Pot calls Kettle Black - probably because Pot can't dunk

From that sentinel of outspoken, courageous, and passionate social advocacy (as long as its well, you know, not too liberal or too anti-establishment), the New Republic, a criticism of Michael Jordan. Apparently, Jordan isn't only a sinner against liberalism because of his "creepily pathological need to win." (Yeah, right around 1982 I got a sick sense about the damage that might do.) But he's also a sicky-poo because he didn't campaign against Jesse Helms or otherwise get very involved in politics, which you know, famous black people have to do...or else.

Here's a little mental experiment - go back to pre-1984, think about who the most marketable athletes are and who are considered the greatest clutch players of all time. Sure, maybe you get OJ Simpson as a marketable athlete (that worked out well) and Reggie Jackson as Mr. October, but you wouldn't find many black athlete's getting much respect from Madison Avenue and no black athlete since Bill Russell had been considered a consummate winner (White Men Can't Jump had America's perspective - "they'd rather lose pretty than win ugly").

Jordan changed all that, first by becoming the most marketable human being on the planet - the guy talks rich white guys out of $15,000 just to make them look stupid for a few hours at fantasy basketball camps. Then he won six NBA titles and, well, Tom Brady may try, but he ain't ever going to be such a mortal lock on championships. And Jordan's parlayed his success into being one of the most successful post-career athletes in America - its been over 7 years since he played his last playoff game, and he's still frequently seen on TV in ads, he may still be the most marketable athlete in the world.

This all may seem like trivial stuff, but it put a black face on success, while he was one of many, he's the most famous. He showed corporate America that white people would buy products being sold by someone who looked different. And I have little doubt, he changed the minds of some of those white folks in the process. In his footsteps, minority athlete's have been able to land marketing gigs that before Jordan weren't available.

I'm not the biggest fan of these ads, but to the extent the marketing contracts createwealth in America, Michael Jordan has had a significant impact on making sure that wealth is created in the black community. And ultimately, some of this wealth will go back into the black community, in the form of charitable donations from athletes.

Jordan was not Jackie Robinson. But for those who obviously haven't noticed, America in the 1990s was not America in the 1940s and 1950s. Jordan wasn't exactly being told to go to a different hotel from his white teammates on the road. There is a point at which the failure to speak out about injustice is not in fact a mortal test of one's character. And, though we've got lots to speak out about these days, I think it'd be nice if a magazine which is prone to advocating policies which do little about these injustices would use a little introspection before condemning silence.

And, in light of the tone which TNR sometimes takes in chastising those too "fuzzy-headed" liberals with whom it disagrees, its probably best not to snark at someone elses "often-sneering attitude towards rivals."

Ohh, and by the way, anyone who wants to call MJ for a shove on Byron Russell should spend a while watching Karl Malone's move to the hole, every damn time he posted up. One hand-check versus about 50 shoulder rolls - whose the dirty player? Is there something ethically pure about repeatedly running the other guy over and then shooting over his falling body?

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Rosa Parks

1913-2005.


God Bless You, and most of all Thank you. No words or efforts could ever deserve your love and courage.

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You want ideas? Mister, I got your ideas right here.

Over here, at Ed Cone's wonderful Greensboro blog, Ed's got a good piece up on the loss of Jefferson Pilot's headquarters and where G-funk needs to go from here. Someone suggested, (shockingly!!!) that voucher's are a great way to "foster innovation" and competition in town, and well, I got a little caffienated on him, see below for the formatted version of what I posted on Ed's site. (As an added bonus this week, I didn't curse!) Might be the beginnings of a platform, if anybody wants to figure out how to pay for it.

You must be channeling John Tierney - the answer to every question is not vouchers. And innovation for innovation's sake alone is not good policy.

The fact is vouchers have had a very mixed success in other places and most plans proposed provide far less money to recipients than would be necessary to provide widespread entrepreneurial competition, but rather allay the costs of religious organizations who wish to establish parochial schools. These plans have also been based on the idea., not of improving education funding, but of leaching money out of the public system - I give you credit, you are one of the few folks voucher proponents I've come across that is open about vouchers destroying the public school system. Finally, whether or not it is good from a policy standpoint, it's not clear that there would be feasible and sufficient profits from developing voucher funded private schools, which would be necessary to create the sort of innovation you seem to seek. Look to our pharmaceutical industry for an example of the limits of entrepreneurial innovation at providing public goods without profit motive. (Got Tamiflu?)

I also must add that I am a product of the Greensboro Public Schools, if more than a decade away from my days at Sternberger, Lindley, Kiser and Grimsley. I have great pride in the education the people of Greensboro gave me, which has allowed me to obtained a law degree (along with several other former Whirlies with whom I attended UNC) and serve the public as an attorney. Perhaps in the time that has past Guilford County schools have deteriorated, but I know for a fact that they can be great, and that a diploma from Grimsley high school circa 1992 was equally as valuable as one from the Day School, if not more so. And though it can't be measured, I feel I graduated with a greater sense that I owe the public back, a greater sense of who my fellow citizens were because I went to a tax-payer funded school which did not look at bank accounts, family background or race before accepting its students.

The public schools have done more to create commonalities within America's culture than nearly any other institution, save for the military during the World Wars. Its a dangerous risk to our nation's unity to eliminate it.

If there are problems with the education Guilford's children receive today, I think that is a matter to be addressed in a more serious way than a simple one-size fits all Markets-as-religion ideology. There are other ways to foster innovation in the public schools, without abandoning them as you wish. Greensboro can forecully advocate better state spending on education to help create the sound basic education our constitution requires, it can endeavor to make sure that teachers are paid well enough so that we draw from those who wish to do good and those who wish do well - a larger and better employee pool than to whicih schools currently have access. There are many more ideas and I claim no expertise, but I feel very confident that vouchers benefit more from their political pyrotechnics than their substantive thought in their lofty status in this debate.

And there are many ways to foster growth and innovation in Greensboro's economy, much more likely to be successful than gambling on education vouchers. The development downtown should continue aiming towards creating a vibrant dining and entertainment center that brings in visitors on weeknights and weekends, as well as bringing Greensboro's residents together all the time.

• Create zoning incentives designed to encourage more mixed-income, mixed-use development in places with easy access - including live/work developments which cater to creative industries.
• Affordable loans to entrepreneurial business that tend to feed back into the city's other businesses.
• Utilization of Greensboro's university's to create business incubators in engineering, biotechnology, creative arts, and yes education - such could focus on re-training and employing those who lose work due to globalization.
• Encouraging or mandating a living wage so that Greensboro's workers can vigorously participate in Greensboro's economy as shoppers, diners and homeowners.
• Seeking new ways to expand preventive health care and health insurance to all Greensboro's residents.
• Expanding public transportation opportunities to shorten the distance between neighbors, to reduce congestion and the cost of a low-income worker getting to their job in a city that for too long has been known as sprawling and segregated.

Create a society where job loss, health costs, inadequate education, poverty wages and residential isolation do not steal a citizen's opportunity to reach for the American dream, and as is all to often the case, to get back on one's feet to reach again, and I believe that Greensboro will do well by its citizens in the 21st century, as it did by me in the last.

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