RGIII and his fiancee.
This past Thursday Rob Parker of ESPN questioned Robert Griffin aka “RGIII” as being a down for the cause African-American man. His question was simply, “Is RGIII a brother or a cornball brother?” This comment sparked so much controversy and backlash for Parker throughout news outlets that even the outspoken Stephen A. Smith couldn’t back him up on his claim. Rob Parker also compared RGIII to another so called “cornball brother” named Tiger Woods. The statement from Parker came from the observation of Robert Griffin’s elusive answering to questions concerning him being a quote-on-quote “black quarterback.” Below is an excerpt from this controversial conversation in case you didn’t catch it. You can read the complete article here:
“This is an interesting topic,” Parker said. “For me, personally, just me, this throws up a red flag, what I keep hearing. And I don’t know who’s asking the questions, but we’ve heard a couple of times now of a black guy kind of distancing himself away from black people.
“I understand the whole story of I just want to be the best,” Parker continued. “Nobody’s out on the field saying to themselves, I want to be the best black quarterback. You’re just playing football, right? You want to be the best, you want to throw the most touchdowns and have the most yards and win the most games. Nobody is [thinking] that.
“But time and time we keep hearing this, so it just makes me wonder deeper about him,” Parker went on. “And I’ve talked to some people down in Washington D.C., friends of mine, who are around and at some of the press conferences, people I’ve known for a long time. But my question, which is just a straight honest question. Is he a brother, or is he a cornball brother?”
What does that mean, Parker was asked.
“Well, [that] he’s black, he kind of does his thing, but he’s not really down with the cause, he’s not one of us,” Parker explained. “He’s kind of black, but he’s not really the guy you’d really want to hang out with, because he’s off to do something else.”
Why is that your question, Parker was asked.
“Well, because I want to find out about him,” Parker said. “I don’t know, because I keep hearing these things. We all know he has a white fiancée. There was all this talk about he’s a Republican, which, there’s no information [about that] at all. I’m just trying to dig deeper as to why he has an issue. Because we did find out with Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods was like I’ve got black skin but don’t call me black. So people got to wondering about Tiger Woods early on.”
We’ve had a few days to think about it. Is RGIII wrong for not wanting to be defined as an athlete by his color? Was Parker wrong for questioning his blackness? Has RGIII even been around long enough to be considered a cornball brother? Is this even a big deal?
let that man be who he is. he not out here with a bunch of baby mamas running around, spending money in the club, or doing any of that other sterotypical black athlete crap. this man gets injured and apologizes to the team for it. he's a stand up type of guy and rather than this fool rob parker trying to tear him down he should be admiring him as somebody that is setting a good example to kids from a character standpoint. him having a white girlfriend and allegedly voting republican are superficial things that only superficial people like rob parker (the true cornball brothers) care about.
Agreed.
RGIII was right. He wants to be the best out of all players , black, white , Spanish etc… Why let ppl box in his talent. He did not deny being black or anything of that nature. I’ve met RG and his family at my job, trust he knows he’s black and isn’t afraid of it.
Rob Parker is the real cornball. Who made him commander and chief of blackness . So what if he has a white fiancé ( if that’s the case should we take away Micheal Jordan’s black card because he’s been with this one white women for years) or doesn’t hang in the barbershop that you want him to, or is a republican. And ppl wonder why our young men think blackness/ manhood equates to the wrong things. ( hanging in the streets ) .
The next thing Rob will say is ” RG talks to proper , he ain’t down”. But hey everyone has the right to speak their mind , no matter how simple.
Who made him commander and chief of blackness
Of course some of the black men on this site that applaud and encourage ALL interracial and NONDATING of black women think he’s a GREAT ROLE MODEL FOR YOUNG BLACK BOYS! Show them they can be standup guys, highly educated, smart and educated and that if their “romantic preference” is someone that DOES NOT LOOK LIKE THEIR MOTHER, SISTER OR AUNTIE, then hey, EVEN BETTER!!!!
THIS is what we want to teach our black boys, huh??? NO THANKS!!!
I will take a cornball, nerdy, educated brother on the OBAMA/JAY-Z TRACK, that dates, marries and worships a BLACK WOMAN any day of the week.
Date and marry a BASIC WHITE WOMAN, your good for throwing a ball, catching a ball and singing some songs.
Date and MARRY A FEARLESS, LOVING, ENCOURAGING & SUPPORTIVE BLACK WOMAN and you can become the President of the United States!!!!
I smell insecurity! And it smells like a** & pig feet.
@ThatDaDiva
We was just debate about how many of you women exist
Date and MARRY A FEARLESS, LOVING, ENCOURAGING & SUPPORTIVE BLACK WOMAN and you can become the President of the United States!!!!
