It was probably related with keeping the wolves in town that made him lash out those comments. stereotyping at its finest.
Precisely. His apology is irrelevant. Racism isn't something a person can just turn on and off like a spigot. It's more deep-rooted. This probably won't be the last time this state rep. makes a racist or bigoted comment, and he has probably had racist beliefs ever since he was a kid. That rep. needs to step down from his post. Most public "apologies" are BS, anyway.
Let's see this from another angle, remember this quote from Ray Lewis? http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2011/05/23/ray-lewis-makes-controversial-comments-about-nfl-lockout/ Is Ray then racist, or was this just a STUPID comment?
I can't comment on the validity of Ray Lewis's statement, but I think he was making an entirely different point. If I read the quote correctly, I think he was trying to say that without having football to entertain them, more people in Baltimore would have nothing to do and start causing trouble. That's entirely different than saying the athletes themselves would all become criminals, which is idiotic.
If Lewis was talking about football fans across the country, then it is not a racist statement because I don't think there is a general impression/stereotype out there that football fans are disproportionately black or of any other race or ethnicity compared to the general population. If he was only talking about residents of Baltimore, then the statement is racist, or at least racially biased because Baltimore is and is known as a predominantly black city. People take this Minnesota guy's statement to be racist because the NBA is, and is known for, being a predominantly black league when it comes to players and people tend to think that he is implying that a large % of them will become street criminals because they are young black men.
I'd imagine Michael Jordan as the owner doing the grand openings of movie theater in black neighborhood, and TJones as doing the grand closings. And Harden as a good cop or sheriff whose trying to set the next generation of young black boys on the straight and narrow. Beverley I'd imagine as a dude who could go either way, and to the extremum - he might join up with TJones to wreak social havoc, or make a faithful, excellent deputy to Harden.
Yes, I agree, but that's irrelevant. The issue is about influential people (politicians or athletes, etc) making controversial statements.
Yeah, that was pretty much what I was thinking. I'm pretty sure it was based more on the stereotype that NBA players are thugs (which is a stupid stereotype anyway). Then again, the stereotype of NBA players being thugs probably comes, to some extent, from racism.
Whatever...... He is a Republican, he said something that a majority of his constituents agree with.... Is it racist? Is it class specific? I don't know and really don't care... he said something ignorant and now has to deal with it.... I am sure he has said way worse.
I saw Les once pull Kelvin Cato out of the passenger door of his Mercedes and curb check him on Richmond in front of everyone. I remember Les' loafers flying in the air as Cato blood squirted all over Les' silk shirt..... So yeah, you down quarrel with Les.
Does this mean there's more street crime in the summer months when the NBA stops playing for those months?
That was the worst apology ever... Made things worse, if anything. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that ALL NBA players are criminals, but c'mon... you know who you are"
