Dr Boyce Watkins
I just saw an article in which Senator John McCain recently wanted to pardon Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champ in American history. His actions confuse me, as McCain was one of the last holdouts on the Martin Luther King holiday a few years ago. Also, McCain would not like Jack Johnson if he were alive today, for his spirit of defiance of America’s 400 year commitment to racism is similar to the one that scholars such as myself carry today. In other words, we are his ideological grandchildren, and John McCain doesn’t like people like me.
I find men like McCain to be even more perplexing because they are the first to get in line to support symbolic gestures, such as pardoning a man who was convicted nearly 100 years ago, but are happy to endorse tougher sentencing laws and more prisons which incarcerate hundreds of thousands of Black men today. It has been statistically proven that, beyond any doubt, Black males are more likely to be incarcerated for the same crimes, less likely to have adequate counsel and more likely to receive longer sentences for these crimes. Now, we are in an era in which American corporations own stock in prisons and have a profit motive for excess incarceration, which is incredibly dangerous. What’s worse, millions of families are destroyed by the justice system endorsed by John McCain, with these men finding insurmountable institutional hurdles to their re-entry into society.
I grow weary of those who chastise Black men for speaking out against racism, yet show up to sit in the front row of every Martin Luther King Day function. There are even those in my own university who once hated Jim Brown and love him 30 years later. All the while, they hate Boyce Watkins without realizing that he and Jim Brown come from the same tradition. Such reactions show that history only repeats itself and that some Americans are quick to follow the lead created by their forefathers.
Perhaps dead Black men are the ones McCain is willing to pardon first, since they cause him the least trouble. But the truth is that rather than hating us while we’re alive and honoring us in death, you’d be better off showing enough vision and open-mindedness to respect our point of view in the first place. That is supposed to be what America is all about.
Rest in peace Jack Johnson. I gave you a pardon long ago.
27 comments:
Dr. Watkins is comparing himself to the great Jim Brown? Wow! The humble, Peoples' Scholar?!! It just keeps getting better with time!!!
What you are looking for is white people to kiss black peoples ass. That ain't gonna happen no time soon. As for why McCain is doing this, I don't know. Maybe he lost half his sense in Nam.
Just because one doesn't believe there should be a federal holiday for Martin Luther King, especially when there isn't one for American Greats like George Washington and others, does not mean that one is racist. It is absurd that people cannot disagree without being called racists anytime they disagree with a "black" issue.
If Martin Luther King, Jr. deserves a national holiday commemorating his birth, why stop there? Why not have one for Malcolm X, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth?
Excellent words Dr. B
Dr. Watkins,
I appreciate your comments on Sen.
McCain. Let's continue to focus on
the present to avoid the mistakes of the past. We waste time trying to appear to undo the past.
Thank-you,
Darrell Sharpless, DDS
Preach Boyce preach! Just what I needed to start my day!
Who cares about McCain's motives, he made the move. And yes, I'm a Black man......
thank you for pointing out the difficulties ex-offenders have in reconnecting with their communities and meaning full employment in general. Us prisons will continue to be cash cows for the commuinities that harbor them and thats just the plain truth of the situation. However, it is also the truth that prisons are necessary. Some people refuse to conform to normal modes of behavior and others have never been taught. However, that is no reason to refuse and instituionalize the practice of excluding ex-offenders from employment and an opportunity to alter their lagacy and that of their children. Bravo,Dr. B. .
Youthful stupidity is often just that youthful and should not preclude redemption or the opportunity to engage in or pursue redemptive service.
McCain is such a damn stooge. This is right on point, I hope John Mc doesn't think this means anything.
I enjoy reading the resentful blathering of angry white men, especially now with a black man with a white mom as president. Thank you Anonymous no. 1 and The Man for pleasant chuckles at your sad attempts to hold on to your mythical superiority.
Dr. Watkins, can you post links or sources of statistics regarding the fact that a black man is more likely to receive stiffer sentences and bogus legal counsel and other stats related to this issue? I have arguments with people about this but lost some info (computer crash) and need hard facts to back up my - our - viewpoint.
I do appreciate the gesture on Mccain part but I can't help but feel alittle bit apprehensive as to why is he spearheading the movement.
Dr. Watkins is comparing himself to the great Jim Brown? Wow! The humble, "Peoples' Scholar"?!! It just keeps getting better with time!!!
Jim Brown was and is a man of the people, just like Dr. Boyce. I am glad that he's not being the quiet, meek humble black man that racists like to see. Keep doing your thing Dr. Boyce.
