 |
| "Rolando McClain gets shot at while at home visiting" |
Police say someone shot at a vehicle driven by former Alabama football star Rolando McClain while he was in his hometown of Decatur. No one was hurt, and police said Friday they're unsure whether the shooter realized the vehicle belonged to McClain, who now plays for the NFL's Oakland Raiders. Police say McClain called authorities about 7 p.m. Thursday to report that someone in a group on a street corner had shot at his Chevy Tahoe while he was driving by. Officers found a slug stuck in the rear door of the SUV, but the bullet didn't enter the passenger compartment. No one was arrested. McClain grew up in Decatur and played linebacker on Alabama's national championship team before turning pro.
First, I can appreciate the police investigating the incident. However, they were a bit misinformed in their assessment of the situation. If McClain grew up in Decatur, Alabama everyone in that little town knows who Rolando is and what type of car he drives. The guy was an All-American at the University of Alabama and helped them win a national title for crying out loud. Not to mention that he plays in the NFL and makes millions of dollars. The guy that shot at his vehicle was one of two things, a hater or a scorned associate.
Many times guys grow up in an environment where their family and friends are not the most honest people. However, they've protected them from the streets their entire lives because they were the kid with all of the talent. They make sure that the golden boy has money in his pockets and doesn't need for anything. They even send the student-athlete money while they're in college. The only problem is, it's hard to cut those family and friends once you make it because they've been loyal to you for years. If it weren't for those same people, the athletes may not have made it out of the hood in the first place.
Now when a kid gets drafted everybody in the hood has a get rich quick scheme and wants the athlete to finance it. "Hey man I got this invention or I wanna open a record label, business",etc. Now none of these guys have any idea how to run a business or has any formal training in any of those fields and wants the jock to gamble on it.
See a kid from the suburbs doesn't face the same challenges because everybody that he grew up with went off to college at the same time. They don't have to worry about money because they've got parents that will send them cash while they're on campus. So the people that have been loyal to them are family and friends as well. Whereas, were asking the kid from the ghetto to completely cut ties with the same group of people (family and friends) that made sure they ate and had what they needed to get to this point. The only difference between the two supports groups (suburbs vs ghetto) is that one is legal and the other may not be so legal.
Being a professional athlete is a very high profile job and one hiccup can cost a kid millions. Take a look a Michael Vick. Not saying no to childhood friends cost him his freedom for nearly two years and more than $100 million dollars. Coming out of the hood and making it big isn't as easy as folks think it is because you just can't cut off people that have taken care of you your whole life.
I'm not saying that the guy that shot at Rolando was that guy but he was one or the other. So before you judge these athletes for having friends and family that aren't the most productive and honest people. Remember, they are the same people that helped get these guys to the NFL, indirectly. Now as these guys get older and become wiser it will then be easier to separate from the hood but not at twenty two years old. What's your opinion?
Jay Graves
Follow me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport
Some information used in this article was taken from the Associated Press
I agree!
ReplyDeleteIf the 'brother in the hood' is really concerned about the athlete he takes responsibility of his own complete life by discontinuing the worship of a false god-the athlete. On the other hand, the athlete must accept that his long time friend must grow up which is hard when the the athlete has not himself. This does not mean that the athlete doesn't care about his friend or friendships of old. It means he can care about his friend much more deeply if he can refuse copendent relationships which require the courage of becoming aware of one's toxic history. Such care means that the athlete needs to accept honestly ba-bra's motivation and intention of the relationship as well as his own. I argue that the protection ba bra offered might be something else. Ba'bra's illusion of being a protector of the athlete growing up might be rooted in the idea that ba'bra worshipped the athlete out of a longstanding admiration for athletes as saviors (i.e. Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, Jackie Robinson, Wilam Rudolf, Althea Gibson, MJordan) which is ba-bra's choice out our collective memory of a need for a black savior. Maybe its time for ba bra and big time athlete seek out the savior of professional help to parse out what these relationships are really about--overfunctioning and underfunctioning which is destroying the black community and black families. I think that ultimately, a person has to take responsibility for his life in the midst of holding folk around us accountable and responsible too. Both ba bra and the athlete must stop worshiping each other by romantizing about their relationships of the past as though somehow this bond is somehow unbreakable when really it holds nothing but pain.
ReplyDeleteGod bless JColquitt
It's very difficult to cut off people that you love even if they may be shady. You can't pick your family and where you grew up. Everybody doesn't get to grow up with productive people around them.
ReplyDelete