It seems as if it was just yesterday that the media was all over Kyrie Irving for posting about a movie with antisemitic content based on the Ronald Dalton book, “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America!”
If that was not enough “red meat” for the media, Kanye West, or Ye as he is now known, was criticized for praising Hitler, claiming the Jewish conspiracy was coming for him and breaking bread with a Holocaust denier.
The backlash was resounding as companies such as Adidas, Gap, Foot Locker and others ended their contracts with Ye. Remember, Ye said that slavery was a choice, made scurrilous allegations about George Floyd and recently palled around with Candace Owens, both sporting “White Lives Matter” t-shirts in Paris.
However, by contrast, when the Jerry Jones, one of the most powerful and influential owners in the NFL appeared in a 1957 photo with his fellow white boys at a desegregation protest blocking Black students from integrating North Little Rock High School in Arkansas, the media coverage was miniscule, with very little coverage.
The media shyed away from the topic like it was a plague – so much so that even LeBron James wanted to know why the media refused to ask him about that issue.
James said, “I was thinking when I was on my way over here, I was wondering why I haven’t gotten a question from you guys about the Jerry Jones photo. But when the Kyrie [Irving] thing was going on, you guys were quick to ask us questions about that.”
Remember, Jerry Jones was the same NFL owner who said that whoever “disrespects the flag” won’t be allowed to play for him.
It seems that there is a different standard for white men as opposed to Black men. Jones, who is influential in the league, is an example of a white man, who is rich, with stature, who are not held accountable for their troubling past. Not only do they face little-to-no consequences for what they did, but they also fail to redeem themselves and they use their influence to make life difficult for us today.
However, Black men who happen to have celebrity status, like athletes and high-profile politicians must apologize for whatever they or other Black people have said and done. In fact, most Black men who are public figures face consequences for their actions whether they are old or young.
Colin Kaepernick was shut out of the NFL for kneeling during the national anthem — against police brutality and in support of Black Lives Matter. That show of political protest was unsettling to white NFL owners and former President Trump who felt Kaepernick was un-American and unpatriotic. They felt he went against the white, all-American, apple pie media image that the NFL portrayed for white fans. This, in a league of mostly Black players and mostly white owners and coaches.
In America, influential white men pay no price for their racism and criminal behavior, as they use their influence to keep Black people down. And when the media fails to call it out, the news fades away.