I'm Black and I'll tell you this: Dr. Watkins is no Jim Brown! He might have been on the road to becoming one two years ago, but all that stopped when he fell off the wagon, and began chasing after senseless and immaterial tabloid news like "Chrianna." It stopped when he resigned himself from any strident criticism of Obama, during the '08 race. It stopped when he began confirming alliances with racist networks like ABC, and FOX Business News. It began soon after he adopted opportunism, and lost all touch with the reality around him. In short, he began to fill his own hype, and say stupid sh-- like, "I tend to be a hardcore capitalist." How the f--k can you be the "People's Scholar," when you support a racist financial system like capitalism???!!!! No! He's NO "man of the people," and he's certainly no Jim Brown!
I know Jim Brown personally and Dr. Watkins actually brings more to this campus than Jim Brown did. He brings intellecte, guidance and power from multiple angles and unlike the younger Brown, he is better able to express his frustration. The angry reactions of white males on this blog are a reflection of the fact that articulate and empowered black men are their worst nightmare. If they didn't care, they wouldn't be scouring his blog and hanging on his every word.
I think that Dr. Watkins is quite similar to Jim Brown. They both spoke out in anger against the injustice of racism, and were treated poorly by white racists because of it. I am proud of both men, for they give me a tremendous amount of courage as an African American male.
"Dr. Watkins actually brings more to this campus than Jim Brown did."
I think that statement single-handedly sums it all up. Comments like that do nothing but inflate the size of Dr. Watkins already over-the-top ego--and can only mean more harm to the Young Black Community, which Dr. Watkins has posited himself as leader of.
You're only justifying any possible ego problems by riding his jock by visiting his blog every day LOL!
"riding his jock" - sweet comment. I say we nickname them the "Dr Boyce d**k riders" - LMAO!
Nobody rides the fat one like a hater.
Is Dr. Watkins helping the Young Black Community by teaching them to be "hardcore capitalists" like himself?????!!!!!! Teaching them to be Sons of Reagan?!!!!! Now I see why it was so hard for him to utter a single phrase that was truly critical of Obama (not opportunism-driven drivel), in the course of the campaign!
Watkins doesn't support Reagan. He believes in compassionate capitalism, where you have a stronger, more sustained business model to fuel your activism. Do your homework before you start criticizing.
"Compassionate capitalism?" You mean like "Compassionate Conservatives"???????!!!!!!! It just keeps getting better. And I'm less inclined to believe what you have to say, in defense, as we have the solemn word of the "People's Scholar" himself, who declared that he tends "to be a hardcore capitalist."
"Although I tend to be a hardcore capitalist, a part of me misses the activism of the 1960s, when people cared about more than making a dollar."
Did you get that? A "part of him" misses the struggle for human justice. Only a "part of him"!!!!!
Source: http://drboycespeaks.blogspot.com/2009/01/could-economic-downturn-possibly-be.html
YOU go do your homework!!!!!!!!!!
Jackass! Ah, How mature and insulting. All I'm saying is that now I know why FOX News and Fox Business News love him so much. He is just like them--Hannity, Beck, O'Reily, Deuce, etc.!
When you "tend to be a hardcore capitalist," and only feel partly reminiscent of the Civil/Human Rights struggle for dignity for Black people, you become an immediate darling of CNN, CBS, ABC and FOX News!!!
Are these the doctrines Dr. Watkins teaches on his speaking engagements at HBCUS and inner-city High Schools across the country??!!!! Teaching our young men and women to become "hardcore capitalists"??!!!!!!!!!!!
He is not an oppositional force. He is part of the mainstream. I haven't drank the Kool Aid, so I can see clearly!
P.S.: There's nothing wrong with being part of the mainstream. Just don't lie about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think you don't give yourself enough credit by stating that you are in the tradition of Jim Brown. Jim came off angry at times, and you simply come off as a person with a capacity for fairness. Also, with the personal problems Jim had in his life, I would say that you've carried yourself with more integrity. But this is not to say that Jim Brown was not a great man, but neither he nor Muhammad Ali were intellectual warriors such as yourself.
I've never heard him argue that he is not part of the mainstream. I could be wrong, but he seems proud to be American and says that he grew up around whites. I think that he is arguing that he believes in fighting for equality, which should be an American ideal. Please tell me if I am wrong Dr. B, if you are reading this.
There is nothing wrong with going on CNN to make your point, or being a capitalist. Dr B has never come off to me as being a blacker than black type of person. I see him as a scholar, a gentleman and a strong black man, just like Barack Obama.
Dr. Watkins is better than Jim Brown or Muhammad Ali????!!!! Wow! Even the "People's Scholar" himself would flatly reject those claims--if his ego wasn't over-sized, that is!
I've heard Dr. Boyce speak and he never says he is better than anyone. He believes that we all have the potential to be as great as anyone if we choose to be. That's not ego, that's upliftment.
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