The Philadelphia Eagles recently cut star NFL wide receiver DeSean Jackson. It has been widely speculated that this is due to his alleged “gang ties.” Jackson, who is originally from Los Angeles, was photographed with friends, who are known gang members and have been connected to two homicides since 2010.
Still, to be cut from the team seems to be a very decisive action for crime by association. Naturally, opinions are divided.
Fellow NFL player Richard Sherman is no stranger to negative press. The Seattle Seahawks corner back created a media frenzy earlier this year when he gave an after-game interview that featured him praising his own skills, in what was deemed to be an aggressive manner. Many media outlets labeled Sherman a “thug” as a result. He has come to Jackson’s defense and has written an eloquent article about how life before and after fame coincide.
The piece is too long to include in its entirety so I will excerpt the highlights, but I’ve included the link above and I urge you to read the full article.
“I look at those words—gang ties—and I think about all the players I’ve met in the NFL and all of us who come from inner-city neighborhoods like mine in Los Angeles, and I wonder how many of us could honestly say we’re not friends with guys doing the wrong things.
I can’t.
…
Those men with DeSean in the social pictures and the police reports weren’t his closest friends in childhood, but when his father died and few people were there for him, they were there. When a tragic event like that happens, the people who are around are the people who are around, and they were there for him.
Was DeSean supposed to then say, ‘Thanks guys, but now that I’m a millionaire, please leave me alone’? Even if he wanted to, he wouldn’t have. In desperate times for people who come from desperate communities, your friends become your family. I wouldn’t expect DeSean to ‘distance himself’ from anybody, as so many people suggest pro athletes ought to do despite having no understanding of what that means. Going to college and playing in the NFL creates a natural distance, but we can’t push people away just because they’re not as successful as us. I can’t change who I grew up with, but what I can do is try to educate them on the right way of doing things, help them when they need it, and try to keep them out of trouble.
There is, of course, a tipping point. There have been times when I realized that someone can’t be helped, because they continue doing the wrong things. Typically, the only time I cut someone off is when they’re in jail, because I can’t help them there.
And if they’re accused of a crime, as DeSean’s friends have been, should that reflect poorly on me? Consider that for every several guys I try to help who end up dead or in jail, there’s another person I was able to rescue from a similar end. Should I give up on everybody out of fear of being dirtied by the media?
Sorry, but I was born in this dirt.”
The sentiment Sherman expresses is one that pervades amongst Black celebrities. How do you abandon everything you’ve come from? What is the protocol for that? It has to be more than a little bit jarring when you’re told that the people who were with you your entire life have now become people you can’t even take a photo with for fear (or in this case, the reality) of losing your job.
One of the most upsetting things about this whole story is that Jackson’s (now former) teammate Riley Cooper was allowed to stay on the Eagles after being caught on video screaming racial slurs. Sherman touches on this double standard as well.
“This offseason they re-signed a player who was caught on video screaming, ‘I will fight every n—– here.’ He was representing the Philadelphia Eagles when he said it, because, of course, everything we do is reflective of the organization. But what did they do to Riley Cooper, who, if he’s not a racist, at least has ‘ties’ to racist activity? They fined him and sent him to counseling. No suspension necessary for Cooper and no punishment from the NFL, despite its new interest in policing our use of the N-word on the field. Riley instead got a few days off from training camp and a nice contract in the offseason, too.
Commit certain crimes in this league and be a certain color, and you get help, not scorn. Look at the way many in the media wrote about Jim Irsay after his DUI arrest. Nobody suggested the Colts owner had ‘ties’ to drug trafficking, even though he was caught driving with controlled substances (prescription pills) and $29,000 in cash to do who-knows-what with. Instead, poor millionaire Mr. Irsay needs help, some wrote.”
The NFL needs to have a serious review of what they deem to be irresponsible and termination-worthy behavior. There is an apparent bias that has the potential to have huge ramifications on player morale and cohesion going forward. What’s your take on DeSean Jackson’s firing?