So do your thing ,Charles! Stephen A. Smith on Fox News on Wednesday night commented
I got to tell you something. As much as people may have been appalled by Donald Trump's statement weeks ago, talked about black folks, he's hearing about how black folks find him relatable because of what he's going though is similar to what black Americans have gone through, he wasn't lying.
He was telling the truth. When you see the law, law enforcement, court system, and everything else being exercised against him, that's something that black folks throughout this nation can relate to with some of our historic, iconic figures. We've seen that happen throughout society. So no matter what race, what ethnicity you may emanate from, we relate to you when you're suffering like that because we know we have. That's what he articulated.
First, let's get something out of the way. The "we" (in "we've") is doing a lot of work here. Smith appears not to have grown up in poverty and attended college at Winston-Salem State University, to which he received a basketball scholarship. He wrote for the school's newspaper, earned a degree in mass communications, and became a well-respected print journalist thereafter.
Smith thereafter became a well-respected print journalist and is now an extraordinarily successful media personality. He is paid approximately $12 million annually by ESPN. Good for him! With both of his parents hailing from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, he is not generational African American, unlike the "our historic, iconic figures" to which he apparently is referring.
So Smith is not from a line of persons descended from individuals brought to the American shore by Europeans and subjected to slavery. Nor has he ever been arrested. Good for him- but "we" is doing a lot of work here.
Smith contends that "black folks find (Donald Trump) relatable" because "what he's going through is similar to what black Americans have gone through."
In the space of thirteen months, Donald Trump has been indicted four times, with all charges pending, comprising 88 counts of alleged lawbreaking. Stephen A. Smith runs with an unusual crowd if he believes the typical black American has faced four indictments. That is not the situation in any part of the country.
Nor, evidently in contrast to Smith's view, are the charges lodged against Trump similar in any way to those innocent or guilty blacks face. He has been indicted for allegedly violating Georgia's anti-racketeering law by urging a Republican secretary of state to "find" him enough votes to overcome an electoral deficit.
He has been indicted in Washington, DC for mishandling top secret- including nuclear- documents- at his Florida estate, valued at $18 million to $37 million; for falsifying business records, allegedly because he wanted to hide an extra-marital affair with a pornographic movie actress because he was running for President.; and for trying to overturn overturn an election by defrauding the federal government and conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding ("January 6").
This doesn't sound similar to most blacks I know; Stephen A. Smith's experience may be different. However, the extremely wealthy Smith is pushing Trump propaganda not merely because they both are part of the fortunate .1%. Not all of the super-rich agree with Smith- so take it away, Charles!
On an episode of (the now-cancelled) King Charles, ex-NBA superstar and current TNT star Charles Barkley remarked "if I see a black person walking around with a Trump mugshot, I'm going to punch him in the face." After the inevitable controversy, King the following week persuaded Barkley to explain that he wasn't really going to roam the streets looking for blacks to punch out. Nevertheless, he explained
for him (Trump) to compare a white billionaire of stuff he did not because of stuff- like black people in trouble for stuff they did not deserve to do. But for him to compare that to black peoples' plight, that's just stupid on their part....
If you're wearing a Trump mugshot around, you're a freaking idiot.... But if you got a Trump mugshot and Trump sneakers on, you cross over a line that you cannot get back.... My message is very clear. If you think Donald Trump is under the same umbrella as black people, you're just stupid.
The following day on his own program on Sirius XM, Smith added "It seems to me that they're ("the Democrats") trying to use the law and the courts. They've clearly politicized this thing with Donald Trump and the courts because can't come up with a strategy to offset the momentum he's clearly gained."
Against the wishes of most Democrats, Attorney General Garland- obviously a reluctant Prosecutor- waited and waited before moving on evidence of Trump's criminality, eventually settling on a Special Prosecutor. Moreover, recent polls show Biden gaining on Trump rather than vice-a-versa. It is not being "politicized," but rather being handled by an independent judiciary. If Smith had specific evidence indicating otherwise, he'd spit it out. But, no.
If you had told me 24 months ago that a well-educated, well-dressed professional journalist such as Stephen A. Smith would be carrying water for Donald J. Trump while the former "Round Mound of Rebound" would be a sensible straight-shooter, I wouldn't have believed it. We live in strange times.
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