I didn't really know who Jamele Hill was before I saw this thread, and judging by people's reactions I'm assuming that's a good thing. I will start this off by saying I have not read the un-edited version of the article, and I probably won't waste my time trying to track it down. I know what I've read on this thread and another thread on the topic.
I agree that in this piece she clearly states that she is of the opinion that Boston is a predominately white city, and was (is?) racist, and that a lot of Black NBA fans wouldn't root for the Celtics because of that perception. I wonder really though if that was the case, I mean sure it sounds good, and it evens makes a bit of sense on the surface, but that doesn't mean it's true. I would like to think that you would make the deicision of which team to root for based on who your local team is, or who your favorite player is, but that wasn't the case for Jameel, or atleast not within making whatever point she was working towards in this piece. I mean she says "admittedly, to some degree it was about race", but does she ever go on to examine any of the other issues of why she didn't like the Celtics or just leave it at that point?
I mean if anything I feel she's admitting that she was (and some people feel still is) racist towards white people, no? how else can you explain saying as a black person i won't root for a sports team because they come from a predominately white city? I mean it's almost as if she's reminiscing on the good old days when a decision (in this case which sports team to root for) could easily be made using baseless and ignorant stereotypes, because she clearly doesn't like the way things are now where those barriers have been broken down. She is incensed that apparently some African Americans in Detroit wanted the Celtics to beat the Lakers and goes on to compare those individuals to what can only be described as people who would have been very deplorable to most American's (I'm sure some German's, and Russian's would have received the comments differently). And if you look at her words from this perspective than the fact that she's comparing those Black Piston fans to Hitler Sympathizers and Communist Lovers is actually a very startling, harsh, ignorant, ill-informed, and yes in many ways racist thing to say.
note: I was gunna take on the challenge of replying to you paintitgreen, as I thought you contradicted yourself a few times, and also state that "opinion" or "perspective" is fact a few times, but I'm too drained in every way to even begin tackling a post that long! Good job. Till next time
Topic: Jamele Hill suspended by ESPN! (Read 18725 times)