Thanks, TJR- didn't know that many whites had spoken out. I guess it didn't do them much good. However, we know that keeping silent certainly hasn't worked.
Don- I think it's great that Pennington spoke up about how impressive Hartline has looked. Although, he did also mention Turner in the same vein, who is a direct competitor. Of course I don't think he, or any other present player, should mention race. But to simply praise a white teammate or, more importantly, lobby for them to get more playing time, will not be seen as racist (unless they bring up every white player on the roster).
What I was objecting to in the case of Palmer is his totally unnecessary public comments about Scott. Even if Leonard wasn't competing with him, why should any civilized white player be lobbying for yet another thug with a criminal past as a teammate? Similarly, he should be disgusted that the career criminal Chris Henry was brought back to the team again. Instead, he goes out of his way to publicly mention how impressive he's been. That's what makes the situation worse-whites volunteering comments no one is even expecting them to make.
I forgot to mention another recent example where a white star made totally unnecessary comments. Why did Brian Urlacher feel the need to trash new QB Jay Cutler privately, so that big mouth Bobby Wade could leak them to the media? With a team as black as the Bears, Urlacher should be welcoming such a talent. What did Cutler do to deserve that? Object to his idiotic new coach attempting to replace him for no reason? Not only would every black QB object a lot more strongly (remember the furor last year when McNabb was benched for a single half), the media would be symathetic and talk about how he was being "disrespected." Urlacher's evident dislike for Cutler (and I have no reason to believe he didn't make such comments) reveal that media propaganda works very well on the few high profile white players in the league.
Cutler may be going through a bit of a hard time initially, due to his (for a white player) outspoken nature, but I think we need more of that. Cutler and Philip Rivers are two of the white players who impress me most, primarily because they seem to have the fire and passion so many white players suppress. As long as they keep showing that great talent on the field, eventually they'll be completely accepted and perhaps pave the way for a few up and coming white players to feel comfortable in speaking up for themselves. Rivers is already, I think, the unquestioned leader of the Chargers.
Don- I think it's great that Pennington spoke up about how impressive Hartline has looked. Although, he did also mention Turner in the same vein, who is a direct competitor. Of course I don't think he, or any other present player, should mention race. But to simply praise a white teammate or, more importantly, lobby for them to get more playing time, will not be seen as racist (unless they bring up every white player on the roster).
What I was objecting to in the case of Palmer is his totally unnecessary public comments about Scott. Even if Leonard wasn't competing with him, why should any civilized white player be lobbying for yet another thug with a criminal past as a teammate? Similarly, he should be disgusted that the career criminal Chris Henry was brought back to the team again. Instead, he goes out of his way to publicly mention how impressive he's been. That's what makes the situation worse-whites volunteering comments no one is even expecting them to make.
I forgot to mention another recent example where a white star made totally unnecessary comments. Why did Brian Urlacher feel the need to trash new QB Jay Cutler privately, so that big mouth Bobby Wade could leak them to the media? With a team as black as the Bears, Urlacher should be welcoming such a talent. What did Cutler do to deserve that? Object to his idiotic new coach attempting to replace him for no reason? Not only would every black QB object a lot more strongly (remember the furor last year when McNabb was benched for a single half), the media would be symathetic and talk about how he was being "disrespected." Urlacher's evident dislike for Cutler (and I have no reason to believe he didn't make such comments) reveal that media propaganda works very well on the few high profile white players in the league.
Cutler may be going through a bit of a hard time initially, due to his (for a white player) outspoken nature, but I think we need more of that. Cutler and Philip Rivers are two of the white players who impress me most, primarily because they seem to have the fire and passion so many white players suppress. As long as they keep showing that great talent on the field, eventually they'll be completely accepted and perhaps pave the way for a few up and coming white players to feel comfortable in speaking up for themselves. Rivers is already, I think, the unquestioned leader of the Chargers.
