actors to portray the principal characters because even back then during the nasty pre-affirmative action days it was frowned upon for White actors to portray Black buffoons because they figured that Black performers could do a great job reinforcing all of those negative stereotypes by themselves coupled with the fact that very few cinematic or television roles were even offered to Blacks.
Sports commentator Jason Whitlock recently wrote a piece on espn.com criticizing the legendary Black football coach Tony Dungy in regards to his opinion about the young NFL hopeful Michael Sam revealing to the world that he is gay. The column is titled; “Dungy wrong about Michael Sam Ex-NFL coach should support Sam as he once supported Vick”
In reference to Mr. Whitlock, I use the prefix “mister” liberally. Whitlock quoted Mr. Dungy from an article that Dungy originally did with Ira Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune. Mr. Dungy said during that interview that “I wouldn’t want to deal with all of it [drafting an openly gay player]. It’s not going to be totally smooth … things will happen.”
This is a statement that most Americans realize is true. Why? Because many gay Americans have trepidation about revealing to their own family and friends that they are homosexual and a certain percentage of the time, thins do not go smoothly; so what makes Jason Whitlock or any other observer come to the conclusion that things may go smooth for a high profile NFL athlete?
Whitlock’s rebuttal to Tony Dungy’s statement was; “America is not a totally smooth place, idea or experiment. We’re a melting pot of races, ethnicities, cultures, religions and everything else. We rose to global power and maintained it because we chose to deal with all sorts of diversity challenges other countries have shied away from. Things have happened here — things far more problematic than media “distractions” — that we have overcome through leadership and a willingness to push beyond our comfort zone.”
It appears that the only comfort zone that Monsieur Whitlock has is standing in front of the line in Bank America to cash that big fat ass “sell out” check. Oh, sorry my batt, I forgot he probably has direct deposit.
Is continued and systematic racism and bias being dealt with directly and honestly or do most people still tell the lies that have been told since Black slaves were emancipated lies like; ” I don’t see color and I have a lot of Black friends?”
Whitlock is one of the slyest manipulators, oops I meant to say media guys that may presently exist. If this was the year 2011 and he was still regularly plying his craft on the homophobic, anti-Obama, anti-poor, 46 percent, Mitt Romney lovin, Paul Ryan pleasin, Fox Television Network he would certainly not be defending any athlete’s right or choice to be gay or Black or poor.
Why does Michael Vick have to be the measuring stick and the barometer for any negative issues surrounding professional football? Yes, Michael Vick had a choice not to participate in an illegal dog fighting ring and Michael Sam had a choice not to reveal what goes on in his bedroom.
Whitlock has the audacity to say and promote this line of BS against Tony Dungy while there are still a dozen states that continue have antiquated almost centuries old laws against sodomy on the books.
Following is an excerpt from an Associated Press story published on April 21, 2014. in USA Today said that; “A dozen states still have anti-sodomy laws on the books 10 years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled they are unconstitutional. One such state is Louisiana, where gay rights groups contend police have used anti-sodomy laws to target gay men. But state lawmakers sided with religious and conservative groups in refusing to repeal the law last week.
Of 14 states that had anti-sodomy laws, only Montana and Virginia have repealed theirs since the Supreme Court ruling, said Sarah Warbelow, legal director for the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay rights organization. Warbelow says that in addition to Louisiana, anti-sodomy laws remain on the books in Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.
The Supreme Court ruled in Lawrence v. Texas in 2003 that it is unconstitutional to bar consensual sex between adults, calling it a violation of the 14th Amendment. Last year, police in East Baton Rouge Parish arrested gay men for attempted crimes against nature using the anti-sodomy law in a sting operation that caused a national outcry. The district attorney wouldn’t bring charges against the arrested men, saying the law was unenforceable.”
If Michael Sam Had kept his business to himself, no one could have objected to his sexual preferences. Jason Whitlock had this to say about Michael Vick to foxsports.com regarding the little nightclub fiasco that Vick experienced while he was still a Philadelphia Eagle.
“Look, I tried to get on board with the Vick reclamation project. I’m sympathetic to the plight of ex-cons. Re-entry into mainstream society can be very difficult for a parolee. I was proud that Andy Reid and McNabb took on the challenge of trying to rehabilitate Vick. Things have not worked out. The Eagles kicked my favorite active QB (McNabb) to the curb. And Vick has shown no legitimate commitment to developing as an NFL quarterback. Tom Brady and Peyton Manning don’t have reality TV shows. They also don’t throw “white linen” birthday parties at local nightclubs. Vick craves street cred more than quarterback credibility. That’s always been his problem..Vick still wants to be king of the ‘hood. He wants his name to ring out in Newport News. Dumbass .And all of his defenders/enablers are just as stupid. What’s always bothered me about Vick is that he’s far more beloved in the Black community than McNabb.
It’s mind-boggling to me.” Jason Whitlock is the Clarence Thomas of Black sports journalism. He is the unofficial representative of the “Tea Party” in regards to the coverage of Black athletes.
He insinuated that many Blacks are stupid because they don’t share his views of Vick or the ever smiling company man Donovan McNabb. Whitlock’s prior quotes bear repeating: “Vick still wants to be king of the ‘hood. He wants his name to ring out in Newport News. Dumbass, And all of his [Michael Vick’s]defenders/enablers are just as stupid. What’s always bothered me about Vick is that he’s far more beloved in the Black community than McNabb. It’s mind-boggling to me.” Whitlock even blames it on Michael Vick that the Black community still supports Vick. Why should Whitlock be angry because the entire Black community has not become house Negroes like him and talk negatively about one of their own?
Why doesn’t Whitlock ride his white horse into the “hood” and fully express his putrid views about Michael Vick there as opposed to doing so from the safety of the “Fox” soapbox?
Why is he so fearful of going into the Black community crusading his prosecutorial and dark views about Michael Vick?
If Jason Whitlock is such a defender of gay rights and Michael Sam why doesn’t he go to one of the twelve states where sodomy is still illegal and mount a crusade to repeal the anti-gay and sodomy laws in those states?
As far as Jason Whitlock goes you, I, and the rest of the sports journalism world as well as the fans and the athletes would be better served if Massa Whitlock would be featured on radio broadcast’s only therefore making it almost impossible to discern whether he is White or Black because on television he will almost always be required to wear a white face.
(The sources for this story were AP and Fox Sports)
Aubrey Bruce can be reached at: abruce@newpittsburghcourier.com or 412.583.6741
Follow him on Twitter @ultrascribe
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