Dying Young, Black

The Washington Post ^ | Wednesday, November 28, 2007 | Michael Wilbon

[Bertha Fanation]

Fault = Bush

[MinorityRepublican]

Rest in Peace, # 21 Sean Taylor.

[mojito]

This is a good piece, but I doubt if it will win Mr. Wilbon many friends for stating some unpleasant truths so plainly.

[KevinB]

Wow, this article is almost as good as the one written by Jason Whitlock and posted in another thread.

[Viking2002]

DAYUM. Wilbon has been hanging around Kornheiser too long - he's learning to speak his mind, consequences be damned. Wilbon gets it. Damned fine article.

[MinorityRepublican]

Odd enough, Michael Wilbon is a huge liberal.

[yldstrk]

great article. Very true.

[Steely Tom]

I think this story has been written for white people too. Guy gets into the thug life, tries to get out, succeeds in getting out, everything is lookin' great, but... his old pals don't want to say goodbye, so to speak. Happened to one character in "Rich Man, Poor Man," a novel by Irwin Shaw that was made into a mini-series in 1976. In fact, "Rich Man, Poor Man" was the first TV mini-series.

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

The article by Whitlock was excellent.

[MinorityRepublican]

Ultimately, the thugs had the last word.

[popdonnelly]

More stupid, senseless violence. It’s tragic that Taylor couldn’t get away from it.

[Dysart]

I'm not going to create another Taylor thread, so here's a link to an interesting article from A Rolle

Cardinals’ Rolle: Taylor's death was no burglary Childhood friend says player was ‘scared every time he was down in Miami’

[smalltownslick]

“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.

[MinorityRepublican]

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?

[fightinJAG]

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.

[SuziQ]

Most of us, perhaps even the great majority of us who grew up in big urban communities, have to make a decision at some point to hang out or get out.

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.

[MinorityRepublican]

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

[MinorityRepublican]

From the details so far, it appears that it is a failed robbery that turned into unexpected murder rather than gang homicide.

[B-Chan]