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Big Whitlock Strikes AGAIN!

Not too long ago I wrote an open letter to Kansas City Star columnist and sports aficionado, Jason Whitlock. In this open letter I attempted to address a growing concern amongst Kansas Citians and Kansas City Star readers about the writer’s burgeoning tendency to speak on social issues — a field of study in which, in a medium such as the Star, Whitlock has very little validity.

READ HIS MOST RECENT POST HERE

This time he attempts to address the aftermath of a stunning upset in which a white sorority won a stepping competition that, typically, black sororities dominate. What Jason fails to realize is that while his investigative efforts are somewhat appreciated, they are unnecessary and inconclusive.

He notes that Black persons were quite upset that the White sorority had won. He compares it to when Tiger Woods, a 21-year-old Black golfer, won the Masters in 1997.

Although a valid comparison, Whitlock’s analytical skills become questionable because of the sweeping stereotype. In an attempt to maintain an air of diplomacy, he states that: “Channeling our inner Glenn Beck, we bitched and moaned last week so loudly about the results of a national step-show competition won by an all-white sorority that we provoked Coca-Cola/Sprite to retroactively name a black co-winner.”

Whitlock implies here that all Black people “bitched and moaned”. As we can probably assume, this was not the case.

But even if all this was addressed properly, was it his role to do so? We all know that their are insurmountable racial disparities that are recycled each and every day. Does a case like this really stand out significantly?

I too could make generalizations about the “Black” reaction towards the White sorority winning. I know many people that attend Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) — places in which stepping lives — the majority of the students I know that attend these schools, especially those such as Howard, Morehouse and Spelman, are usually suburban Blacks that, although very connected to certain Black cultures of the city, are in many ways detached. they go to these schools to reaffirm and strengthen their experience as a Black man or woman in America. These schools are rich in history. If I were to base my selective knowledge of these HBCU students, I would probably argue that the white students have just of a shot at doing well in a step show competition as they would.

Although there may be some truth to this statement, it’s not supported.

My fear is that the only structure Mr. Whitlock supports his assumptions with is his status as a prominent columnist. Furthermore, this idea only validates the ever apparent truth that Mr. Whitlock is an overpaid, sociologically uneducated, sports columnist that has very little if any right attempting to analyze sociological and racial phenomena — in such a grand scale. On a side note, conservative Black intellectual John H. McWhorter speaks with a familiar tinge — elitist and contradictory.

Finally Mr. Whitlock contemplates: In our continued fight for equality, why have we strayed so far from the moral high ground Martin Luther King placed us on? Are we in need of a “Great Black Hope”?

Seems fair, but why assume that Dr. King’s intention was to place us on a moral high ground? Also, “us” is a recurring term that he also fails to define. Although it may be argued that he’s referring to Black people, why leave that open to ambiguity? My argument is as good as the next mans but I believe Mr. Whitlock is playing it safe in an attempt to suppress his confused perspective on race. This is natural, so I don’t blame him here, but I do believe that he should AT LEAST write these pieces — if they are to be supported by the Kansas City Star — when he’s gained more clarity on the subject.

In the struggle for equality, Mr. Whitlock is only further agitating the already troubled waters that flood the American dilemma on race, class and gender. But it is for the prospect of this insatiable desire, in some, for equal justice that we push on. I suppose some take longer than others to find their chosen path. I’ll keep you in my prayers, Brotha Whitlock.