Sean Taylor Was A "Regular" Black Man
Those of you who follow sports will know that early Monday morning, Washington Redskins' free safety Sean Taylor was shot in his tony South Florida home. An intruder broke in, and shot twice, striking Taylor in the upper thigh, severing the femoral artery. After valiant efforts by medical personnel, Mr. Taylor succumbed to the massive blood loss, and passed on Tuesday, at the age of 24.
Of course, the outpouring of grief has been understandable, from all corners of the nation, especially from football fans, far and wide. And, as would be expected, there have been recriminations, and focus on Sean's past run-ins with the law and troubles with not-so-random individuals, the point being that somehow Taylor's death was in some perverse way, his own fault. People have said that, like other elite football athlete's from "The U," Taylor was part of the thug element in sport.
You can get lost in all that bullshit if you want. The truth is, Taylor is no different than me, or so many other black men walking the streets today in many key ways.
We've all had an encounter or two (or three) with weak-willed individuals, any of whom could, at any moment, strike out at us over something that happened days, months, or even years ago.
Most of us have had as friends and associates, persons whom our parents would rather us not associate with. Some of those people, depending on your level of wealth or status, could become hangers-on, leeches, and otherwise persons who simply want some of what you have, out of some weird sense of entitlement, and for responsibility you have to "hold them down." But cut that spigot of entitled receipt, and fragile egos are bruised; and in this society, a bruised ego so quickly leads to violence and lives are forever changed needlessly.
Finally, each of us is maturing daily, atoning for our past indiscretions, becoming better sons, brothers, fathers, boyfriends, husbands, and people in general.
I guess it's for those reasons that I look at Sean Taylor and see a regular black guy, with a not-so-regular job, who was victimized over what, I'm sure, will turn out to be some imagined, or completely insignificant slight of manhood directed towards the guilty party or someone associated with them.
What I see is that Taylor, despite his wealth, fame, and (one would think) insulation, was a black everyman: he was simply trying to do his best for his child and girlfriend, excel at his job and achieve the American Dream (albeit on a slightly more lavish scale). And Taylor, despite his wealth, fame, and insulation fell victim to what so often undoes the lives of Black men all over this nation: greed, envy, and hate. No matter how much he made, how he made it, or where he laid his head to rest at night, he simply couldn't escape the foolishness that ends so many promising lives. No different than Fred, Mike, Ronald, George...
If we're to learn anything from the tragic death of a man, barely two decades old -- I've got cassette tapes older -- we need not focus on how he died in quiet Palmetto Bay, or how "Meast" laid the lumber on the gridiron -- and he did do just that, nor anything else superficial in his short life. We only need focus on how Sean was just like so many of us. Take away the Sunday gig, and he's another black man whose life ended prematurely.
And for what? Greed? Envy? Hate? Those are three fucked up reasons to die.
Of course, the outpouring of grief has been understandable, from all corners of the nation, especially from football fans, far and wide. And, as would be expected, there have been recriminations, and focus on Sean's past run-ins with the law and troubles with not-so-random individuals, the point being that somehow Taylor's death was in some perverse way, his own fault. People have said that, like other elite football athlete's from "The U," Taylor was part of the thug element in sport.
You can get lost in all that bullshit if you want. The truth is, Taylor is no different than me, or so many other black men walking the streets today in many key ways.
We've all had an encounter or two (or three) with weak-willed individuals, any of whom could, at any moment, strike out at us over something that happened days, months, or even years ago.
Most of us have had as friends and associates, persons whom our parents would rather us not associate with. Some of those people, depending on your level of wealth or status, could become hangers-on, leeches, and otherwise persons who simply want some of what you have, out of some weird sense of entitlement, and for responsibility you have to "hold them down." But cut that spigot of entitled receipt, and fragile egos are bruised; and in this society, a bruised ego so quickly leads to violence and lives are forever changed needlessly.
Finally, each of us is maturing daily, atoning for our past indiscretions, becoming better sons, brothers, fathers, boyfriends, husbands, and people in general.
I guess it's for those reasons that I look at Sean Taylor and see a regular black guy, with a not-so-regular job, who was victimized over what, I'm sure, will turn out to be some imagined, or completely insignificant slight of manhood directed towards the guilty party or someone associated with them.
What I see is that Taylor, despite his wealth, fame, and (one would think) insulation, was a black everyman: he was simply trying to do his best for his child and girlfriend, excel at his job and achieve the American Dream (albeit on a slightly more lavish scale). And Taylor, despite his wealth, fame, and insulation fell victim to what so often undoes the lives of Black men all over this nation: greed, envy, and hate. No matter how much he made, how he made it, or where he laid his head to rest at night, he simply couldn't escape the foolishness that ends so many promising lives. No different than Fred, Mike, Ronald, George...
