Sean Taylor RIP

[ice grillin you]

Is it instutional racism, or the effect of people who refuse to "speak proper English, embrace education, dress like a grown man"?

yeah minorities wanna be dumb and poor and the rest of us want a good education and make an honest living

please dont talk about stuff that you cant relate too and dont know about...if you and millions of people like you grew up in the soundview homes in the south bronx im pretty sure you wouldnt have turned out to be the glowing spectacle of human youre today...at least your odds would have been infintely less

[ice grillin you]

its a mix of both only in that some minorities do make it out of the ghetto....but theres a reason that murder is the number one cause of death of young black men and its not because they are black

theres the same amount of bad minorites as there is bad white people...and theres the same amount of good minorities as white people....the rest are shaped by their enviroment and opportunity....if blacks as a whole traded their standing in society with whites everything else would switch with it

[rjs246]

I'm not sure what you're point is. Are you saying that if white people were poor, uneducated and historically discriminated against they'd be in the same spot that black folks are in now? That seems exceedingly obvious.

[reese125]

scratched my temple on that last statement as well.

carry on

[rjs246]

I think the point that SD and others are trying to make is that although the problem can be traced back to institutional racism, breaking out of that rut cannot be done unless this 'Black KKK' problem improves too. Race has steadily become less and less of an issue as time goes on. It's not perfect but its moving in the right direction. That isn't enough though. The other half of the equation is that this culture of 'keeping it real' being a priority needs to go away, otherwise there will be no end to the problem.

[ice grillin you]

my point is that they dont choose to be like that as cervant tried to insinuate...the people that sean taylor grew up with wanted the same things that me or wanted when we were kids...the problem is they have infinitely less opportunity from day they are born to do so because of instutional racism

instead of saying those people dress and speak and act like animals and you knew sean taylor was gonna die because he was a bad person why dont some of you donate some time to an inner city big brother program and try to help another kid not become a sean taylor...or donate money if you dont have the time...theres tons of great organizations that help people that dont have the opportunites me and you had...

that would be much better than talking shtein on an internet mesage board about how you dont give a shtein that someone is dead...and for the record all this is the exact reason sean taylors death was indeed a tragedy as hard as some people tried to point out that it wasnt

[Rome]

Fred Taylor of the Jaguars relayed a story about when he came out of Florida regarding changing his appearance.  He had the customary gold grill and dressed like a stereotypical gang-banger before he got drafted.  He got some advise from other NFL players about getting his teeth fixed, dressing more professionally, and speaking like a professional young man as opposed to a character in a John Singleton movie.

Anyway, the point of the story is he was mocked and ridiculed by his "homies" as a sell-out because he chose to change his image to something that was more palatable in terms of endorsements and what-not.

I got to thinking that I also changed how I look when I got out of college in order to get a good job and "fit in" more with the people I was working with at the time.  Out went the long hair, ratty surf clothes, etc. and in went the polo shirts, loafers & chino's.  Was I a sell-out too?  Sure, I guess.  But the fact is if you want to grow up and be successful in this culture and you're not a Bill Gates or a P. Diddy or a professional athlete, you usually have to conform with what society sees as "normal."

I don't see how black people are any different in that regard than white people or asians or hispanics or any other group would be.

[Geowhizzer]

Yeah, I can remember the "senior cut" I got when I was in my last year at college.  It was time to get my resume together and look for a job.

Out went the 1980s-style mullet! 

[phattymatty]

that's crazy.  mullets are all business in the front.  party in the back.

[SunMo]

all the answers to race relations can be found here:

[ice grillin you]

romey youre taking 1 or 2 nfl players and using them as a broad brush to paint a picture of how everyone should be...these are guys who did make it and got to go to school and see a different world and meet other educated people who were able to guide them and advise them...im talking about the millions and millions of people who dont ever make it

of course you have people like mike tyson who make it out and never better themselves...these are the people the media and a lot of us love to refer to as the norm....when in fact a very small amount of these people keep their old ways...simply because they see there is more out there and they want better for themselves as we all do...the point is regardless of your skin color if given the opportuiny to make your life better the majority of people will do that and thats not a color thing its a human thing...and athletes are the perfect example of this even tho society loves to paint it the other way

[Don Ho]

Out went the long hair, ratty surf clothes, etc. and in went the polo shirts, loafers & chino's. 

braddah, your're killing me.  represent cuz!  don't give up on our roots rome.

[reese125]

romey youre taking 1 or 2 nfl players and using them as a broad brush to paint a picture of how everyone should be...these are guys who did make it and got to go to school and see a different world and meet other educated people who were able to guide them and advise them...im talking about the millions and millions of people who dont ever make it

of course you have people like mike tyson who make it out and never better themselves...these are the people the media and a lot of us love to refer to as the norm....when in fact a very small amount of these people keep their old ways...simply because they see there is more out there and they want better for themselves as we all do...the point is regardless of your skin color if given the opportuiny to make your life better the majority of people will do that and thats not a color thing its a human thing...and athletes are the perfect example of this even tho society loves to paint it the other way

I dont know if you got your picture taken with Santa at lunch or got a raise today, but well put. 

I still hate you

[SD_Eagle5]

I think the point that SD and others are trying to make is that although the problem can be traced back to institutional racism, breaking out of that rut cannot be done unless this 'Black KKK' problem improves too. Race has steadily become less and less of an issue as time goes on. It's not perfect but its moving in the right direction. That isn't enough though. The other half of the equation is that this culture of 'keeping it real' being a priority needs to go away, otherwise there will be no end to the problem.

Yes

[SD_Eagle5]

Link

IF YOU'RE INTO MOURNING DEATHS OF PEOPLE YOU NEVER KNEW:
Like, say for instance, Sean Taylor, instead of taking time to tell me I'm insensitive for not caring, maybe you should take the time to care about all these other people who died in the past 24 hours that you never met or knew, too: Two civilians in Kabul, a pizza guy in California, six people in Baghdad, this 21-year-old man in Alberta, a 14-year-old girl in Japan, a toddler whose stroller rolled into traffic, a 14-year-old boy killed in a hunting accident in Atlanta, or how about this 31-year-old tree trimmer who died on the job? You don't care about them as much Sean Taylor? But why? Because none of them were athletes or celebrities? Does that make you heartless? You knew them as well as you knew Sean Taylor. Just remember -- if you died on Sunday, Sean Taylor wouldn't have cared for a second. Stop worshipping celebrities and athletes and making their lives more valuable than that of everyone else, because that's what you do when say you really care that one of them has died. Is Taylor's death sad? Sure, for his friends and family, not for the taterskins fan who had an invented bond with the man because he watched him play a game every Sunday. Instead of mourning a stranger's death, why don't you call your spouse and tell them you love them. Idiot.