Posted on 11/21/2002 10:21:57 AM PST by Chi-townChief
Black women forgive almost anything. Indeed, church ladies were among the Rev. Jesse Jackson's most vocal supporters when his baby mama's drama was exposed a couple of years ago. Karin Sanford, the baby's mama, was called everything but a child of God when she went on TV and discussed the details of her love affair with the married minister.
And when R. Kelly was indicted on child pornography charges, a group of black women dragged their own daughters down to 26th and California to cheer on a man who is accused of filming himself having sex and urinating on an underage black girl.
But Michael Jordan is in trouble.
Nothing turns most black women off more than a rich black man who marries a poor white woman, or a rich black man who marries a black woman and sleeps around with white women.
Jordan was our hero.
At a time when it seems that the first thing a black athlete did when he hit the big time was to marry a white woman, Jordan married Juanita and made her a part of the Jordan dynasty. That meant a lot to black women who, frankly, were tired of watching wealthy black athletes parading white women.
On Tuesday, while WGCI's "Crazy" Howard McGee and NBC-Channel 5 anchor Art Norman were railing against the attack on Michael Jordan by Karla Knafel, black women were likely thinking: That's what Jordan gets for sleeping with a white woman.
Sounds bitter, I know.
But it's true.
When I asked a black co-worker what shocked her most about the Jordan sex scandal, her eyes widened and she whispered what a lot of black women have been saying since Jordan filed suit against his former paramour.
"She's a white woman," the co-worker said. "How could he do that to Juanita?"
Worse yet, Jordan admitted that he paid Knafel $250,000 to keep silent about the affair. Now, maybe he would have paid a black lover the same amount, but I doubt it. In fact, I'm willing to bet the only thing a black woman would have gotten under these circumstances was a "too bad" and free tickets to Bulls games.
It is no secret that there are a lot of black women who have slept with and have had babies fathered by multimillionaire athletes. These women didn't even get a marriage license. All they got out of the affair was court-ordered child support--and most of them had to drag themselves and their babies into court to get it.
Knafel, who behaved like a strumpet, got paid the big bucks for "mental anguish" or for "not going public" with the affair, depending on which lawyer is doing the talking.
Talk about white privilege. Not only did Knafel expect to be paid for doing the decent thing--that is, not bragging about having sex with a married man--but she expects to pick up an additional $5 million for keeping quiet about getting pregnant, even though the baby wasn't fathered by Jordan.
If the affair happened the way Knafel claims it did, she has a heck of a lot of nerve for a woman who laid up with someone else's husband.
I think Jordan has a lot of nerve, as well. Rather than accept the fact that he messed with the wrong bimbo and spare his family and the rest of us the details, he is putting his infidelity on public display.
"I really do question whether Jordan's lawsuit was a good strategy," said James H. Feldman, a partner at Jenner & Block and one of the top domestic relations attorneys in the city.
"It doesn't make any sense. I am sure this woman feels very wronged, but usually this kind of thing is approached on a more reasonable basis. This is just silliness. You have to consider what this does to his standing in this community to be involved in such a public display.''
Too bad Juanita Jordan can't do in Illinois what Margaret McCarthy did in Seattle. When her wealthy husband died, his lover tried to get her hands on a watch, ring and $200,000 she said he had promised her.
According to a segment that aired on "Good Morning America" this week, the wife turned the tables and sued Kathie O'Keefe, who acknowledged having a 20-year affair with the married man.
Under Washington state laws, one spouse cannot gift community property to an individual without the consent of the other spouse. O'Keefe was ordered to account for all the gifts and money McCarthy's husband had ever given her and to pay it back in cash.
Unfortunately, the boys in Springfield have made it difficult for wives in Illinois to do the same. The state's "Alienation of Affections Act," in effect since 1948, was changed in 1990 to make it virtually impossible for a wife to sue the girlfriend for husband tampering.
Instead of Michael Jordan suing, Juanita Jordan should be the one in court suing to get back the $250,000. That's a case worth rallying behind.
Black women forgive almost anything. But this Jordan/Knafel brawl is tearing into some very deep wounds.
E-mail: marym@suntimes.com
ta ya mutha
If memory serves, the translation to that was:
"You know what they say: early to bed and early to rise, makes a man, healthy, wealthy and wise. Golly!"
Regards, Ivan
If memory serves, the translation to that was:
"You know what they say: early to bed and early to rise, makes a man, healthy, wealthy and wise. Golly!"
Regards, Ivan
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