This is what they Think About You.......Lower Tier Folk Of Color vs. Straight Talking Black People.....

First off, for obvious reasons Mr. Starks and I can easily relate to sports commentator/columnist, Stephen A. Smith, when it comes to frank discussions concerning the pathological behavior that some within the African-American community exhibit toward one another. Perhaps what is most disturbing are the factions within the Black community that believe critiquing this dysfunctionalism (pertaining to sports figures in this instance) is tantamount to treason solely because such a diatribe may be within earshot of the White populace. As soon as a person of color brings analysis to the aberrant behavior in question (in the vein of Juan Williams, Dr. Cosby or Stanley Crouch), one can set his watch as to how quickly he or she will be called an "uncle tom" or some equivalent expletive. Although I was fortunate enough to retrieve the above clip from the WorldStarHipHop.com site, conversely I also became aware of the truly ignorant comments that were in response to Smith's protestations. Here's a few comments to chew on and please excuse the inappropriate language (and bad grammar):

"Man fuck Stephen A. Smith fuckin' self righteous nigga, this nigga is conttrolled by ESPN. Fuck this nigga, I used to respect this dude, but after he demeans our people I hate this dude. Why it gotta be a black person criticzing our own people so bad, I'm not sayin' we don't make mistakes, but we gotta crticize ourselves in a less offensive way in front of white America!"


"Stephen A CHIT. That's all we need a nigga gettin on the Air, cosigning with the Whities, PLAX is getting bashed by white america, we don't need House Niggaz cosigning trying to hang him for clapping himself. Stand UP Man don't follow suite."


"TELL THAT UNCLE TOM WHITE ASS NIGGA STEPHEN TO SUCK A DICK TIL HE CHOKE'S..IF I EVER SEE YO ASS IMMA KNOCK YO LIGHT'S OUT..FUKK YOU BRINGIN BARACK OBAMA INTO THIS SHIT..BITCHASS NIGGA"

In the spirit of fairness and full disclosure, the WorldStar site did possess some (emphasis on some) dissenting comments that showed appreciation for Smith's candor. But it is a bitter pill to swallow when there are still a contigent of lower tier Blacks and Browns that insist on condemning Smith for his words and not the behavior that he is waxing about in the first place. It truly defies logic. Sure, it's equally imperative to point out the lack of discernment amongst those Whites who insist on seeing Plaxico, Pacman Jones or Michael Vick as the prototypical Black standard but there has to be room for a non PC discourse as well. Let's hear from our readerson this matter. Is Smith a traitor? Or has he reached a saturation point (like many of the Afronerdic persuasion) when tribalism must be pushed aside to speak frankly. What say you?