Unless you have been living under a rock you can't have missed the blaring headlines for the last two weeks.
Tiger crashes car at 2-ish am the day after Thanksgiving...
Tiger linked to woman who has been with NY Yankees Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and actor David Borenaez.
Tiger's wife confronts his mistress!!!
Car crash... Mistress(es), ten and counting, coming out of the wood work for their 15 minutes of so called fame.
You can't get away from it. It’s dominated the news.
It’s been the leading story on a lot of networks.
It’s a sad state of affairs because it’s really none of our business.
He cheated on his wife and they only people that matter in this whole fiasco are him, his wife and their two kids.
What this sordid story has done is begun a discussion amongst the black community about Tiger.
There have been the jokes...
"Today Tiger is finally a black man..."
"Tiger couldn't have cheated on a sista because they would be reporting on his funeral"
Now mind you all these jokes come from the black community.
Today I posed the facebook status as to why should I care that his wife possibly ODs. Later on we would find out it was his mother-in-law who was rushed to the hospital because she collapsed from serious stomach pains.
Bottom line is none of this affects me. It’s not going to pay my mortgage, bills and his issues are not going to put food on the table for my 2 year old son. Why should I care?
That one status led to one of the most frank and open discussions had by two very good friends. "Mrs. Dr" and "Party Man", (identities are being concealed as to protect their privacy), quickly replied.
Party Man believes that racism is at the root cause of Tiger's downfall. Mrs. Dr and I both firmly believe that racism does not play into this case.
What I found out was that they represented very real segments of their community, the black community. They believe like many within the community exactly what they were discussing with each other.
Party Man believes that this is a systematic approach of racism. A black man or minority does well beyond anyone's belief and the minute he or she falters she is brought down with an Iron First of Retribution. It does not matter to him that Tiger is the cause of his downfall. What matters is the reaction to his mistakes.
While Tiger has identified himself as Cablasian, there is strong sentiment within the black community that Tiger in a way is getting a good dose of what every day black people experience; criticism, judgemental views and racist remarks about an issue which does not affect anyone but him.
While they embrace his accomplishments as their own; they question his blackness for only dating white women. A billionaire athlete, the first of his kind, and he is the picture of racial mixing who has only publicly dated white women. This strikes a chord of apathy and disgust within some within the black community.
This is a subject that is TABOO within the black community and for that matter the Latino community as well.
Race and class as it pertains within the black community is a subject that has always been skirted around but very rarely have open dialogues taken place. "If you make it out of the hood, then make sure that you come up in all aspects; neighborhood, friends and places to hang out." These are comments that are whispered amongst family and close friends; in the deep recesses of the barber shop and the beauty salon. Many within the black community feel that if you make it out of the hood you owe to the the community to not forget from where you came. You are suppose to give back. Help those left behind get a "foot in the door" and open doors that would otherwise be closed.
When Tiger first came out as a professional there was one commercial that many are now speaking about since this whole media storm broke. The commercial for Nike where he is walking a golf course and he starts talking about what he's accomplished so far and it ends with him looking straight into the camera and stating that there are courses he is still not allowed to play or even step foot.
It was a prolific commercial and moment.
One that gave a community hope that he would be the one to speak against the injustices still experienced in the professional sports.
Good enough to play but not good enough to be the head coach.
Good enough to play but not good enough to be the CEO of a league.
Good enough to play but not the right skin color for membership.
Alas, it was one commercial and done. Tiger has never addressed the issue since that time.
His career, life and brand all marketed to ensure that he would not offend the one community that idolized. The one community his sponsors and handlers knew would ensure that money would be spent.
The white community.
All this Party Man pointed out and emphatically stated that no one in America with real power wants to see a man like Tiger Woods, the first billionaire athlete who is also black really succeed because that success gives credence and power to the fact that if he did then others can and will do.
Mrs. Dr believes that the opposite that this whole Tiger fiasco is not part of a greater conspiracy but solely Tiger's responsibility.
She pointed out that our society, especially the black community for years has disregarded the state of matrimony and family.
Yes while there has been factors within the government that have played a part in diminishing what was once the strength of the community, as a people we have to take responsibility for perpetuating this syndrome.
The marriage pact, the vows that are taken and spoken in front of friends, family and religious entity need to hold stronger weight than they do today. Marriage is not an occassion for a big party. It is a serious contract that should not be entered into lightly nor ignored cause times get rough.
Like I said it was one of the most open and public discussion to take place in a long time on topics that more often than not are talked about in barbershops and hair salons within the community.
The sanctity of marriage, racism and the thoughts and reactions of the white community when someone they have admired and helped build up falters. Capitalism, politics and the state of race relations have all been mentioned and talked about in great detail.
Feelings were not spared and both parties agreed to disagree.
Tiger Woods changed his name from Eldrick to Tiger as soon as he started winning.
He identified himself as Cablasian.
He has won majors with margins that were only a dream.
He's made a prolific commercial the likes we have never seen again.
He's broken records and won the grand slam of golfing majors.
He married a Swedish woman and has 2 beautiful kids.
He has apologized for "transgressions" on his website.
He is the first billionaire athlete and he has very carefully crafted the appearance and brand of the perfect athlete.
He's been praised as a golfing god, the best that ever played the game and will ever play the game.
For the last two weeks Tiger has experienced that he is just a mere mortal and he too can falter.
The black community will continue celebrate his wins there will just be a lot of "side eyed" glances and a lot of whispered conversations.
2 comments:
You certainly highlight a lot of issues that celebrities (and black/minority celebrities at that) must deal with often: that is, being the standard-bearer for a community, whether that's a reasonable thing to expect or not.
Your post thematically is related to Paola's in that she also talks about the trends of famous athlete philanderers. Does society have any room to judge the transgressions of one person? Even if he tries to sell us Buicks and Gatorade? Does a celebrity have a right to choice and privacy? And how doe this connect to the black community?
All of these are questions I'd like to see you address (or a few of them at least). I like that you brought in social networking and feedback from peers. Maybe think about developing the points into longer, more relatable paragraphs for emphasis (and instead of the extra punctuation?). I know you have a keen ability to slay the reader with killer phrasing to tie it all together...
I'm half and half about celebrity privacy. I know that celebrity's are human and make mistakes but unfortunately; they make their living through fans. Fans are willing to spend hundreds and sometimes thousands to see them play or perform. For that reason, fans make them famous and are partly responsible for their rich lifestyles. So celebrities should be grateful for their fans. Also, as fans, we should be able to judge them. After all, they are role models for some children including their own children.
As for this being a racial issue, well, personally race is not a factor. Adultery is committed by all ethnic backgrounds.
Recommend reading this out loud. I found some missing words and misspelled words as well.
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