If only BW like this were available in spades. We gotta find love where ever we can get it. Preferably non-Black
WTF?
shouldn't he marry who he loves? Not who can take his career the furthest.
and you know Barrack has dated white women before right?
k…
You know we could talk about how Black men are by and large only marrying Black women. We could discuss the implication you made that in order to be "fearless, loving, encouraging, and supportive" you must first figure out how to become Black. Or we can speak on your somewhat contradictory argument about Barack having a Black wife, in the face of it being openly known he's dated White women. But it's Christmas time so I won't go into any of that today.
Instead I'll just give you a "Who Hurt You" hug, and a gift from Chester French. The lyrics really might brighten your day. http://youtu.be/2-u-G8TxRZc
Who Hurt you?
P.S. If you could put this on Twitter let me know. I can hit Black Twitter Bingo before I even get to work this morning. Thanks!
@thatdadiva … i don't understand why who this man choses to date has any impact on who he is character wise. all i see is him putting his heart and soul out there on the field everyday, as a very young man handling himself with class and dignity. with all the black athletes out here doing wrong, like getting behind the car drunk and killing people, killing their baby mamas, etc, you would think somebody like RG3 would be an admired breath of fresh air. not torn down by his own people. i bet he has encountered this type of attitude from black women all through his life. maybe thats why he is not engaged to one. or maybe he just loves the young lady that he's with. furthermore, you don't know anything about the young lady who he's engaged to. all you see is her skin color. you are the problem that you complain of.
#Message
"i bet he has encountered this type of attitude from black women all through his life."
Sorry…That sentence really pisses me off!
"Instead can we just say, "i bet he has encountered this type of attitude from *ignorant people all through his life. "
I just sick of this type of thinking…#thatisall
I want what you're snorting!
My recent post Murci, Murci Me
ThatDaDiva: "Date and MARRY A FEARLESS, LOVING, ENCOURAGING & SUPPORTIVE BLACK WOMAN and you can become the President of the United States!!!!"
Considering that literally millions of men have married fearless, loving, encouraging and supportive black women, and that there has only been ONE black First Lady of the United States, I'm going to have to say your statement is false.
I understand the point you were attempting to make, but you're reaching in this case.
I get what you are trying to say but I don't think that the Brothers on this site were implying that he is any better or worse for having a white woman on his arm. I think the question is why do "WE" black people always have to prove/define our blackness. RGIII is a pretty great QB (so far) and he isn't the stereotypical young knucklehead. I think the real issue is not who or what his mate looks like but WHY must our people always justify for our blackness. Let's say Eli had a black woman do you think ANYONE in White America would be saying he isn't as white b/c he has a black woman? Further, when a white QB is described they aren't held to the standard of being white – they are just held to the standard of being a QB – and I think that was RGIII's point. IMO he wasn't saying I am not black or trying to distance himself from blacks I think he was saying when will the day come that I will be judged for my athletic prowess INDEPENDENT of my skin color.
i don't see the problem with RGIII not wanting to be defined as a black qb. looking at the recent track record of black qbs in the league the only one to have marginal success is donovan mcnabb. why do we have to have black anything anymore. it really irks. black actors/actresses, black doctors, black lawyers, black tennis players. why can't we be defined outside of that? sure my skin color plays a part of who i am but that's not all that i am.
as far as his white fiance, who the f*ck cares? as many athletes these days that are married to white woman? no one questions their "blackness". dude doesn't get in trouble and speaks properly and people don't like it. black athletes aren't supposed to come off as intelligent and well behaved. they're supposed to hang in strip clubs and have a million tattoos and wear a bunch of jewelry. smfh
My recent post Founding Father of Bigotry
"Why do we have to have black anything anymore. it really irks. black actors/actresses, black doctors, black lawyers, black tennis players. why can't we be defined outside of that? "
Tunde, I really think these are terms that were not defined by "us," but instead given… #AmericanHistory
oh and #HTTR. that is all. there's a changing of the guard and there will be a new NFC east champion.
My recent post Founding Father of Bigotry
And lets keep it real….I bet a lot of black women overlooked RGIII in college based on his looks or whatever. My understanding is that his FIANCEE has been by his side for years. They just decided to take their relationship to another level. Nothing wrong with wanting to marry the person you love. Black people I tell ya…
And lets keep it real….I bet a lot of black women overlooked RGIII in college based on his looks or whatever.
According to some BW, that never happens. We are stepping over cooperative Beautiful Black Queens to get to the Basic Beckys
My, my, my, the interracial supporters are MAD today, LOL!!!
