With Percy Harvin now a New York Jet, he continues to make waves after a Bleacher Report article stated that he and former Seahawk teammates felt Russell Wilson “wasn’t black enough”
Harvin, who was traded last week during the middle of Week 7, allegedly confronted Wilson physically and got into altercations with Seattle Seahawks wideout Jonathan Baldwin and current Detroit Lion, Golden Tate.
Media reports would also state that the Seattle locker room was split between Harvin and Wilson, as many felt that Wilson was too close to management and never took blame for his mistakes—a la RGIII in Washington. Further more, there was “increasing animosity” per an anonymous player, between the two players with Harvin leading a anti-Wilson faction.
As a fellow African-American who was often teased for being “sounding white” and being called derogatory names by fellow blacks such as “Oreo” or “Uncle Tom” what the unnamed Seahawk players said to Wilson affected me on a deep and personal level, as it also further set back inter-black relations among African-Americans once again.
What exactly does it mean to be “not black enough?”
Was it because he now-ex wife was white? Is it because he actually carries himself like the rarest of today’s African-Americans in being educated, well-spoken—or as I used to be, and am still slighted as talking “proper”—no outrageous post-game tirades or self-promoting commercials.
Is it because of the fact he has two degrees from two different colleges—North Carolina State(bachelor’s in Broadcast and Communications) and Wisconsin(masters in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis)—and prefers to keep a low-key, non-balling, no-showboating lifestyle that isn’t the accept norm in the pre-dominantly black NFL.
One would think that in a post-Civil Rights era in which we have a sitting black president in Barack Obama, interracial dating and a more mixed global culture that such short-sighted comments would not happen.
Sadly, comments such as these coming out of Seattle towards Wilson show that inter-black racism towards educated blacks is alive and well and why Black America will never truly prosper unlike other minorities such as Indians, Chinese and Hispanics.
Based on the logic of the unnamed Seahawk players, people such as this writer and Wilson should get as many tattoos, road groupies and move from the comfortable white suburbs and struggle pridefully in the inner city because that’s “being real” right?
Am I not black enough or am I black-ish, like Anthony Anderson’s hit new ABC comedy of the same name? Heck, what about Bill Cosby and Oprah Winfrey, are they not black enough?
Before doing such a thing, Harvin and his now former teammates should take a good long hard look at himself and proverbially—and eternally—kiss Wilson’s “not black enough” backside for enabling him to wear his shiny new $50K Super Bowl ring that he gets to take with him to Gotham—and play in the same stadium where he had his single greatest NFL highlight ever—because comments like that made towards Geno Smith in New York will be on the front page of Page Six—and even the Old Gray Lady herself, the New York Times—faster than he can find himself on the disabled list—again.
Sadly for Harvin, Wilson has more in common with Doug Williams than he does with staying on a football field.
Now in the Big Apple, it only makes you think what he will say about Mr. New York himself in Derek Jeter?
Personally, many blacks—myself included would kill to have the kind of rare opportunity to go to star at a top collegiate powerhouse, win two national titles, sign a multi-million dollar contact AND a Super Bowl ring while being injured for much of the year.
Must be nice, eh?
Accolades aside throwing your “not black enough” quarterback under the bus will only add to Harvin’s oft-injured mal-content problem child reputation around league circles and further show outsiders that all is not well in the land of Starbucks and Microsoft.
In a age of race being more of a sensitive issue now than it ever was, such comments are not only ignorant, but also foolish. Sadly, such comments are not only acceptable in black society—but the unfortunate norm.
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