Unspoken Kinship

Tom Joyner, the self-described "Fly Jock" and indefatigable worker for all things African American, observed in a recent blog post on the travails of Bishop Eddie Long and Democratic Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.: "You all know what I'm talking about - an incident that no matter what your politics, your economic status or your religious affiliation, you hurt, despair and even a tinge of betrayal because even though you may have had no personal connection, there was an unspoken kinship between you and person or people being accused."

With all due respect to Mr. Joyner, this is nonsense. I feel no kinship, spoken or otherwise, with Bishop Long, who allegedly sexually exploited four young men,or Rep. Jackson, who is implicated in political and sexual scandals. If these two gentlemen have disappointed or embarrassed anyone, it is the 25,000 congregants who comprise the New Birth megachurch and the constituents of Rep. Jackson's district.

Hopkins-Jones 2

In what can only be termed professional boxing's version of the seniors tour, tonight Bernard Hopkins, 45, squares off against Roy Jones, Jr., 41, in a rematch 17 years in the making in Las Vegas, Nevada. Both fighters are clearly past their prime but I expect Hopkins to dispatch Jones in one of the early rounds because of the two aging combatants, Jones is clearly on the decline having suffering devastating knockout losses in recent bouts. Needless to say, I will refrain from the $50 pay-per-view and await the result on ESPN's Sports Center and perhaps see entire bout later on HBO's telecast.

Deja Vu Again

Wasn't going to join the feeding frenzy about the renown Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., getting arrested in his own house by the Cambridge police for disorderly conduct because, quite frankly, there is nothing unusual about a black man in America finding himself on the wrong end of police conduct. What distinguishes this situation from others that happen all over America is that Gates is the most preeminent African American intellectual of his generation and, as such, should have been impugn from the indignities suffered by his less fortunate brethren. But with President Obama going off script and weighing in ("the police behaved stupidly") and then moonwalking away from his statement (he calls it recalibration) and inviting the principals - Gates and Sgt. Crowley - for a couple of beers, the scenario is becoming increasingly familiar. First, there is an incident that reminds us of America's sordid past in race relations - the Bush administration's bungling of Katrina damaged New Orleans, the idiotic Don Imus' nappy-headed hos comment, O.J. Simpson's trial-of-the-century, the L.A. police's beating of Rodney King, the brutal dragging death of James Byrd, black and Hispanic kids being uncereminously disinvited from a private Philadelphia swimming pool, etc. Then the wiser heads among us reflexively come forth and call for a conversation and/or dialogue about race (Obama deems it a "teachable moment"). For a few days or perhaps a week or two, there is a lot of back and forth that presumably passes for dialogue or conversation, and then the whole thing recedes and it is back to business as usual. Excuse my cynicism but I find myself suffering from a severe case of fatigue.