We often forget that this is the site that SHUTS DOWN any black woman with a valid opinion as BITTER, HURT, ANGRY, blah blah blah. My mistake . Much like McCain and his MOB calling Susan Rice UNQUALIFIED for having an opinion, we now have this site of “black men” to strengthen that mindset of foolery. And don’t forget the women on this site attempting to gain “brownie points” by disagreeing with the women and siding with the men, now that’s funny.
Totally forgot that black women that do not agree should keep their mouths shut in case the “black male” MOB on this site doesnt like it. But you have the nerve to want to come to the ATL and host some bullshit “relationship panels”. Puhlease.
Will refrain from commenting OR supporting SBM any further.
I'm pretty sure the ATL is the capital of interracial dating. lol
See #5 http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=at…
lol
There's always Clutch–unless you're also anti-interracial for Black women.
LOL!!!! That's where I thought most of these new people came from anyway….
ThatDaDivA: "My, my, my, the interracial supporters are MAD today, LOL!!!"
The point isn't being "interracial supporters" (like there is anything wrong with that), but that you went on a tangent. The topic here was about RG3 not being authentically black, and you turned it into a diatribe about interracial dating. Which is why people asked who hurt you.
While it may be frustrating for black women to see black men date women of other races, that wasn't the topic of discussion here. Just as in Dr. J's post a few weeks back about qualities he likes in Amber Rose morphed into the light vs. dark skin issue by people with obvious insecurities.
"We often forget that this is the site that SHUTS DOWN any black woman with a valid opinion as BITTER, HURT, ANGRY, blah blah blah."
InsomniaPoet and I disagreed on a point in yesterday's post about men approaching women in large groups. Where was her opinion SHUT DOWN as BITTER, HURT, ANGRY? Where are her brownie points? A simple perusal of just about any post in the archives will show you women are more than welcome to state a contrary opinion here without being SHUT DOWN.
"Will refrain from commenting OR supporting SBM any further."
I'm sure the staff here will mourn the loss of your commentary and miss your monthly subscription payments.
Everything you said Uncle Hugh!
Signed,
Interracial Supporter in Search of Brownie Points.
I want to respond to your logical holes but I'll refrain for now.
My recent post Murci, Murci Me
So where my brownie points fellas? Y'all keeping score cards on this site? I get a Starbucks gift card when I reach a certain number of brownie points?!? DO TELL!
Right! I didn't know I could use SBM brownie points to pay my bills. Did you InsomniaPoet?
Dang That Diva, be easy…..
"And don't forget the women on this site attempting to gain "brownie points" by disagreeing with the women and siding with the men, now that's funny."
Ladies, if you redeem your brownie points now, you can receive a $50 gift card to Shenene's hair palace, a month's supply of DAX, or a his and hers cocoa butter prize package. Continue to keep score and reap the benefits.
Thank you for your participation in the SBM Brownie points program.
#DEAD #Hilarious
I believe that Rob Parker's comments were ignorant. I actually wrote about this topic in my blog http://www.purposedrivenambition.com/2012_11_01_a…. I do believe that love has no color and that we should be able to date anyone that we want. However, I do find it interesting that a lot of black male athletes, entertainers, etc….tend to date or marry outside of their race. Naomi Brock purposedrivenambition.com
My recent post THE ROLE OF THE BLACK CHURCH IN HIV/AIDS AWARENESS
It's crazy that once you gain success as an African American you sign some undisclosed contract to repay other black folks so they can reaffirm your blackness every year. fOH. Folks do know Michelle dated Barack for a long time while he was broke and almost separated from him because she felt like a single parent while he was chasing the senate/white house. Why can't you just be down for the folks that are down with you? If RG3 is HAPPY then that's all the affirmation I need. I don't care who he marries.
@ThatDaDiva: if he wasn't a star athlete would you give a fuck? You mad because you are not going to benefit from his hard work?
Exactly! Im happy for anyone in love, but don't assume sistas "overlooked" RG3 based on looks…seriously wtf? Anyone can be shallow…don't assume its within one group…smh!
I think Rob Parker is describing black athletes of the past who systematically distanced themselves from the black community to make their brand more marketable to other communities (white folks) for that big dollars. These athlete refused to voice opinions or jump into the trenches for causes involving the black communiites as this would limit their appeal to the masses. Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods are examples of brothers who would have made a greater impact with words and involvement in the black communities put did not want tarnish their brand. Follow the careers of Jim Brown, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Charles Barkley they speak out for the black community
Hail to the Redskins and Hail to RGIII! That is all!
Thank you for sharing your info. I really appreciate your efforts and I will
be waiting for your next post thanks once again.
Parker brought up a good point and I hoped that it would have started a discussion about whether blackness is something that you are or that something you have to be. This is why there are comments about 'acting white' when children try and get an education from their peers. It is a disruptive and damaging idea.
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