Posted on 11/28/2007 4:30:04 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
If you're hoping to read about the on-field exploits of Sean Taylor, or a retrospective of his time with the Washington Redskins, it would probably be better if you cast your eyes to a piece elsewhere in this newspaper.
Seriously, you should stop right here.
Because we're going to have a different conversation in this space -- about the violent and senseless nature of the act that took his life, about trying to change course when those around you might not embrace such a change, about dying young and black in America, about getting the hell out of Dodge if at all possible.
I wasn't surprised in the least when I heard the news Monday morning that Sean Taylor had been shot in his home by an intruder. Angry? Yes. Surprised? Not even a little. It was only in June 2006 that Taylor, originally charged with a felony, pleaded no contest to assault and battery charges after brandishing a gun during a battle over who took his all-terrain vehicles in Florida. After that, an angry crew pulled up on Taylor and his boys and pumped at least 15 bullets into his sport-utility vehicle. So why would anybody be surprised? Had it been Shawn Springs, I would have been stunned. But not Sean Taylor.
It wasn't long after avoiding jail time and holding on to his football career that Taylor essentially said, "That's it, I'm out," to the world of glamorized violence he seemed comfortable negotiating earlier. Anybody you talk to, from Coach Joe Gibbs to Jeremy Shockey, his college teammate, will cite chapter and verse as to how Taylor was changing his life in obvious ways every day.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Fault = Bush
Rest in Peace, # 21 Sean Taylor.
Wow, this article is almost as good as the one written by Jason Whitlock and posted in another thread.
Odd enough, Michael Wilbon is a huge liberal.
great article. Very true.
The article by Whitlock was excellent.
Ultimately, the thugs had the last word.
More stupid, senseless violence. It’s tragic that Taylor couldn’t get away from it.
“I think this story has been written for white people too.”
I felt the same way when Bill Cosby’s comments first came out - everything he said applied to EVERYONE - he may have been directing it at blacks, but it applied to all kids and parents everywhere.
That doesn’t make sense. If he was turning away from his former life in Miami, then why didn’t he sell his house and move to either MD or VA?
Same with druggies, drinkers, partiers . . . whatever . . . You want to change your life, you have to take out the trash. And keep it out, whatever it takes.
Michael Wilbon has a point about blacks to want to make something out of themselves, whether in sports, music, journalism, etc. They have to get out of the culture that wants to accuse them of being 'oreos' because they want something more than what the gangs can offer.
What Wilbon probably doesn't realize is that young white kids can have the same problem. If they've grown up in a lower class lifestyle, they face the same problem from friends and even family. If they want to rise above their upbringing, they're often considered traitors to their families and friends. It takes strength to do that.
You make good points. But it’s toughest for a poor black man growing up in the ghetto where hip hop culture glorifies gang warfare
From the details so far, it appears that it is a failed robbery that turned into unexpected murder rather than gang homicide.
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