On the Black Superhero Blog has a very interesting post about a real historical person: Jack Johnson. He was the world's first celebrity Black Athlete. Without him, there would be no Muhammad Ali or Michael Jordon or Venus Williams or Serena Williams. I dare say there would be no NFL or NBA as we know them (if at all) today. I remember talking about him briefly in history class in high school. He was truly undefeated and lived his life the way he wanted (including dating white women) and did not cowtow to white people who hated him because he was black. I heard that when he retired and threw his last fight. He laid on the ground and shield the sun from his eyes as he was counted out.I think it was because of his attitude and self-respect that made the American power structure fear him so much. This is why great pains has been taken to make sure that there would never be another black man like him. If you notice anytime a black man becomes greatly successful, something happens to either humble him before society if not outright destroy him. Look at Muhammad Ali. At the top of his game, the government tried to draft him for Vietnam and when he refused he wasn't allowed to compete anymore for a time. I think they hoped that when he came back he would never be successful again (they were wrong). Look at Michael Vick (I'm not condoning dog fighting), his career in football has been halted and almost destroyed. Kobe Bryant almost lost his career due to legal problems also. The list goes on and on. It seems like a concerted effort to destroy these men before they begin to look at themselves the way Jack Johnson looked at himself. The sad thing is that today these black celebrities are being caught doing things that they shouldn't be doing and I although one might argue that they are being set up to fail, they are still allowing themselves to be caught up.
I digress. The post has a great link to an online comic that serves as a biography for Jack Johnson.
Black Superhero Blog: Black, Jack Johnson
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I remember seeing a documentary on the history of African-Americans in sports, and a large portion of it was devoted to Johnson. A very interesting person, because the documentary was making the case that Johnson damaged the progress of blacks in sports because his flamboyant personality made whites afraid that all black athletes were going to be like that. At the same time, though, there's definitely something oddly admirable about the man's decision to not kowtow to the power structure of his time, and be whatever he wanted to be.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've heard that argument. And to some extent I agree had he been a "nicer negro" then maybe more would have been able to follow him more quickly. But he wasn't that guy. Jackie Robinson was that guy and in Johnson's time America was not ready. Many still thought it was okay to randomly choose a black guy and lynch him for no reason and then go to church the next Sunday. God was protecting Johnson because that is the only reason why I think he wasn't killed. I admire Johnson for just being who he was without compromising himself.
ReplyDelete...And really, the sort of stuff that he did that was considered scandalous in his own day was pretty mild compared to today's athlete scandals, regardless of race. He was mostly just a guy who refused to take crap from anyone.
ReplyDeleteI agreed and he had the physical prowess to back it up
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