I was saddened to learn of the death of Sean Taylor, a defensive back of the Washington Redskins who died from gunshots during a break-in into his home. But I was even more saddened by the responses to his death, especially by some African American male commentators. A good example is Jason Whitlock, black conservative sports writer for a Kansas newspaper prostituting for Fox News.

In an article entitled, “Taylor’s death, a grim reminder for us all,” Whitlock made a good point when he decried the sad fact that blacks are killing blacks. After that, Whitlock goes over the top, suggesting that Taylor got what he deserved for living in the ghetto and hanging around thugs.

“No disrespect to Taylor,” says Whitlock, “but he controlled the way he would be remembered by the he lived. His immature, undisciplined behavior with his employer, his run-ins with law enforcement, which included allegedly threatening a man with a loaded gun, the fact that a vehicle he owned was once sprayed with bullets are pertinent details when you’ve been murdered.” Oh really? Let’s take these one by one.

First, these are not details but allegations spoken in generality. Second, to say Taylor had “run-ins” with the law is not exactly a great indictment of a black man in racist America. Why a black man can have a run-in with the law just by getting into a nice car and driving down a freeway. It happens all the time. They call it racial profiling. Third, to say Taylor’s car was sprayed with guns is important to a police investigation but doesn’t necessarily suggests that Taylor did anything wrong. I got my car spray painted. Should I be accused of hanging out with Taggers or graffiti writers? Fourth: Taylor may have been “undisciplined” to his employers in Whitlock’s eyes, but Coach Gibbs, his boss, head of the Redskins and others around the Redskin said just the opposite. Here’s what the White media and some of its “boys” should remember:

1. The police don’t know who killed Taylor or why. They don’t know if the people who broke into his home knew him or not. It could have been so-called friends from the past or just a botched robbery committed by persons who didn’t know him personally but knew he was a rich athlete.

2. The police knew that Taylor had gotten into trouble and had hung around with people who got into trouble with the law some years before.

3. But they found out from people who knew him best that Taylor had changed in the last two or three years. He began giving back to the people who had been there for him: His father, the football program at the University of Miami, his fellow players on the Redskins football team, especially his three buddies on Redskins team who also played with him at the U of Miami. And get this: Coach Gibbs said Taylor was a role model player and the leader on his team. But, most of all, his girlfriend and those who knew them as a couple said Taylor was a loving partner and nurturing father. Some criminal, huh Whitlock?

Here’s the deal. We all make mistakes, but most of us mature and move on to be positive adults in later years in various roles: as men, women, fathers, mothers, citizens. Taylor may have done this before some of us, at age 21. But if you’re a black male, especially a rich black male athlete, white corporate media won’t let you forget the mistakes. So, even when you become a man, they won’t acknowledge it. Why? Because the negative sells, especially negatives about black men. Why? Because, deep down, we (White America, and some conservative “black” writers tap dancing for massa), don’t like black men either. But not only do we not like black men, we don’t like what they have come to represent: Violence in America.

Let’s be clear about this: No matter how this homicide turns out, it is Taylor, not the killer, who has been convicted of what? Being a rich black man in America? No. A scapegoat. If we’re going to get into the conviction business, let’s do it on the real, lay it down in the field and say straight up: We’re all guilty of being afraid of Taylor’s homicide represents: That America, the wealthiest country in the world, is also the most violent country in the western world; that this once-great country is in decline, with its middle class sinking into the lower classes and its lower classes becoming so desperate that it’s just about to go out of its mind; and a desperate people will kill not only a strong black athlete in his walled-off home with security—a desperate people will kill us. What we don’t want to come to terms with, and do anything seriously about, is that, in this new violent America, we’re all Sean Taylors now.

So let’s keep from addressing the larger issue of out-of-control violence in America by focusing on Taylor, especially his few “run-ins” with the law. Let’s keep it on him. That’ll sell.

Yeah. And let’s not cut a brother some slack, even in death.
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