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| "Don't make me put my shoes on and come down there boy!" |
On Friday LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson and teammate Joshua Johns turned themselves in after arrest warrants were obtained on felony charges of second-degree battery, stemming from their alleged roles in a fight outside Shady's bar in Baton Rouge on Aug. 19. They were immediately suspended indefinitely by the school.
"Today is a sad day for the city of Baton Rouge. Today is a sad day for Louisiana State University, the LSU alumni and the countless fans that follow the Tiger football program," Baton Rouge police chief Dewayne White said. "It is also a sad day for the Baton Rouge police department."
It’s unfortunate that kids aren’t being raised with the same fear of their parents or other family members like they were when I was coming up. It was almost mandatory for you were afraid of someone at home; your father, mother, uncle, Big Momma or all of the above. You wouldn’t dare go out in public and act a fool because you knew that somebody with your last name or blood type was going to show up and embarrass you. The last thing you wanted was Big Momma showing up at the school with her rollers in her head and her house shoes on. I guarantee that if Jefferson and Johns had been scarred by that thought they would’ve walked away from Shady’s Bar last week.
Even if you wanted to participate in some foolishness, that internal voice would tap your shoulder like The Great Gazoo from the Flintstones and told you to put the breaks on. It was mandatory to grow up being afraid of someone at home in order to just make it out of the hood alive. That fear deterred a lot of bad decisions. Now the term “afraid” evolved over a period of time to mean "respects someone at home to the point that I don't want to let them down".
Remember at the beginning of the 2009 college football season when Oregon’s LaGarrett Blunt punched the kid from Boise State? Now I completely understood why he hit the guy. The Boise State player was talking trash as they were walking off of the field and Blount’s adrenaline was still running at full speed. No telling what the Bronco player said to him. So he lost it. I completely understand.
However, after the Oregon players tried to restrain him, he kept going. He then allowed the Boise State fans to badger him to the point where he was completely out of control. At no point did the thought, “ my ole man is gonna be pissed or Big Momma is watching this on TV, so I need to chill” go through his mind. I know that if it were me out there, my dad would've been standing in my dorm room by the time we got back to Eugene and God knows what would’ve happened. It's called being held accountable!
We can’t keep sending our children out into this world unprepared to deal with it. There are always going to be times when they want to act a fool or get into a fight etc. However, they’ve got to envision that belt in the air or that back hand and be willing to walk away. Otherwise, we see kids throw away promising lives by doing something stupid. Now these guys are facing felony charges and they were big time college football players a week ago.
Their only concern was juggling class, practice and all the women chasing them on campus. Now there is the serious possibility of juggling the threat of Bubba and Baby J trying to get at them in prison.
Even after they are released if they are convicted they’ll be stuck doing the “important jobs” for the rest of their lives. They’re always the jobs that no one else wants to do like, picking up the garbage, pushing that infamous broom or doing some lower level manual labor assignment that only the felon gets stuck with. The only people doing those jobs are those with the least amount of options and when you’ve got a felony you instantly become that guy. That belt or back hand doesn’t seem all that bad now does it?
Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Twitter: @jaygravesreport
Information from the Associated Press was used in this article.
This problem is systemic, plain and simple! It begins in junior high when everyone around the kid tells him that he is the greatest thing since sliced bread. This kid become the prodigal son of his neighborhood and everyone treats him that way. Furthermore, he has every high school and AAU coach competing for his attention and his God given abilities. By then his parents begin to see the potential and possible opportunities out of their struggling situation.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, although "Big Mama" is in a very tough and impossible battle to teach him about consequences when everyone else gives the kid a pass with each and every transgression. What is she to do? And how exactly can she instill the values and discipline she grew up with when everything she tells him, every lesson of consequence falls on deaf ears because it is not what he has experienced in his very short life. Because I would like to think that most parents are trying to raise these children the right way I wont dwell on all of the reasons she has not to piss this kid off. After all, she does have two or three other childern to raise and hopefully escape their economic situation. When its all said and done this kid goes off to college feeling and thinking that most of the rules dont apply. Enter the Maurice Clarett and Jamarcus Russell's of the world who think the laws of the land dont apply and your natural given abilites will be enough!