"Say It Loud"

"I've got nothing to prove baby boy!"

When James Brown wrote the hit song “Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud in 1968 he didn’t ask folks for their ghetto pass nor did he ask for them to take a test to prove whether they were black enough to sing along.  Now at that time we all lived in the same neighborhoods and spoke the same language because of the limited access we had to the world because of segregation. However, since that time black folks have been able to go off to the schools of their choice and reside in whatever neighborhoods they could afford to live in.

So therefore, in that span of 40 plus years because we’ve had the opportunity to spread our wings in this country we don’t all speak in the same vernacular and grow up with the same experiences.

That’s why I’m blown away that ESPN’s Rob Parker, a brother, would try to authenticate RG3’s blackness on First Take this past Thursday. Now while we're on some REAL TALK we can't let ESPN off the hook for throwing the blood in the water but Parker was the only one dumb enough to bite. Then they've got the nerve to fire him for eating.

This dun went on to ask the question, "Is he a brother or a cornball brother?" While he’s sitting there looking like the chapter president of the revenge of the nerds he put RG3 on blast. He then went on to say that he wanted to find out more about Griffin and how he deals with black teammates and others in Washington. Now even if he felt that way you never blast family in public. 

"We all know he has a white fiancée," he said. "There was all this talk about he's a Republican, which, there's no information [about that] at all. I'm just trying to dig deeper as to why he has an issue. Because we did find out with Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods was like, I've got black skin, but don't call me black. So people got to wondering about Tiger Woods early on."

Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes first! RG3 is representing the brotherhood well! He graduated from Baylor in 3 years, won the Heisman Trophy, was the #2 pick overall in the 2012 NFL draft, is balling out of control and has been a model citizen. I’d say that he’s the type of black man that I’d want my son to aspire to become. Who cares what his girl looks like bruh or how he votes? The fact that he's a multi-millionaire wouldn't make it odd for him to be a Republican if he was.

Would Parker be more satisfied if ole boy couldn’t complete a sentence, had a gold grill in his mouth, walked around with his pants falling off of him and carrying a gun? That doesn’t represent the brotherhood well. That makes us look like fools and increases the statistic of us being unproductive. I'm ridin' with him on GP because he looks like me and when the world sees him they see my son! If he does well that opens more doors for my children. If he represents poorly it closes those same doors homeboy! See if a white kid goes out and acts a fool. He's an idiot all by himself. If a black kid does the same thing he represents us all. So we're pulling for RG3 to make good on all of that potential on and off of the field!

What blows me away is that some black folks only think that you have to be from the ghetto and poor to be black. At one point in time that was the case because we’ve all come from nothing. However, time and opportunity has changed many of our kid’s experiences and they don’t all include the ghetto homeboy.

 Both my wife and I are from Gary, In. one of the toughest places in America. We had the same experiences that every kid in the ghetto had because we were all forced to live in the same neighborhoods and go to the same schools even though our parents were middle class. My father was a pharmacist, my mother was a school teacher, her dad was a steel worker and her mother was blessed to be a stay at home mom. So even though we were brought up as middle class kids our experience was no different from the other kids around us because we couldn’t live in the suburbs at that time.

Since then we’ve been blessed to move into the upper middle class and therefore our kids don’t have the slightest clue of what the ghetto is and I’m not ashamed of that homeboy! So by dull Rob Parker’s definition my kids don’t make the black cut either.

I know that I can speak for all of the brothers that have spread their wings out here with me. We won’t apologize for our ability to provide for our families and expose our children to a world that we didn’t know existed until we were grown. If corn ball is making the honor roll every marking period, being very articulate, keeping their pants around their waists and saying yes sir and no mam when they’re speaking to adults then we'll embrace that label for our kids because their futures will be bright.

 If knowing all the lyrics to a Katy Perry or Taylor Swift joint along with bumpin' some Rihanna make them not  black enough for your book, then I’m cool with that too because your book ain’t selling anymore pimpin’!  Down for the cause means representing the brotherhood well and a college educated brother playing pro ball making millions of dollars and not ending up on the police blotter is what's happening. 

In 1984 when the Cosby Show came on TV it inspired a whole generation of black kids to become something that most folks thought was impossible for them to do. He was a doctor and his wife was a lawyer and they were both black. Now I can’t begin to count the number of friends that I have that live that exact same life. Are their kids not black enough Rob Parker because they may view the world like RG3 does?  Maybe our kids think you’re a corn ball brother for trying to tear down a cat that’s nothing short of a great role model. Y’all can stop me when I start lyin’ bruh!

Holla At Ya Boy!

Jay Graves

Get @ me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport