Every now and then something happens in the sports world that causes me to reflect on what Ralph Wiley would say if he'd been here.
Last week, ESPN began airing spots in commemoration of Black History Month. The first spot I saw had Queen Latifah talking about the 1968 Olympic protest of Tommie Smith and John Carlos. In order to protest the treatment of African Americans, Latifah noted, Smith and Carlos raised "black love fists."
What the *!&% ??
Black LOVE fists?
Do a google search on Tommie Smith and 1968. Is there ANY mention of "black love"? I know that we've got a long way to go. I know that Aberbach and Walker showed in their 1970 piece "The Meaning of Black Power" that whites and blacks have very different conceptions of the term.
But here we are 37 years later, and we're still changing history to soothe supposedly troubled souls. And Latifah bought into it.
.....
Spring training is about to begin, and already the call has been made to Bonds to quit. Nothing like sour grapes. You want him to quit? Remove the record of every major league player that played before blacks were allowed in the majors.
Posted by at February 16, 2005 08:31 AM | TrackBackLKS,the FBI notified baseball's executive of the steroid use(baseball deny).The Queen's stature is not transferable;wishing Wiley was here.
tootsie
Maybe she said "black gloved fists." She is still Q-U-E-E-N.
Posted by: Temple3 at February 16, 2005 09:21 AM