Hey NY Times: Your Hoods Are Showing!

The New York Times has a real problem with black people. It all started in August of 2014, during the murder of Mike Brown. They did a huge story on Mike Brown's life, which appeared in their Sunday paper, the day before his funeral. In this article, in their attempt to "humanize" him, they further vilified him by referring to him as "no angel", which inferred that whatever he had done during his life was somehow justification for his death. No compassion, no empathy, and no thought of his parents' grief and the black community's grief of his senseless and violent death.

Less than a month later, in their attempt to cover the meteoric rise of actress, Viola Davis, and her success in headlining her hit television show, How to Get Away With Murder, they remarked that she wasn't "classically beautiful." What does that mean? Well, I have a few ideas! To me, it means that because she is dark skin, has full lips, isn't anorexic, and doesn't appeal to the European standards of beauty, well she isn't classically beautiful.

I think their latest slight is probably the most outrageous. As we all are aware, Serena Williams is the best to ever do it in her sport, tennis. Twenty-one championships, six grand slams, and the most victories of any woman in her field. Instead of focusing on her extreme athleticism, her grace on the tennis court, and her overall good, scandal free character, they printed an article focusing on her masculine her body was, and why her opponents did not want their bodies to look like hers. They implied that due to her muscular frame, that she was less of a woman. We all can read, and I am sure that if her skin was of a lighter hue, their commentary would have been more flattering.

Their timing is impeccable though. This headline and story came on yesterday, the day that the Confederate flag came down in South Carolina. Although its supporters say that it represents heritage and history, it was placed in that space as a direct, and retaliatory response to the Civil Rights Movement. It is ironic that on the day that it finally comes down, that the New York Times, decides to be on the wrong side of history and to print such an inflammatory article.

In living in this black skin in Amerikkka, there is always one step forward toward progress, and two backward toward protecting white privilege and supremacy, and our mainstream media has the patent on keeping it going.

Most people want to blame Fox News, but there are plenty of other online, radio, television, and print mediums with their coded language.

So New York Times, the black community sees your racist tendencies. Maybe as an olive branch, either you can hire more black journalists, take some racial sensitivity training, and print retractions when you make these blaring and offensive errors. That is, if black lives matter to you!


Until next time.....