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Commentary: If an Acquitted O.J. is Reviled by White America, Why is Snoop Dogg So Acceptable?

Date: Thursday, December 06, 2007
By: Gregory Kane, BlackAmericaWeb.com

So Calvin Broadus’ reality show “Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood” is set to debut on the E! channel this Sunday. Anybody see something wrong here?

Let me put it this way: one O.J. Simpson, acquitted of murdering Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman in 1995, is widely reviled by white America. You used to see him running through airports on car rental commercials. He used to have an occasional movie or television role.

You don’t see him in any today.

Snoop Dogg was acquitted of being an accessory to murdering Philip Woldemariam around the same time O.J. walked. Snoop continues to get record deals. You do see him in commercials, on television and in films. Earlier this week, he was on Ellen DeGeneres' show promoting “Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood.”

What’s more, Snoop may still be a Crip. He hinted at such in one of his hit songs. The Game, who’s a member of the Bloods gang, was even more direct in one of his lyrics: “Game still Bloodin’, and Snoop still Crippin’.”

So white America continues to bust O.J.’s hump, and Snoop gets record deals and TV shows?

Believe me, I hate to even use a term like “white America.” It implies that all white people in this country are monolithic, that there’s no difference between them when it comes to matters like race, political affiliation, abortion and other hot topics. The truth is white America, like black America, is far from monolithic.

The one exception might be this O.J. thing. On that matter, there is indeed a “white America.” When I come across even ONE white person who doesn’t have a meltdown when the matter of O.J.’s acquittal comes up, I’ll change my mind.

Over 12 years after the verdict, I’m still waiting to run into that one white person. But hey, if you’re out there, you really need to holla at a brother.

Why does white America treat O.J. like a viper and Snoop like a celebrity? Well, let’s look at the skin color of the victims in each crime.

Nicole Brown Simpson and Goldman were white. Woldemariam was an immigrant from Africa -- Eritrea to be precise. Could good, old-fashioned, down-home racism be the reason?

When black folks across the country were in an uproar about the Jena Six case, the rallying cry was how the exorbitant charges of attempted first-degree murder against the young men somehow “proved” that racism still existed in America. It was as if some black Americans couldn’t wait to find a concrete example of white racism, as if it would somehow validate our sense of victimhood if we did.

But we didn’t need to even look at the Jena Six case. All we had to do was look at the different treatment white America gave two black celebrities who had each been acquitted of murder: Unrelenting hostility toward the one accused of killing two white people and fawning adoration of the one accused of killing a black man.

I think I’m on fairly safe ground if I call that racism. But black folks aren’t entirely blameless in this. We’re as accepting of Snoop as white folks are, albeit when it comes to both Snoop and O.J., we’re a darned sight more consistent.

Snoop’s continuing flirtation with the Crips doesn’t seem to bother most of us. But a few have made the connection to the growing problem of gang membership among our youth to Snoop’s attitude about belonging to a gang -- which is at best, nonchalant; at worst, zealous.

About a week ago, a brother asked me if I thought Snoop’s negative influence contributed to gang membership among black youth.

“You’re danged skippy I do,” I answered. “The young folks see Snoop doing the commercials, the movies and getting the record contracts. They don’t see a downside to being in a gang. And if they don’t see a downside, then why WOULDN’T they join a gang?”

Most of America’s big cities that have seen a rise in the numbers of young black men murdered by other black men have a growing gang problem. Black folks in Newark, N.J., where I was last weekend, are up in arms about their rising homicide rate and point to the proliferation of gangs as the problem. Ditto for my hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, so bad it’s called Bodymore, Murderland.

The next time Snoop’s face appears on TV, Americans of all races need to ask themselves why one accused murderer gets a free pass while another one is relegated somewhere down on the morality scale only slightly below the anti-Christ.

http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/sayitloud/
kane1206

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