I do think it useful to underline that the focus on Sharpton is idiotic ... he does poison the debate, but making it all about him is itself poisonous.
Relatedly, on the real role model front, yesterday was the 60th anniversary of the first day Jackie Robinson played in the MLB (note that there were blacks in the distant past there, so he was not really the "first" ever*). Many players and managers wore his number (42) in his honor. Given the Noah-like rains in my area, Willie Randolph did not get the chance. Too bad, since Rachel Robinson, Jackie (or Jack, to her) noted that the Mets is one of her teams (along with the Dodgers, of course).
There was a movie about the experience some time back and it was underlined that Robinson was chosen for a reason -- there was going to be opposition, some quite nasty, and the person had to be able to handle it. He was a great ball player, but there were other greats in the Negro league. He had to be great and have courage, which as Ernest Hemingway once noted is "grace under pressure." I don't think that is always shown these days ... grace is warranted even when the actions of others suggests it is not obligatory.
A local story discussed an incident that suggested that he could handle the pressure. He was charged for wilful disobedience and disrespect of a superior officer while in the army in response to a racial epithet (the person who said it didn't get charged). While on trial:
He allowed he had indeed been outraged at being called the N-word. He offered a definition of the word given him by his maternal grandmother, Edna Sims McGriff.
"She was a slave and she said the definition of the word was a low, uncouth person, and pertains to no one in particular," he testified. "I don't consider that I am low and uncouth."
Robinson was found "not guilty of all specifications and charges."
And, there is a connection to the "ho" incident:
Sixty-three years after Robinson described his reaction to the N-word, we listened to the Rutgers women's basketball team describe their reaction to being called "nappy-headed ho's." Kia Vaughn in particular echoed Robinson's words.
"Unless, in my case, a 'ho' stands for achievement or something you're getting done and you know that you're a wonderful person, then I'm not a 'ho,'" she said.
The whole team possessed the same qualities Robinson had evidenced on the stand and on the field. Here were people of principle, moral people. Imus was fired.
The women too showed courage in the face of hatred that many would think warranted a cruder response. A lesson learnt perhaps. Remember ... taxes ... a bit of extra time with the day falling on a Sunday. Hope your records are dry.
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* Given the twisted rules of what "black" means, including the "one drop rule," I'm sure a few who were legally "black" also came in.
The number 42 btw was retired in 1997, but those who still wore it at the time was allowed to continue. Thus, Mariano Rivera still wears it.