Tweet
This is another one of those threads that could probably have been posted in several different spaces, but we'll go with here.
I was listening to the John Thompson show on Wed. (John Thompson is a local sports radio host here who formerly was the men's basketball coach at Georgetown University. He's well respected locally and nationally on a number of levels)
Coach Thompson was asked by Bob Lee and ESPN to sit on a pannel for a "town hall" type meeting on Martin Luther King Day (this upcoming Monday the 17th) to discuss how far African Americans have come...particularly in the world of sports as it pertains to hiring practices.
He turned them down.
His reasoning was what was most interesting to me. He began his comments by saying that he has no idea how far black folks (his words) had come as far as being hired. He said it doesn't make sense to select the few successful black people that have broken through to talk about hiring practices because they have been the ones hired, they're not struggling to find their place in their respective professions.
He went on to say that it doesn't make much sense to him that the pannel for this show would be almost exclusively black noting that the one of the only times african americans are asked their opinions is during MLK day festivities. He suggested that you bring on people that are hiring regularly and find out what they think of the hiring practices by sports teams of African Americans.
It was an interesting rant on his part. He finished his comments by saying "I live on a house by the Potomac River, I haven't lived in the ghetto since I was young and I have no intention to go back. You want to know how folks are doing there, go ask someone down there who can't get a job how far black people have come."
Just some food for thought from coach T, who endured quite a bit while at Georgetown.
I was listening to the John Thompson show on Wed. (John Thompson is a local sports radio host here who formerly was the men's basketball coach at Georgetown University. He's well respected locally and nationally on a number of levels)
Coach Thompson was asked by Bob Lee and ESPN to sit on a pannel for a "town hall" type meeting on Martin Luther King Day (this upcoming Monday the 17th) to discuss how far African Americans have come...particularly in the world of sports as it pertains to hiring practices.
He turned them down.
His reasoning was what was most interesting to me. He began his comments by saying that he has no idea how far black folks (his words) had come as far as being hired. He said it doesn't make sense to select the few successful black people that have broken through to talk about hiring practices because they have been the ones hired, they're not struggling to find their place in their respective professions.
He went on to say that it doesn't make much sense to him that the pannel for this show would be almost exclusively black noting that the one of the only times african americans are asked their opinions is during MLK day festivities. He suggested that you bring on people that are hiring regularly and find out what they think of the hiring practices by sports teams of African Americans.
It was an interesting rant on his part. He finished his comments by saying "I live on a house by the Potomac River, I haven't lived in the ghetto since I was young and I have no intention to go back. You want to know how folks are doing there, go ask someone down there who can't get a job how far black people have come."
Just some food for thought from coach T, who endured quite a bit while at Georgetown.
Comment