What If Phelps Was Black

[Jim Finnel]

While many of us are celebrating the election of a black president of the United States and the Republican Party putting a black man chairman of the party, the double standard of white privledge remain intact.

I don't want to run Michael Phelps down. That is not my intent at all. BUT He smoked weed. It's illegal. Now mind you, it is not as serious offense as murder, armed robbery or assault. But there was such a hostile outcry and outrage when Ricky Williams of the Dolphins smoked marijuana.

Phelps, who has won more Olympic gold medals than anyone in history, has received hardly any backlash. His millions of dollars in endorsements are in no jeopardy. Speedo, Omega, Hilton Hotels and Purex said they would continue their business relationship with the swimmer.

His admission of "bad judgment" has been met with jokes and a non-chalant attitude.

As I said, I don't want to drag Phelps through the weeds, I like him. But if Michael Phelps was black, I believe things would be different. His endorsements would have evaporated in thin air. TThe buzz would be about the shame and disgrace his drug use has brought on him, his swimming team, his family.

Michael Irvin's indiscretion a few years ago cost him his job on ESPN. A drunk-at-the-wheel Charles Barkley has drawn venom before he's been convicted of anything in a court of law. .

It is like the disparity in sentencing laws in the 1990s when those who used powder coc*aine got less jail time than those convicted of using cr*ack cocai*ne. Mostly blacks were smoking cra*ck. It was unfair.

It it also unfair that blacks and Latinos make up the bulk of pot arrests despite a higher usage by white Americans I am not condoning the use of pot but it is a doggone shame that Michael Phelps can pass off his error as a youthful mistake.

I hope young black and Latinos receive a similar break from the cops and society.

Do you think Michael Phelps would have received backlash and his endorsement jeopardized if he was black?


News Hawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Author: Gregory Lewis
Copyright: 2009 South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Contact: South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Website: Lewis: What if Phelps was black? -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

 

[Nigtmove]

Well, I'm right there with you on the "powder vs rock" thing.
But your argument using Michael Irvin and Charles Barkley lost me completely.
Let's start with your guy Irvin. Yea, he could have lost his gig behind a pipe and some pot resin in a baggie or maybe on his resume you find things like co*ke arrests, assault allegations, SEXUAL assault allegations.
Common, you are really going to compare those two for the cache that they bring to the table.
Barkley comes closer for sure with his own Olympic medals and career but how has he been treated differently? He was sited and released and as far as I know and there has been no outcry for him to be punished. But even here your comparing DRIVING under the influence to hitting a bong in a dorm room.
To tell you the truth I would feel much safer in a dorm room with that Blueberry smell than on the road with anyone who has been drinking.
I'm with you that double standards have no place here but you have to step up with better examples than that. I'll GUARANTEE that you can find somewhere a young black man who did nothing more than take a toke or two at a party and it really messed him up with scholarships and housing and things like that.

 

[Jim Finnel]

i'm guessing your addressing the author
i find um' and paste um'

i pretty much agree with you

 

[zolar]

rich folks justice vs poor folks justice ----- money and color do matter rich blacks get probation and work release
poor blacks 20 years.....

i heard that from a black lady in a 12 stepfellowship

 

[Nigtmove]

Point at hand.
Rich or poor, black or white, we all want marijuana legalized.
Can I get an amen!
Come on, don't leave me hangin!

 

[Ms.Fox]

^ Amen!

It is really hard to say what would happen if Phelps was black. Maybe this doesn't have so much to do with color as it does with his status in society. No one wants to see a basically "American Hero" have any problems with endorsements or even worse, go behind bars.

 

[Rev. Nuggs]

And Ricky Williams was popped 3 times with a failed drug test before it was released to the public and the 4 game suspension. Plus this is what he said to Mike Wallace 60 min..

Bob Marley, the legendary reggae star from Jamaica, inspired Williams to wear dreadlocks for years, and he and his hero have something else in common: "He smoked a lot of marijuana, yeah ... I have done the same."

"Could you pass an NFL drug test today?" Wallace asked him last December, and Williams said, "No."

Drug test are a given in the NFL and he had 2 strikes all ready and that is why he had the treatment he recieved.
Do you think that Phelps would fell his drug test for the olympics? I think not.
So I dont think this artical has any place on this forum since the author has no legs to stand on for the racism that he is implying..

 

[RooRman]

I would wager that many more athletes use cannabis or other illegal substances then the public ever comes to realize.

As far as race is concerned I am seemingly blind to this wholly unimportant feature. It is the soul that makes the man, not what color coat he wears.

