Rob Parker on RGIII: ‘Is he a brother or a cornball brother?’
OPINION - ESPN's 'First Take' program features a daily dose of sports topics debated and discussed exhaustively by hosts. Sometimes, the result is entertaining and other times - well, it's downright painful. Thursday, Rob Parker waded into the downright painful...
Stiletto Jill of sports blog Jocks and Stiletto Jill is spot on, writing:
“I think Rob was trying to have an open and honest conversation about some perceptions that happen in the black community at times. But this wasn’t the right forum for that…”
What’s lost in all of this is that Griffin has not denied being black.
Newsflash — the ‘who’s black enough, who isn’t black, who’s really black’ conversation is an extremely difficult and uncomfortable one to have. Often times, the results are as foolish as the premise.
It’s a conversation history started and certainly not one you’re going to resolve in one television segment talking about an NFL quarterback.
Griffin wants to be the best quarterback on the planet. Some sportswriters have tried to put him in the black quarterback box, compare him to Cam Newton. (Which led to a push back from him.)
RGIII would prefer you compare him to Aaron Rodgers — not Newton. And what’s wrong with that?
Does that make him a cornball?
In October, Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon rightfully commented that the criticism of Cam Newton was based on nothing more than stereotypes of African-Americans who play quarterback. Why else would Newton, in a matter of six games, be compared to Vince Young?
Some Twitter users feel ‘irresponsible’
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Parker conceded near the conclusion of the segment.
Nor did Griffin mean he was denouncing any black quarterbacks that have come before him. It was quite the opposite.
Parker spent much of Thursday defending his remarks on Twitter:
“@nomorevinny: I'm curious how @RobParkerESPN thinks RG3 should act to "be more black".” Bet u didn't even see show. Typical and uneducated
— Rob Parker (@RobParkerFS1) December 13, 2012
Parker also made a point to retweet some of his followers, which he probably felt would give his original comments credibility:
https://twitter.com/A_Mr_Carter/status/279271507207811072
In a media landscape sometimes more concerned on ‘proving’ who is or who isn’t racist, responsible discussion is at a minimum. I’m sure many Redskins fans would prefer it’s never brought up as it relates to Griffin.
And when people like Parker are irresponsible — and don’t understand the gravity of being on national television (not at the barbershop) — the barriers to discussing race and sports together will just keep getting taller.
*Update*
Thursday night, ESPN released a statement:
“The comments were inappropriate and we are evaluating our next steps.”
Also Thursday, Robert Griffin III’s dad (Robert Griffin II) told USA TODAY’s Jim Corbett:
“He needs to define what ‘one of us’ is. The guy needs to define that,” he said. “I wouldn’t say it’s racism. I would just say some people put things out there about people so they can stir things up.”
Follow theGrio’s Todd Johnson on Twitter @rantoddj
