If Colin Kaepernick’s challenge to be picked up by an NFL team has shown us anything, it’s that there are many Black men in sports who have serious identity issues.
The football player —who’s essentially being blacklisted for protesting the killing of unarmed Black people— has been admonished by Michael Vick (ex-con), Tiki Barber (adulterer), Jim Brown (accused abuser), Ray Lewis (accused murderer) and now, Jason Whitlock. In everyone else’s defense, Whitlock has been shucking and jiving for years as a sports correspondent on Fox News. But his latest antic was beyond flagrant — it was downright racist.
On Tuesday’s episode of FS1’s Speak for Yourself the “journalist” invited a White man on set to wear a wig and impersonate Kaepernick for a news segment.
Whitlock then went out of his way to post the photo of said White man holding up his fist, on Twitter. “Great to have Kap stop by the studio today,” he captioned the photo.
It’s no secret that the criteria to serve as a regular on Fox News probably requires selling one’s soul. But to blackface a man in an attempt to mock Kaepernick —who again, is literally asking law enforcement to just stop slaughtering Black men and women— is disgusting.
At some point this caping for the approval and affection of White folks has to end for some semblance of dignity.