 

[Ms.Fox]

As far as race is concerned I am seemingly blind to this wholly unimportant feature. It is the soul that makes the man, not what color coat he wears.

Agreed! I don't see color, and I never will.

 

[Jim Finnel]

......I dont think this artical has any place on this forum since the author has no legs to stand on for the racism that he is implying..

Blacks were almost three times more likely than Hispanics and five times more likely than whites to be in jail.

race is an issue but i also agree that class has much to do with it. money talks and many times money walks.... free.

i just don't buy it when i hear people say they don't see color. being able to see color (we aren't dogs) makes you neither a bigot or a racist. i like color. color is good. color makes people more interesting. its all in how you look at it.

Martin Luther King saw color.

 

[RooRman]

i just don't buy it when i hear people say they don't see color. being able to see color (we aren't dogs) makes you neither a bigot or a racist. i like color. color is good. color makes people more interesting. its all in how you look at it.

Martin Luther King saw color.

It is not that I do not see color, it is more like my opinion of a person is not based upon race but "solely on the content of their character", but I am sure you understood my point anyway.

 

[Jim Finnel]

^

yep, its like i said . . .
its all in how you look at it.

 

[Jim Finnel]

....So I dont think this article has any place on this forum.....

i didn't really answer this in my prior post. i wanted to think about for a bit. i/we take what news gets posted seriously. when i first saw this article i thought about it before just hurriedly posting it. it was one of the few phelps articles i saw that was looking from a different angle. a legitimate angle in my opinion though i think the author could have made a better argument. i felt the article might stimulate thought and hopefully comments. i'm thinking its done both. we have a very focused posting policy and its not often we have an opportunity to discuss the issue of race/ethnicity (i don't much like the word race). so from where i'm sitting i think this thread has only caused positives. i hope that this thread continues to make people think and continue to discuss it. we need to try and keep it in some context though. but since we are discussing what sort of ethnic/racial attitudes shaped drug policy and opinion we have quite a bit of leeway if we behave ourselves.

 

[Ms.Fox]

It is not that I do not see color, it is more like my opinion of a person is not based upon race but "solely on the content of their character", but I am sure you understood my point anyway.

Agreed 100%. I think some people took what I said the wrong way, I guess.

 

[Ms.Fox]

those that don't see color and never will are probably white and that is the attitude of white privilege - it is so ingrained it is part of who you are and that is why you can't think like a person of color. I may look white, but my father and two of my sibs do not - I still suffered. It is a multi generational thing, and anyone who has not lived it can not understand.
Yes I think it would be different if the purp was not white!

This is really unfair for you to say, especially since you don't even really know me. I think you misunderstood what I said. What I meant is that I don't care what color someone is. It's who people are is what's important to me. I'm really sorry I offended you.

 

[McBudz]

You really cares what if... Who's the fvckin asshole that sold his picture to the press?

 

[Jim Finnel]

Holder Seen as a Chance To Right Racial Wrongs

For decades, the face of the criminal justice system in this country has been black and male: hundreds of thousands locked behind bars, arrested in disproportionate numbers and facing execution at rates far greater than those for the general population.

This week, Eric H. Holder Jr.'s swearing-in as the nation's first black attorney general and its top law enforcement official came weighted with heavy expectation that the system could change.

Known as a prosecutor who was unflinchingly tough on crime, Holder, 58, is also a former civil rights lawyer who has mentored young black men. Many advocates view him as the best chance in decades to right what they consider unchecked racial injustice and insensitivity by federal officials.

Civil rights advocates are already outlining a long list of priorities, including changing laws that lead to disproportionate prison terms for blacks, ending racial profiling and stepping up the policing of discrimination in employment and housing.

"The most important thing is that we have a person who gets it," said Benjamin Jealous, president of the NAACP. "He understands that the purpose of incarceration is not just punishment and protection but it is also redemption. He understands that people shouldn't be targeted because of what they look like but because of what they do. He understands that enforcing civil rights serves the interest of law enforcement. It's not about what he looks like, it's about what he believes."

Holder will oversee civil rights enforcement, crime prevention and racial justice -- issues with a broad impact and audience -- among many competing priorities in an agency that also plays a central role in fighting terrorism and policing corporate abuse. Fixing decades of perceived injustices is a difficult task at any time but will be especially challenging for Holder now, when government budgets have tightened and scarce money is allocated to national security and defense efforts.

