KOBE BRYANT VERSUS JIM BROWN//

[harry brown]

THE  GREAT   FORMER  FOOTBALL PLAYER  JIM  BROWN  SAID   .BACK YEARS  AGO   WHEN    BLACK  ATHLETES   CAME  TOGETHER  FOR  CIVIL  RIGHTS,  SPEAKING AGAINST,  RACISM   AND   SUPPORTING  MUHAMMED ALI,   HE  WOULD  NOT  HAVE  CALLED  FOR  KOBE,   HE  WOULD  NOT  HAVE  COME///KOBE   GOT   UPSET/////SPORTS    SPEAKER  STEPHEN A. SMITH    COMING  TO   KOBE   BRYANT    DEFENSE///JIM BROWN  AND   SMITH   BOTH   ON  ARSENIO  HALL    SHOW////A  LOT  OF   BLACK  ATHLETES  DO  NOT  GET   INVOLVED   WITH  BLACK,  AMERICA'S  PROBLEMS//SOME   WHO  BECOME  WEALTHY    ARE NOT  BLACK   ANYMORE  THEY  TRANSFORM  INTO  SOMETHING ELSE////WHAT  ARE  THEY   AFRAID   OF/WHO  ARE  THEY   AFRAID OF/WHITE   AMERICA//////WONDER   WHAT  JIM  BROWN'S   OPNION   ON    BLACK  FOOTBALL  PLAYERS   SUPPORTING  WHITE  FOOTBALL PLAYERS   SAYING  HE  N  WORD../BLACK  ATHLETES  ARE  NOT  JIM  BROWN,  KAREEM,  JACKIE ROBINSON,  ARTHUR ASHE  OR  MUHAMMED ALI//BUT  THEN  BLACK  MUSIC    AND  MOVIE  AWARD WINNERS  ARE  NOT  INVOLVED  EITHER.....YET  THEY    RESPECT   DR.  MARTIN LUTHER   KING  AND  MALCOLM   X  AND  NELSON  MANDELA.//////.

[Troy]

Jim Brown's Statement

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x189lzl_the-arsenio-hall-show-jim-brown-calls-out-kobe-bryant_fun

 

I did not quickly find a statement from Kobe.

 

I could care less about what Stephen Smith has to say about it.  It is funny though the vast majority of what I did find was Stephen Smith (i looked for just a few minutes).  So much coverage of a second hand opinion. 

[Cynique]

Unfortunatley, no particular benefits come with being black in America.  It is a status that ranks at the bottom of what anyone in this country wants to be.  Blacks are the shadow figures in America society. Nobody seeks to emulate their trajectory. Understandable. Sports and entertainment  are the only fields where Blacks enjoy great popularity.  Being the exception to the rulis has not rewarded with wide spread admiration the individuals who make achievements in other venues such as the political and literary arenas. People like Oprah and Obama and Toni Morrison are aberrations. And black pride, such as it is, has mostly to do with the race having survived the adversity that is synonymous with not having white skin.    

 

In the real world,  Blacks who have escaped the dead-end ghetto existences settle for safe professions that will provide them with enough income to acquire the tangible assets that the greater society equates with "having it made".  Among the younger generation, underprivileged Blacks see becoming a super star athlete or rap musician as an escape from their circumstances . Like their role model elders, upper class black youngsters see education as a means of acquiring the jobs that pay enough money to acquire the materialistic symbols that will make them the envy of their peers. Blacks are primarily stuck in a mode of striving for the right to ape white people by having equal access to excesses of luxury and extravagance.

 

Black athletes like Jim Brown and entertainers like Harry Belanfonte can't help but harbor jealous resentment about the exorbitant amount of money their latter day successors are earning, and this has to be one of the factors motivating them to criticize celebs like Kobe Bryant and Jay-Z for not giving back and being more pro-active in uplifting the race.  More important, however, is that Belafonte and Brown have paid their dues and earned the right to chastise high profile figures whose dubious claims to fame consists of scoring points in a game or spewing obscene lyrics on a recording.    

[Troy]

Classic Cynique.

 

I draw no distinction between a professional athlete and an entertainer.  They are all entertainers.  In entertainment, marketing hype often trumps talent, this remains sports entertainment's last saving grace...for now.

 

Jim and Kobe are like night and day.  Jim is a "Man's Man" reared in an American culture that prided itself those characteristics. Kobe too is a man of his time and up bringing.  Other than being great athletic talents they have little else in common.

 

"News" has become entertainment too and the entertainer, Stephen Smith, has milked it for about all it is worth.

 

Some Black entertainers buck dance, coon, and wear dresses; others play games; some make videos screaming Nig*er and Bit*h; while others talk trash about the former and call it reporting.

 

I can't image what a Belafonte, Brown or a Cynique must think about this generation. A time where book sellers struggle to remain relevant and Black folks dominate the twitter-sphere with selfies and #thingsblackgirlsdo