Brothers have been verbally assaulting one another in the past couple of months.

First it was the infamous Uncle Tom quote that Jalen Rose dropped on black Duke basketball players in the Fab Five documentary, which I enjoyed (the documentary, not the quote) on ESPN last month.  Former Duke star Grant Hill took exception to that quote, and famously responded to Rose and his Fab Five mates.

Now boxer Bernard Hopkins took some unnecessary shots at quarterback Donovan McNabb.  Hopkins even implied that McNabb wasn’t black enough.  Check out this gem:

“Forget this.  He’s got a suntan.  That’s all.”

What?????

Hopkins also said that McNabb’s privileged upbringing in Chicago makes him not as tough as himself.

As a black man, this sickens me on every level.  What sickens me even more is that this is a grown man in HIS 40s saying this?

What does it say about a culture who denigrates success via hard work and promotes failures and time and prison?  What does it say about a culture who mocks brothers and sisters who come from two-parent, middle-class homes and promotes baby-mama/baby-daddy households?  What does it say about a culture that clowns black folks who are articulate and have class by saying they “talk and act white”?

I wish there would be some black people in the sports world and famous black folks in general would step up and praise black athletes (and in the professional world) who either came from middle-class, two-parent backgrounds or who excelled in the classroom.

Hell I wish I could say something to Hopkins and other ignorant-ass negroes who subscribe to this bull-crap.  To quote Laurence Fishburne from School Daze: “WAKE UP!!!”

Categories: sports story