Jackie (Why it's outright disrespectful to compare Jason Collins toJackie Robinson)

"Let's get it in bruh!"

Abraham Lincoln once said, “The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.” Frederick Douglass said it this way, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” Then the big homie, Martin Luther King Jr., broke it down like this, “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable…Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”

On Sunday the Brooklyn Nets became first North American sports franchise to sign an openly gay player when they inked Jason Collins, who came out last spring. Big props on a boy gettin’ the opportunity to continue his career in the NBA. Why? Because basketball is basketball and if he can still play then he should be given the opportunity to compete. However, the NBA should be ashamed of themselves for pulling the Oaky Doke on boyz by signing him to only a 10 day contract.

They only became interested in ole boy after Michael Sam came out and the NFL was the verge of making history. Not one of the 30 teams touched him after his announcement in April and he’s been unemployed ever since. However, they saw the NFL about to make a power move and decided to beat them to the punch. It’s obvious that they’re running game because they only signed him to a 10 day contract and that’s foul. It’s light weight disrespectful to him and to the gay and lesbian community playboy but most cats aren't swift enough see that. Either he’s good enough to play or not. Don’t sign him for 10 days just to make a statement and beat the NFL to the punch.

What I found most disturbing is that cats in the media are out here trying to equate the signing of Jason Collins to that of Jackie Robinson. Now let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1^st! I’m all for inclusion and people being treated equally. As a black man it would be hypocritical for me to think otherwise. So I think that it’s great that the Nets signed him if he can help them win games. However, to suggest that the struggle of the gay and lesbian community in this country is the same as African Americans is outright disrespectful and when you compare him to Jackie that's exactly what you're doing.

Why? Because they weren’t stolen from their native land and enslaved for 300 plus years. Their families haven’t been torn apart by slave owners that sold and treated them like animals. Their women weren’t raped and made to have litters of children to make even more slaves that were sold like puppies for a profit at an auction block. They weren’t lynched, tarred and feathered for trying to secure the right to vote or for something as simple as trying to get an education.

Both of my parents were forced to go to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s) in the 1950’s because they weren’t allowed to go to predominantly white schools in the south. The last I checked we don’t have Historically Gay and Lesbian Colleges and Universities in this country. My mother always shares with me the stories of having to eat on milk crates in the kitchens of restaurants when the Greyhound bus she was riding going back to school would make stops along the way.

The system/law has never been on the side of the people initiating the hate crimes against them like they were during slavery, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement and now with today’s Stand Your Ground laws.

You could be gay in this country and still get an education, work where ever you wanted to, live in whatever neighborhoods you’ve wanted to live and not have a bomb thrown through your window. You could worship God without your church being bombed and your children being killed.

So to even suggest that Jason Collins is to some degree Jackie Robinson is to completely disrespect his legacy and all of the black and white folks that died along the way just so that he could merely get the opportunity to take the floor.

For all of the duns that would even suggest that what Jason was able to do is even close; they must have forgotten about how Jackie was called every name in the book and spit on not only by his own teammates but by the fans in the ball park without the support of law enforcement. Why? Because they were screaming and spitting at him too. Jason's not dealing with any of that.

When his team would arrive in town to play a road game he couldn’t stay in the hotel and eat dinner with his teammates! Why? Because blacks weren’t allowed to sleep or eat in all white establishments at that time. If you’re gay in America that isn’t your struggle so it’s not the same.

Jackie didn’t have the option to hide who he was. When he walked in the door they already knew who and what he was. That isn’t Jason Collins’ struggle. He’s been able to play the game of basketball for 13 years in the NBA, albeit he hadn’t told the world that he was gay but he still had the chance to play.  He's not the first gay player to play in the NBA in this country bruh. He's just the first openly gay player to do it. However, Jackie was THE very first black player to play in the major leagues. Not the first openly black player. The very first and he dealt with all of the foolishness that came with it. So it's not the same bruh!

Jackie Robinson didn’t get that chance until Branch Rickey, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, gave him the opportunity to play because he saw the value in him and boyz weren’t standing around applauding the move either. Collins is getting tall love and support for being who he is right now. So it’s not the same.

It’s historic but it isn’t close to being the same playboy. Ask my mother if it’s the same? Ask Emmitt Till’s parents if it’s the same? Ask the families of the three civil rights workers found dead in Mississippi if it’s the same? Ask the parents of the three little girls killed at Sunday School in Birmingham when a bomb came through the window if it’s the same? Ask the King children if it’s the same? Ask the millions that didn’t make it through the Middle Passage if it’s the same? Ask all of the ball players that spent their entire careers in the Negro League if it's the same?   

So please don’t be ignorant enough to suggest that what he’s doing is in any way shape or form the same as what Jackie Robinson did because that would be ludicrous. If the struggle isn’t the same then the impact isn’t the same.

Again, I'm all for inclusion because God says that we should treat others as we would have them treat us. All we ever wanted in this country is for everybody to respect the next man or woman for being whoever and whatever they want to be. I think that we’re finally moving in that direction and that’s a great thing but don’t insult the legacy of Jackie Robinson and so many others that went through the war for equality so that Jason could get the love and respect that he’s getting to today.

Holla At Ya Boy!
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