December 12, 2005

Defending Donovan, Cont'd

John Smallwood of the Philadelphia Daily News had a dynamite column on Friday, tearing down the latest absurdity about Donovan McNabb and race. It was in reaction to the appalling rant by "civic leader" Jerry Mondesire, published the week before in the Philadelphia son, in which the local NAACP head called McNabb a mediocre quarterback and a sellout, because of his unwillingness to run the ball.

Here's Smallwood:

I guess what I'd really like to know is how or why the quarterback's performance, Terrell Owens' self-created banishment and the Eagles' fall from Super Bowl to the cellar of the NFC East has evolved into a referendum on "blackness" in some segments of Philadelphia's African-American community...

What this black-on-black verbal violence has caused me to wonder is: Who gets to determine who is truly African-American and what is or isn't a part of African-American culture?

Is McNabb only sort of black because his parents, Sam and Wilma, stayed together and raised him to act like an adult when confronted with something such as Owens' repeated criticism?

When did handling a difficult situation with class and dignity become a negative in the black community?

Is Owens a full-fledged brother now because he stood up to the man while minstrel-acting his way out of millions of dollars?

Does T.O. lose some of his street credibility because he dropped his "hard-ass brotha" act and basically begged "Massa" to take him back as soon as he realized he really was getting kicked out of the house and off the plantation?

So what is the criteria for being black?

I will leave this debate for my friends in the black community to resolve. But I can say that anyone who calls Donovan McNabb "mediocre at best" knows absolutely nothing about football, and has no business discussing the sport in any type of public forum. Mondesire was doing the exact same thing Rush Limbaugh did three years ago: Judging McNabb's ability as a quarterback, unfairly and inaccurately, purely on the basis of racial politics.

Donovan, to his credit, responded to the comments today: "I always thought the NAACP supported African-Americans and didn't talk bad about them.Now you learn a little bit more about it."

Posted by Stephen Silver at December 12, 2005 11:54 AM
Comments

McNabb's definitely mediocre. So mediocre, in fact, the Eagles should trade him to Dallas so that Dallas won't have a good QB.

A rabid Cowb... er... Eagles fan, yeah, Eagles fan

Posted by: Rob Howell at December 12, 2005 05:39 PM
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