…that when he masturbates, it’s black on black crime. AOL’s self-proclaimed “most unique, important and insightful voice in the world of sports,” followed up yesterday’s hysterical condemnation of the NBA and All-Star Weekend with an astonishing piece of self-congratuation, asking “could you imagine the level of denial had my column not been written?”
The Black Ku Klux Klan shows up in full force and does its best to ruin our good time. Instead of wearing white robes and white hoods, the new KKK has now taken to wearing white Ts and calling themselves gangsta rappers, gangbangers and posse members.
We sing their racist songs, gleefully call ourselves the N-word, hype their celebrity and get upset when white people whisper concerns about our sanity.
And whenever someone publicly states that the Black KKK is terrorizing black people, black neighborhoods, black social events and glorifying a negative, self-destructive lifestyle, we deny and blame the Man.
I don’t want to do it anymore.
This must be the way Rosa Parks felt on that bus. She was just tired of eating white racist (spit). I’m tired of eating black racist (spit).
The Fanhouse’s Marcel Mutoni attempted later today to coax some clarification out of Whitlock, who admitted that not every element of All Star Weekend smacked of self-genocide. For instance, Big Sexy dug “the Jamie Foxx concert and the Spearmint Rhino.”
Far be it for me to suggest the pervasive influence of the gaming industry, let alone a strip club, might in any way prove alluring to a criminal element. Whitlock’s got the real enemy in his sights : White t-shirts and “gangsta rappers”.
I am so disgusted with this article. Mr. Whitlock got a couple of people to read his article by doing what only no talent writers do – detail base human actions and exaggerating the magnitude. I hope this is not his long term profession or if so he is still taking classes. With his current talent I see the walls of a Kansas trailer closing in on him!! This so called sports writer (who admittedly didn’t attend the game) wrote an entire article on rumors. His first article before this Dooms Day rewrite gives you a more accurate portrayal of who this guy is. He spent four paragraphs detailing his dining experience at a restaurant (FAT),v two on his college buddies that are married with children (OLD), and the rest name dropping and salivating over any pseudo celebrity he encountered (GROUPIE). Honestly we would have been better served if he would have attended the wax museum and eaten at the buffet. In the future I would hope he would choose the later option and leave his pin and news reporting to the professionals and the sports reporting to those qualified.
Mr. Whitlock published his first account of his Las Vegas All Star trip on the 19th of February. It was honest and read like a long text. However at the urging of someone (dare I say his editor) Mr. Whitlock travels back in time and details a second vacation infused with gangs, terror, shootings, and other lascivious acts (sounds a little Sci-Fi to me). Perhaps Mr. Whitlock is giving us insight from his alternate personality. Either way his credibility is forever ruined.
The article was full of “sloppy†similarities between the All Star Las Vegas (which near the end of the article he became too lazy to spell) and Freaknik Atlanta. He made references to gang bangers, rap artist, baby momma’s, hookers, hoes, and refund check sponsored trips as covert imagery- of a young African American crowd. He details loiterers as he walks along the strip diverting his eyes. Yet, through all the “mayhem†he was not able to give us one first hand account of criminal activity except that he smelled Marijuana. Whoa sounds real dangerous to me!!! He went to the opening of the restaurant – no violence just food. He journeyed to the Kenny Smith party and there were 300+ people waiting in the line- no shootings there. He even made it to the Adult Entertainment spots and even though he told us of a celebrity citing not one mention of pillaging, raping and or killing. Two days later he is writing the memoirs of Las Vegas as if the Hop Community destroyed it!
News Flash Mr. Whitlock what you witnessed was a representation of the Hip Hop community. Hip Hop is the NBA’s as well as America’s sub culture and you were just not in your element. I know it is hard to accept but that is the reality of the situation you have officially aged out. Yes there were some undesirables, and yes I did smell Marijuana. Did I feel threatened in any way sexually or other wise the answer is a resounding NO! I attended All Star Las Vegas too and had a wonderful time. I didn’t feel the need to divert my eyes and yet left unscathed. Who knew? Contrary to popular belief I’m a childless African American female, with a professional degree and am a Real Estate Broker by profession (who didn’t finance my trip via income tax return). Funny enough I even attended the Nike party ( VIP) and was in shoulder distance of Charles Barkley, Winky Wright, Jermaine O’Neal, LeBron James (just to name a few) etc. and not once did I think to ask them to dance. Your writing is irresponsible and instead of your editor (being presumptuous here) asking for a better version of your stale first draft he should’ve just paid a real writer the first time.
Perhaps while you were diverting your eyes you missed the real problem Las Vegas encountered, the inadequately of the transportation industry (both air and ground). A more seasoned reporter would have detailed the hours it took to navigate the city and the days it took others to leave it. Instead of this headline driven version, couldn’t you could have a illuminated the Systematic Price Gouging and the atypical Poor Customer Service headlining this weekend only for African Americans on the Las Vegas Strip!!
A reporter worth his salt might have also mentioned that the Chinese New Year celebration, a major real estate convention, and the All Star event were all being held in Las Vegas bringing the visiting special events total to nearly a million and a half. This count doesn’t factor in the average Las Vegas traveler. I wonder what the final Las Vegas population total was this past weekend and how the crime rate for a population of that size would compare to the incidental crimes this weekend? Now that would be good reporting. Get on that Mr. Whitlock!!!
Bottom line is the NBA All Star event is the leagues way of enticing the professional football fans and reenergizing the basketball fans for the second half of the season. It’s also used a vehicle to show case their stars in a human light and generate money for the host city. Based on this criteria, NBA ALL STAR LAS VEGAS was a complete and utter success and Jason Witlock still an obscure writer from Kansas! Maybe if we are lucky Dorthy (gussied up in her magical slippers) will take him to see the Wizard and he can give him some talent.
I don’t know where Mr. Whitlock lives, but the offices of The Kansas City Star are on the Missouri side of the state line.
I just think it’s pretty awesome he compares himself to Rosa Parks. But why stop there? I’m pretty sure that Gahndi himself would’ve pussied out on this All-Star Weekend investigative journalism stuff.
i think jason has some valid points about the state of black american culture and society. and regarding black racism. too bad he made the points so poorly.
I don’t think Whitlock is entirely out to lunch when it comes to all of the above, but it’s the nutty generalizations and demonization of a younger generation’s culture that I find incredibly lazy. Are there individual writers, sportsmen, MC’s, etc. who are on the brink of self-parody? You betcha. They deserve to be called out, and Jason’s done so a few times. But he’s more credible when he sticks to the specifics…and spends a little less time patting himself on the back.
And just to clarify, I don’t have any problem with Whitlock attending a Jamie Foxx gig or an adult entertainment establishment. But measuring which bits are reflections of society and which are reactions is far more complicated than his AOL editorials let on. If you’re gonna lay the cheapening of human life at the foot of hip-hop, please, don’t leave the current Administration out of the blame sweepstakes.
nutty generalizations, lazy, patting himself on the back instead of dealing intelligently with a complicated subject, yep. totally agree, gc.
I was googling for more info after just completing a piece on Whitlock and I really have to say that your line of
“…that when he masturbates, it’s black on black crime.”
is classic!