We have seen this before, and there is much to be learned.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith has once again proven that those speakers who prefer theatrics over discipline will eventually allow their loudmouth nature to write a check that their ass can’t possibly cover. As I mentioned above, we have seen this situation where Stephen A. Smith, the noted ESPN loudmouth, allows his emotions and misplaced enthusiasm to write a check that his ass can’t possibly cover. The most apparent sign of bouncing such a check appears to be addressing a national audience and apologizing for the statement. Smith’s lack of discipline was displayed when he attempted to walk back the following comments spewed at Japanese baseball sensation Shohei Ohtani.
I understand that baseball is an international sport itself in terms of participation, but when you talk about an audience gravitating to the tube or to the ballpark, to actually watch you, I don’t think it helps that the number one face is a dude that needs an interpreter, so you can understand what the hell he’s saying in this country.
The backlash to Smith’s comments was swift. The uproar was so significant that his superiors forced Smith to apologize to the entire Asian and Asian American community.
The irony of a Black man hurling familiar vitriol is ironic. Yet, it also provides an opening for American citizens who have been basted in racial/ethnic identity politics to take a peek in the mirror.
For some reason, Stephen A. Smith’s misspeak aimed at a non-White person led me to what I consider to be an essential question about race/ethnic identity and power in a nation where a White numerically superior population has terrorized their adversaries.
The question is as follows.
Is it possible for African-Americans to form alliances with other non-White groups who have endured different variants and levels of prejudice, discrimination, and institutionalized racism within the United States of America? Can a good case be made for non-Whites to join together to overthrow a White majority that has historically monopolized anything worth having due to their numerical superiority?
It seems a simple proposition for Black, Brown, Red, and Yellow people forming an unprecedented coalition to disrupt White folks politico-economic monopolies. Fortunately for Whites, what Fred Hampton, Co-Chairman of the Chicago Branch of the Black Panther Party, characterized as a “Rainbow Coalition” has never occurred.
Where political expediency and sophistication would prove beneficial to all non-Whites, historically-based racial animosity has sat like a heavy stone, much like the boulder that Sisyphus repeatedly failed to push out of the valley. For those interested in figuring out why such a coalition has never formed, it appears that each of these groups learned that xenophobia was the most reliable currency in this foreign land called America. Additionally, it is difficult to argue against the reality that new arrivals, regardless of their race/ethnicity, quickly realize that there is political and economic strength in numbers. Most importantly, the most reliable rally point for any group in this increasingly diverse nation is racial identity, not Class. Unfortunately for numerically superior poor and working-class people, regardless of their racial/ethnic identities, Race/ethnicity has always trumped Class. Not even the economic misery wrought by greedy Capitalists during the Great Depression lessened American’s allegiance to the existing system.
The above realities leave me with no choice but to tip my hat to W.E.B. DuBois, the most extraordinary mind ever developed by the American academy, for his cryptic prophecy delivered in The Souls of Black Folk. According to DuBois,
The problem of the twentieth-century will be that of the color line – the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea.
Although rarely spoken about in the public arena, DuBois’s projection held throughout the 20th Century and will most likely continue through a significant portion of the new millennium.
It is time that American citizens held an honest discussion regarding matters of race and ethnic identity. Although cliché to say, it is the only path to even a tiny hope of extinguishing the smoldering, yet rarely articulated in public, hatred of groups actively competing for what they erroneously perceive to be limited politic-economic resources.
So, I must tell you that I am unsurprised by Stephen A. Smith’s statement about Ohtani, nor his desperate attempt to save his career by denouncing himself a day later. I can guarantee you that the majority of freedom-loving Americans who still enjoy America’s favorite pastime had little to no problem with Smith’s words. I honestly believe that you would hear similar commentary if more Americans did not consider it tantamount to career suicide or a smooth path to pariah status. However, a cautionary refusal to take a public stance on a controversial matter for the sake of self-preservation is a quantum leap from having the demons of xenophobia, misogyny, and racism exorcised from one’s soul. The nirvana of a post-racial America is nowhere on the horizon for either you or me.
Rest assured that a significant portion of the angry horde that rushed to condemn Stephen A. Smith’s comments harbor similar feelings. The only difference between them and Smith is that they are too savvy to utter such things in front of a national audience; their judgments are stated only behind closed doors. We must remember that the exercise of restraint or silence when discussing contentious racial matters in public, an ability that I doubt Smith will ever master, is not synonymous with the absence of bigotry or an embrace of racial equality.
James Thomas Jones III, Ph.D.
©Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2021