P
Patrick Kinahan
Guest
SALT LAKE CITY – Longtime journalist Jason Whitlock never disappoints in interviews, always reading to offer up strong opinions on a variety of current hotly contested topics.
Whether you agree with him is another story.
Preparing to reconvene its season in Orlando, Fla., this month, the NBA will mix basketball with social activism during the remaining regular-season and playoff games. Plans include painting Black Lives Matter on the courts and having social justice sayings on the back of jerseys.
During recent teleconference sessions with local media members, several Utah Jazz players have indicated strong desires to keep the activism at the forefront of the American public. Aware of criticism that may come, guard Jordan Clarkson said any against the effort “should probably shut up and kind of look at yourself in the mirror.”
Others were a little more subtle.
“I think it’s very important to keep this in our minds,” said Jazz guard Mike Conley. “I think it’s a perfect opportunity for us to continue to put the pedal to the metal on this and not ease up, not to take our minds off of it at all.”
Don’t count Whitlock as a fan of mixing the NBA with BLM efforts. The 30-year media veteran, who is African-American, doesn’t believe in the movement’s origins, comparing it to Marxism.
Obviously, Whitlock is willing to take a stand against a large number of NBA players, who insisted on raising awareness on racial inequity as part of the season’s resumption. Some players have gone as far as saying the games would actually hinder the cause by diverting attention away from more important issues.
“I’m someone that’s not a fan of the Black Lives Matter movement,” Whitlock said in an interview with The Zone Sports Network. “I think that it’s a front. I think it’s a political organization. I don’t think its true concern is about the life of black people.”
Whitlock, who has moved through various media positions and now writes for Outkick.com, appreciates the attention given to the atrocities of police brutality. The issue is personal to him, saying police in Indiana killed his cousin eight years ago.
But he also points out BLM overlooks the number of black people killed virtually every week in this country. Five black children under the age 11 were killed this past weekend, none of which involved police.
“The issue that (BLM) alleged to be concerned about is one that hits home for me,” Whitlock said. “But I don’t think that’s the pandemic plaguing young black men. I think the data, the facts, the reality, is crystal clear that there’s an enormous amount of gun violence in poor inner-city black communities.”
He added: “The reality is you’re just as likely to be killed by a bolt of lightning as you are by the police. That’s just a fact. That’s not me choosing a side, that’s just me stating fact.
“I think a lot of this is misguided. I think a lot of it is political. It’s a tool used by apparently the Democratic party to rally support for them politically. That’s why these things bubble up so much in a presidential election cycle.”
Whitlock places much of the blame on Twitter, which he said has become a cesspool of racial division. He said many media members are addicted to the social media outlet, spending hours each week stoking racial fires.
All along, Whitlock said, the truth has become irrelevant and inconsequential. American detractors feast on the divide, he said.
“Communist-run countries love this sort of smear of America as the most racist place on the earth,” he said. “That’s not supported by the facts. America is a world-wide leader when it comes to dealing with the issue of race. Obviously, we’re not perfect; no one is. But if you compare us to the rest of the world, we’re doing better than everybody else.”
Full audio from 1280 the Zone...
Whether you agree with him is another story.
Preparing to reconvene its season in Orlando, Fla., this month, the NBA will mix basketball with social activism during the remaining regular-season and playoff games. Plans include painting Black Lives Matter on the courts and having social justice sayings on the back of jerseys.
During recent teleconference sessions with local media members, several Utah Jazz players have indicated strong desires to keep the activism at the forefront of the American public. Aware of criticism that may come, guard Jordan Clarkson said any against the effort “should probably shut up and kind of look at yourself in the mirror.”
Others were a little more subtle.
“I think it’s very important to keep this in our minds,” said Jazz guard Mike Conley. “I think it’s a perfect opportunity for us to continue to put the pedal to the metal on this and not ease up, not to take our minds off of it at all.”
Don’t count Whitlock as a fan of mixing the NBA with BLM efforts. The 30-year media veteran, who is African-American, doesn’t believe in the movement’s origins, comparing it to Marxism.
Obviously, Whitlock is willing to take a stand against a large number of NBA players, who insisted on raising awareness on racial inequity as part of the season’s resumption. Some players have gone as far as saying the games would actually hinder the cause by diverting attention away from more important issues.
“I’m someone that’s not a fan of the Black Lives Matter movement,” Whitlock said in an interview with The Zone Sports Network. “I think that it’s a front. I think it’s a political organization. I don’t think its true concern is about the life of black people.”
Whitlock, who has moved through various media positions and now writes for Outkick.com, appreciates the attention given to the atrocities of police brutality. The issue is personal to him, saying police in Indiana killed his cousin eight years ago.
But he also points out BLM overlooks the number of black people killed virtually every week in this country. Five black children under the age 11 were killed this past weekend, none of which involved police.
“The issue that (BLM) alleged to be concerned about is one that hits home for me,” Whitlock said. “But I don’t think that’s the pandemic plaguing young black men. I think the data, the facts, the reality, is crystal clear that there’s an enormous amount of gun violence in poor inner-city black communities.”
He added: “The reality is you’re just as likely to be killed by a bolt of lightning as you are by the police. That’s just a fact. That’s not me choosing a side, that’s just me stating fact.
“I think a lot of this is misguided. I think a lot of it is political. It’s a tool used by apparently the Democratic party to rally support for them politically. That’s why these things bubble up so much in a presidential election cycle.”
Whitlock places much of the blame on Twitter, which he said has become a cesspool of racial division. He said many media members are addicted to the social media outlet, spending hours each week stoking racial fires.
All along, Whitlock said, the truth has become irrelevant and inconsequential. American detractors feast on the divide, he said.
“Communist-run countries love this sort of smear of America as the most racist place on the earth,” he said. “That’s not supported by the facts. America is a world-wide leader when it comes to dealing with the issue of race. Obviously, we’re not perfect; no one is. But if you compare us to the rest of the world, we’re doing better than everybody else.”
Full audio from 1280 the Zone...