In public statements since his nomination, Holder has emphasized civil rights enforcement, but he has not indicated a desire to plunge headlong into broad changes to the criminal laws. Civil rights enforcement represents a fraction of the Justice Department's wide-ranging responsibilities.

As he settles in during his first days in office, Holder said his personal story will inevitably shape his view of the job. His father served in World War II and was forced to stand in a segregated railroad car, Holder said. His grandmother was not allowed to sit at the counter at Woolworth in New Jersey. His sister-in-law was on the front lines of integrating the University of Alabama.

"As someone who witnessed the civil rights movement and whose family members literally suffered through the evils of segregation, I hope I can bring a unique perspective to the department," he said. "This department has played a historic role in civil rights over the years, and I owe it to those who came before me and to the American people I serve to oversee a vigorous enforcement program that deals with the realities we confront today."

On issues of crime and punishment, Holder brings his background as a hard-nosed, law-and-order prosecutor. As a U.S. attorney in the District, he lobbied for tougher minimum sentences for drug offenders but later changed course on nonviolent criminals, according to Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a D.C.-based group that calls for changing the sentencing system.

In his time away from the office, friends say, Holder worried about young black men caught up in the criminal justice system.

In the 1980s, he and his fellow public corruption prosecutor Reid H. Weingarten began to volunteer at the Oak Hill juvenile detention center. And as the crack epidemic ravaged the District in the mid-1980s, Holder became an early member of the local chapter of Concerned Black Men, a mentoring group founded to provide positive black male role models. From the judge's bench, he sent scores of young black men to prison, but in his chambers, he hosted children involved in the mentoring program.

At one of the group's fundraisers, Holder met his wife, prominent Washington obstetrician Sharon Malone. He still makes financial contributions to the organization, said Executive Director George L. Garrow Jr.

"We like to believe that we've helped him keep in touch with the community," Garrow said.

Holder's presence at the top of the Justice Department, along with his history, sends a powerful signal, said Larry Thompson, who succeeded Holder as the second black deputy attorney general.

"You bring your full self to the job, your experiences, your background," he said.

President Obama and Holder have vowed to restore public faith in the department, which was plagued by political hiring scandals during the years that George W. Bush was president. Last month, Inspector General Glenn A. Fine exposed hiring abuses and racial insults at the civil rights division, underscoring persistent complaints from Democrats that it had lost its way as the nation's premier protector of the rights of African Americans.

The black community's relationship with the department has long been complicated. The distrust of law enforcement organizations was increased by the FBI, which for years harassed and spied on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

At the same time, activists have taken pride in the glory days of the civil rights division, which was established in 1957. Over the next decade, the department helped protect Freedom Riders and students seeking to break color barriers at state universities.

For criminal justice activists, a pressing concern has been sentencing disparities for convicts caught with cra*ck coca*ine versus powder coca*ine. Possession of cra*ck carries longer criminal penalties, and 80 percent of people prosecuted for cr*ack offenses have been African American, according to the Sentencing Project. Obama has said repeatedly that he wants to end the sentencing disparity.

But when Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.) asked Holder at his confirmation hearing to work with Congress to promote more fairness in sentencing laws, he responded with the cool of a longtime judge and prosecutor: "We have to be tough. We have to be smart. And we have to be fair. Our criminal justice system has to be fair. It has to be viewed as being fair."

The sentence disparities have combined with social and economic factors to lead to the increasing number of African Americans in prison, a figure that has grown from 100,000 in 1954 -- the year of the Supreme Court's seminal school desegregation case -- to 900,000 today, according to the Sentencing Project, a research and advocacy group.

"When we look at the prison system, it's a much worse situation than we had seen before the rise of the modern-day civil rights movement," said Mark Mauer, executive director of the group. "If current trends continue, one of every three black males today can expect to go to prison in their lifetime. It is one in every six for Hispanic men."

Locally, four out of five D.C. prisoners are black men.

Holder seldom broaches the topic of race directly, but in a 1997 National Public Radio interview conducted soon after his appointment as the Justice Department's second in command, he shared a quote by the late Samuel Proctor, a pastor in Harlem, that he carried in his wallet.

"It says that blackness is another issue entirely apart from class in America," Holder said. "No matter how affluent, educated and mobile a black person becomes, his race defines him more particularly than anything else."

Source

 

[Jim Finnel]

MsFox
not offended just reinforcing the point made about white privilege. People of color do still get treated differently - fact.......

i'm pretty sure that everyone thats participating in this conversation knows that racisim still exists and that people of color still are treated differently. we just got hung up on an expression/catch phrase. no biggie, everyones on the same page so lets just move on with the topic.