Excerpted from David Scott’s “Black & White All Over : Race In Boston Sports 2007” (Boston Sports Review)
BRYANT : If there were 10 other people that had black voices in the city then (Holley) could do his thing. There™s not. You know, you are the first African-American sports columnist in this town and [because of that] you™re not just writing for yourself. But it™s not his thing. I™m not very happy how he uses his platform. I think we™re just different people. I don™t have any problem discussing an issue that needs discussion. There™s no voice in Boston that speaks from an African-American perspective at all. Nobody. When Gordon Edes talks about race it™s usually in some degree of apology for the [Red Sox] organization.
HOLLEY: I want to make it clear that this cat [Bryant] doesn™t know me, as a friend or even as an associate. His statement that we have talked about my journalistic philosophy œfrom time to time is a lie. If by œtime to time he means once, well, I guess that statement is true. I think it™s comical that Howard has positioned himself as the arbiter of what an African-American journalist is supposed to be. Why? What are his credentials? And what are these issues that he has supposedly taken on that I™ve ducked? Jackie Robinson being shunned by the Red Sox in the 1940s? Steroids? Mike Timlin™s bumper sticker in the Red Sox™ clubhouse? Please.