If we're to learn anything from the tragic death of a man, barely two decades old -- I've got cassette tapes older -- we need not focus on how he died in quiet Palmetto Bay, or how "Meast" laid the lumber on the gridiron -- and he did do just that, nor anything else superficial in his short life. We only need focus on how Sean was just like so many of us. Take away the Sunday gig, and he's another black man whose life ended prematurely.
And for what? Greed? Envy? Hate? Those are three fucked up reasons to die.
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» Sean Taylor Redux from The Hustle
But the press' morbid assumption of "death-by-previous-action" should leave none with any sense of surprise. Of course, there was a typical rush to judgment with regard to Taylor's death, and it should be neither unexpected, nor a surprise. America has... Read More
"Greed? Envy? Hate? Those are three fucked up reasons to die." AMEN! I agree wholeheartedly.
These are three fucked up reasons to take a life, also. But for some black men these are legitimate reasons. (Disclaimer: I know that men of other races kill for these reasons, but as a black woman, I have a vested interested in trying to understand the pathology that drives my brothas to do what they do to themselves and to our communities.) The only problem with this twisted logic is that the ripple effect of one violent act, out of a need for respect, because of a beef, or whatever, is devastating in ways that won't even be revealed until many years from now!!
This man, a promising NFL star, is DEAD. And no matter the reason, my concern is that now that he's gone, when the lives of black men are snuffed out...what is left behind when the smoke clears? More grieving, confused, angry, bitter black women (his mother...his aunts...his cousins...his daughter) who are left to pick up the pieces, go on with their lives, asking WHY? And I think about his little girl, who will grow up in the shadow, hearing the mythology behind her father's death, and may subconsciously develop an attraction to a "bad boy," and go down that road before learning some very hard lessons of her own. I know I may get some flak for that statment, but I don't care.
Many people ask (either to our faces or behind our backs) why black women are so angry. We're angry because we're tired of brothas killing each other, having beef with each other, being so preoccupied with getting respect on the streets that they lose focus of what's really important - raising the next generation of young men and women, instilling them with values and a sense of morality that will guide their consciences and hopefully keep them on the right track so they can make it to age 30. Remember, it used to be age 21, but now it seems that young folks are increasingly at risk of dying before the age of 30. Shameful!
And Tony, I'm going to have to disagree with your statement where you said: "The truth is, Taylor is no different than me, or so many other black men walking the streets today in many key ways." See, I know you, and I have a husband (who is a crazy MF). I learned from him, you, my dad, my cousins, and other brothas that a dog don't sh*t where he live. IF HE'S GONNA DO DIRT, HE'S GONNA MAKE SURE TO KEEP HIS FAMILY OUT OF HARM'S WAY...He's going to make sure that it doesn't follow him to his sanctuary, his home. That's the difference between a BOY and a MAN. There is no reason for why his girlfriend and his daughter had to hide under the bedsheets during this gruesome attack. Come on!!!
I don't claim to know what kind of sh*t this young man was involved in, and really, it doesn't matter at this point. But how loud do the wake-up calls have to be for us collectively as black people to hear and begin to change our ways???
What I want, what I need, as a black woman, is for MEN like you and others that I know and don't know, to stand up and SCHOOL these young cats, because we're losing too many of our young brothas senselessly. They are in need of your guidance and direction and mentoring and tough love. If they got that, then maybe, just maybe, they wouldn't get caught up in the "thug element" in sports, entertainment, or whatever. I got two young daughters, and I don't want either of them to find themselves in predicament of a Jackie Garcia or Nicole Paultre many of the other young women who are left alone in the wake of yet another violent shooting of a Black Man.
That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
First, I agree with each of your points in turn, TK. Too many of us die for bullshit, and there's no outcry, no call to arms, nothing.
In Taylor's case it seems, there was nothing but envy and greed involved in his death. The "you-have-what-I-want-but-am-not-prepared-to-work-for" disease, it seems.
Nonetheless, you make valid points that Taylor was still in some ways a boy, in his actions, and could easily have been felled for that reason alone, under different circumstances.
His death is still something to rally around, if only to use his public tragedy to highlight the plights of others, not so well-known.
It was funny: on Saturday, the defense attorney for one of the accused, a white dude, was more prescient than most of us black folk: he was asking when society was going to address the reasons behind so many of us are killing us, and he speculated that maybe now, after Taylor's death, there'd be a real examination of the causes, and some proposed solutions.
When the outside, "they-can't-possibly-understand-our-community" mainstream is prepared to be more active than your own community, and asking those kinds of questions, you KNOW something is horribly wrong in our collective house.