My frustration with ESPN
During the 2017 NFL Draft Oklahoma Sooner's Running Back Joe Mixon was drafted to the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2nd Round. Now if you don't know who Joe Mixon is he was a very talented Running Back at Oklahoma but he comes from a very troubled past. In 2014 when he was a Freshman at Oklahoma he went to a restaurant and he got into a verbal argument with a woman and in the end he ended up punching her. Now I am the type of person who believes that Domestic Violence is nothing to play around with and that he should have been punished for his actions. So he was suspended for the entire season and he had dealt with a lot of criticism when word got out about him. During the 2017 Draft ESPN had decided to show the video of the incident of Joe punching Amelia Molitor breaking her jaw, eye socket, and cheekbone. I immediately became frustrated because I feel that when Black athletes get in trouble they should rightly receive their consequences. However the media and a lot of people from the Caucasian population always want to demonize them and make them feel like they don't deserve a second chance. It just comes off to me that when White Athletes make mistakes they pay for their actions and then it's over, while Black Athletes get punished and scrutinized. For example there are still people who hate Michael Vick for the fact that he was involved in dog fighting which happened years ago. While Riley Cooper can openly say the "N" word at a Kenny Chesney concert and was not suspended. Jonny Manziel was a known party goer who has issues with Alcohol and had a domestic dispute with his ex-friend. He has been trying to get back into the NFL and I haven't heard of any fan bases oppose him at all. So in conclusion I just want us to be on the level playing field both on an off the field and it makes it harder when we don't have the right perspective about one another.
About a month ago many football fans began to strategize about who they are going to pick for their fantasy football drafts. And on EPSN they always have a show in order to get experts opinion about how you should draft for the 2017 NFL Season. ESPN wanted to be creative with having a sketch of their Fantasy Football Draft but it was done in poor taste. They showed an auction on the ESPN campus with an Auctioneer holding up the pictures of famous football players while asking for money for the player and the majority of the audience were all white people.
If you haven't seen the movie "Get Out" got see it and specifically watch the scene where the Armitage family holds an auction in the backyard for Chris and then you will know how I felt about the ESPN Fantasy Draft. I honestly can't believe that there was no one in their meeting that said this may be a bad idea. As a black man this is the problem that I have with people in power. It's easy to hide behind the fact that you didn't know that this could be offensive but if you know the history of this country you know that black people were sold in auctions and families were split up creating traumatic experiences for our ancestors. So before you do something ask yourself is this the best for everyone and what is the purpose of doing this?
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1723166-riley-cooper-caught-on-tape-saying-racial-slur-at-concert
