Arnold Glasow, business and humorist, once said, “A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.” John C. Maxwell, the sports commentator, gave it to us like this, “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” Then John Quincy Adams broke it down like a playa at a pimp convention when he spit, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
Well playas…As we all celebrate a national holiday in honor of the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. today we’re inspired to dream more, learn more, do more and become more. I want people to understand that when this great man was alive he was known as the “Outside Agitator” because he stood up for racial and social injustice. He was the guy on the front lines of the Civil Rights Movement that most people in this country hated at the time. He was so disliked that he was eventually killed because he was tryin’ to force America to live up to the true meanin’ of it’s creed. “That we hold these truths to be self-evident that ALL men are created equal.”
So as we celebrate the life of Dr. King darn near fifty years after his death. The same racist mindset that killed him is still resistant to change in America. It blows my mind that boyz wanna act like MLK was their homeboy today when they despise Colin Keapernick with the same passion for the same reasons they disliked MLK. They both spoke up for racial and social injustice.
With as many times as Kaepernick initially explained to folks why he kneeled or sat durin’ the national anthem in protest of police brutality, racial and social injustice people still don’t want to hear it because they don’t care. No different than when Dr. King’s Civil Rights Movement disrupted the status quo. It made those that were comfortable with racism, uncomfortable. It’s the same way today.
Whenever someone tells you that they don’t have a problem with the players protestin’ but that they should do it on their own time, they’re uncomfortable. Protest, in and of itself, is tension and resistance to the status quo. That’s why they call it protest. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the architects of it. What players like Colin Kaepernick has done is no different than what Muhammed Ali did before him by refusin’ to fight in the Vietnam War. People hated Ali for that. He didn’t become the gentle man that everyone loved until after he lost his ability to speak.
Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! Everybody and their baby’s Uncle LeRoy loves Martin Luther King, Jr. today because he’s no longer with us. However, at the height of his notoriety he was for lack of a better word “An American Enemy” because he was protestin’ injustice in an America that wanted things to remain the same. In an America where the status quo wanted to remain comfortable.
There was a time when folks were resistant to black children simply goin’ to school with white children to pursue the same education. Folks were upset that black folks asked for the right to vote in our elections in this country. They were outraged that people of color wanted to simply sit down in the same restaurants, movie theaters and drink out of the same water fountains that white folks did.
That seems like a century ago to most folks. However, all or at least most of this has taken place since I was born 50 years ago. I was a year old when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968.
So to watch folks become outraged that players and coaches of color have again stood up for what is right in America doesn’t surprise me but it does disappoint me. My parents were college educated professionals from the south. My dad was a pharmacist and my mother was an elementary school teacher. They couldn’t go to the predominantly white institutions to get their degrees in the 1950’s so they were forced to attend Texas Southern University an all black school.
Even with the resistance in front of them they were able to succeed but it wasn’t without protest and those challengin’ it every step of the way. So I say continue to fight the good fight and the Lord says, “Be not discouraged, Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9. Enjoy your MLK Day and stop me when I start lyin’!
Playas Thesaurus:
The G is excluded from the endings of all words because the G is near and dear to my heart because I’m from “The G” which is Gary, Indiana. So I only use the G when I’m talkin’ about “The G!”
The caption under the photo isn’t real but its real talk!