Today’s recipient of the coveted “Embarassing Coon of the Month” award was a pretty easy decision. Come on up to the stage, Albert Haynesworth, and accept your award.
NFL player Albert Haynesworth was recently slapped with a misdeamenor charge of sexual abuse, for allegedly sliding a credit card into a waitress’s bra and touching her inappropriately at a party. His defense to these charges was…get ready for this…he couldn’t possibly be guilty because he “…doesn’t even like black girls.” I had to do a double take the first time I read that mess.
First I should point out that I’m very sympathetic to people as it relates to them defending themselves against accusations of this nature. As I’ve argued countless times before, we live in a society that immediately shifts the burden to the defendant, especially when it comes to the question of sex and gender. The alleged victim’s word is usually taken at face value (more predominately, I would argue, when it involves a female victim and a male assailant) and it becomes almost criminal to make any attempts at deconstructing the victim and their account of the story. The victim is usually untouchable.
But this situation is wholly different.
The ‘I don’t even like black girls’ argument is pretty silly in terms of a defense strategy, true. But I’ll leave it up to the courts to ultimately decide on its effectiveness. I WILL note however, that Haynesworth is guilty on at least one front: publicly unleashing his disdain for black women, even if it’s only within the context of using it as shield against the accusations he’s facing.
To me, there is something extremely self-hating about a black man lashing out against black women. But I’m not surprised by this in the least. Over the past few years, this has become a widespread phenomenon in the black community. People like Haynesworth have increasingly found it acceptable to smear black women, particularly as a means to justify their choice to exclusively be with non-black women. Certain stereotypical personality traits (being loud, overly aggressive, culturally unrefined, etc.) have been applied to all black women, giving brothas an excuse to kick them to the curb. This is most evident with brothas in sports and entertainment, but only because they have the spotlight shined on them. But indeed, this behavior is model by brothas in all social classes. Occasionally, anti-black woman sentiments even cut across racial lines, with white guys joining in the assault.
It is important to note that I’m ALL FOR a person’s right to choose whom they date and marry. To put it another way, I don’t believe people HAVE TO stay solely within their own race. But the practice of exclusion has historically been a bad look, whether it’s an employer who only hires certain candidates based on race, schools that only admit certain people based on race, or – in this case – when a person only dates/marries a person based on race. Discrimination is discrimination. Period. To another point, I also freely accept the notion that people will occassionally fetishize certain physical properties. The porn industry, for example, capitalizes on all types of preferences defined by its customers. These preferences include hair color, body type, and – yes – skin color.
But what I also find odd about people who place such cursory limitations on those they date, is that they make it seem as if attributes they’re looking for beyond the physical only exist with that one group they prefer. For instance, a brotha like Haynesworth could claim he doesn’t date black women because they’re not smart, have a tendency to be jealous, and are unsophisticated; only to date a white woman who has those same traits. People like Haynesworth (at least according to how he phrased it) would thoughtlessly pass over a quality-laden women just because of their skin color. How ignorant is that nonsense?!
Back in 2006 Haynesworth made sports headline across the country when he purposely and viciously stomped on the head of another player during a game. After the incident, he released a statement saying:
I apologize to Andre. What I did was disgusting. It’s something that should never happen. I mean, I’m not a dirty player. I don’t play dirty. I have respect for the game. What I feel like is I disgraced the game, disgraced my team and disgraced my last name.
Well Albert, it looks like you’ve done it again. You may not have stomped on another player’s head with football cleats, but you did do something just as “disgusting.” You assaulted every black women in this country – including my mother, my sisters, my girlfriend, and countless others. For that they are entitled to an apology as well. So until I hear your apology to them, I gladly offer a hardy F*** YOU!
Enjoy your Coon of the Month award. It was well deserved.
– ACL
But, he really ‘doesn’t like Black girls’…LMAO
CoonTastik!!
Well deserved award! You know how to pick ’em.
To black women everywhere – I love you and always will. Peace.
I don’t see what the big deal is. I’m sure this chick IS like most black women I know. They get pissy everytime a black man is with somebody who’s not them. So Haynesworth’s comments are justified. People may not like to hear it, but he was speaking the truth.
Good points, Anon. I don’t think Haynesworth did it either. I think this waitress was looking for a quick payoff and/or was acting a fool. I don’t know why black women think they were born to get a black man. But they do. So they cry and whine, whine and cry when black men are with white women, asians, etc. With my experience with black women, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was all on her. This is her shit.
Thank you, Jermaine. In fact, I heard she ALLOWED him to put the credit card down her blouse.
Okay, my thoughts aren’t well collected on this issue but I do remember when I was much younger that I specifically favoured and respected Asian girls because of the way they band together to protect each other when any male tries to dishonor any one of them. In this unity was a collective strength that in turn keeps the males behaving. This is a cultural and social thing which has unfortunately has been considerably weakened by modern living.
I guess what I am trying to say is that if our sense of self worth is strong than others will respect us too. Dare I suggest that the disrespect shown to many black girls has its roots in the lack of self worth that they themselves have which in turn comes from how society has brought them up to think. These are generalisations of course and I certainly don’t want to offend anyone or be nominated for any award.
Jermaine/Anon: WTF are you two talking about?! You’re defending a man (I use the term loosely) willing tear down his own house and beautify another’s home at HIS expense. Did you REALLY listen to what he said? He wasn’t just talking about a fetish for white women. That would be understandable. He was DISPARAGING black women. He was making the claim that this black woman – and apparently all other black women he knows – haven’t been able to compare to Lily White Becky. That’s more than just personal preference.
I sincerely hope one day this asshole will realize that by asserting his sentiments about black women, he is undoubtedly, expressing his disdain for them. For us.
It troubles me to see a black man intentionally try to attack the souls of little black girls and women.
BossLady, you should be thankful that white girls like us are taking those stupid men off your hands. LOL! But seriously: You > Albert Haynesworth any day of the week.
So I know that being a white girl disqualifies me from joining in this convo, but it has to be said:
As a white girl, I wouldn’t come within 100 feet of this loser. I find it rather offensive that some of these athletes really believe that their new found status now makes them “too good” for their own kind. What a joke!? He should consider himself lucky to even have enough money that would make ANY women want to give him a second look. But it’s insulting for him to think that I and most of the white females I know would be so desperate that we’d settle for some fat, unattractive, self-hating dude like him just b/c he’s an athlete. Then, he turns around and insults black women by making them feel as though they are no longer on his level.
Besides all that, it’s very well possible that his white girlfriend is only with him because of his money & status. Would she give him the time of day if he WASN’T in the NFL? Probably not.