In literally taking off my reporter’s hat and revealing dreadlocks that I can’t easily remove (nor would I want to), when it comes to brothers like NFC champion Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch (pictured above,) it gets way deeper than me just doing my job. Lynch’s silence in the face of reporter’s questions is a way for a black man to control the narrative that society has long controlled about us.
And I’ll be damned if it ain’t working.
For black men, athletics is the primary place where we are showcased—but not necessarily in a negative light. We are celebrated, encouraged and in some cases worshipped. There’s a long history, going back to Jack Johnson where the black athlete is put on a pedestal. Yet, that same public gallery seems happy to knock us off that pedestal and see us crash and burn.
Jesse Owens, Muhammad Ali, O.J. Simpson, Arthur Ashe, Darryl Strawberry, Barry Bonds, all the way to Michael Vick and even Ray Rice (who probably had much of his punishment coming to him), each had to face the wrath of the media, various organizational agendas, and in some cases law enforcement. But bottom line, the vitriol society showed to them was never about the individual, it was really the same social bigotry that has been shown to President Barack Obama since he set foot in the White House.
But Lynch, in his genius, has decided that since he’s known for football he’d invoke the “don’t snitch” rule—on himself—and remove any possibility of talking himself into a media “gotcha” trap.