Let me begin by saying that I never understood the “significance” or “big deal” about Jackie Robinson breaking the color line in baseball, and I can say that knowing that baseball is the favorite sport in my household.  My grandfather played in a few barnstorming games that featured Negro League players, my father was a pro pitching prospect, and I was a three-year high school letterman in baseball.  So I am, in no manner of speaking, a novice when it comes to baseball or its history.  However, Robinson’s accomplishments in the integrated major leagues means no more to me than his accomplishments in the Negro League because I believe in the genius of African people and do not need to have the genius of African people validated by whites.  Jackie Robinson was not great because he was able to earn a MVP and win a World Series ring in the integrated majors; Robinson was great long before he stole home against the Yankees, and so were Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, Roy Campanella, Cool Papa Bell, and many others.

Before my parents taught me about Robinson stealing home in the world series, they taught me that African people were the first people to write, were the first people to calculate numeric values, were the first people to master architecture, were the first people to master medicine, and were the first people to have a complex and organized civilization along with their Sumerian brethren.  So, Robinson’s accomplishments did not—do not—teach me about or validate African genius but are simply affirmation of the long history of African accomplishment.  And while I do think that many African children can learn a great deal from the poise, intellect, and work ethic of Robinson, they can also learn these lessons from David Walker, Benjamin Banneker, W. E. B. Du Bois, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver, Octavius Catto, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Muhammad Ali, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, and Martin Luther King as well as the many African warriors and kings who were the founders of civilization.  So, Robinson’s “crossing over” to white acclaim has always seemed more like a poor strategic step in the journey toward African first-class citizenship and sovereignty.  As poorly organized as some of the Negro teams were and even tough some of the teams were fronts for illegal activities, the league still allowed ownership to African people.  How many Africans (or African Americans if you like) own major league teams?  Rather than celebrating Robinson, we should teach people like Octavius Catto, who was a scholar, educator, and Civil Rights activist.  Before becoming co-owner of a Negro League team, Catto worked with Frederick Douglass to raise eleven regiments of United States Colored Troops in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area.  Also, he was a main figure in the fight to desegregate Philadelphia’s trolley car system in 1865.  Due to his activism, Catto was shot on election day as Irish mobs commonly used intimidation and violence to keep African people from voting.  Thus, Catto should hold a more significant place in history than Robinson.  In the final analysis, what did Robinson’s accomplishments in the integrated major leagues gain African people other than the right to be highly paid laborers?  Robinson’s accomplishments have not lead to African people being able to control the sports in which they participate, which also means to earn the lion’s share of the profits.  It has only allowed African people to continue to be patted on the head and loved for being well-paid and well-trained chattel as long as they shut up and perform on demand for the people holding the $200 seats and the white blue-collar worker using sports to escape the hells of his day.  These two groups of people want their athletes to be mute eunuchs that perform on command.

So, when I hear that Tiger Woods has fallen from grace, I understand that he has fallen from the fantasy of white folks.  I understand that he is no longer that mythical “special Negro” who is somehow not like if not better than the rest of his race.  Several of my African friends have recounted how a white person has said to them, “You are not like the others?” which, in some way, affirms that a good number of whites hold certain negative perceptions of African intellect and morality since these statements are mostly uttered on a college campus or at some corporate office by a white person who claims to be surprised by the insight and articulation of an African colleague.  Oddly, I’ve had this phrase uttered to me twice.  Once, while enrolled in a doctoral program at USM a fellow student, in his surprise to my in-class discussion, stated, “And you attended Jackson State?”  To which I responded, “Yes, we have the same books in our library…not as many copies but the same books.”  And earlier in my life, while in basic training, a fellow “maggot,” which is what we are all called in basic training, said to me, “I’ve never met a black person like you before.”  Even though he was from Boston, I still don’t believe him.  What I believe is that he suffered from what James Baldwin called “selective naiveté.”  Yet, all too often, African people, those who hate themselves because they don’t know their own history, fall prey to the praise of being a “special Negro” and covet this validation as a sign of the success of the Civil Rights Movement—to have white folks feel comfortable enough around them to invite them to their children’s wedding.  And based solely on the evidence of his associates, Tiger Woods seems to have fallen prey to this illusion of acceptance.  (The same could be said of Michael Jackson whose forty million in sales did not affirm his African genius but caused him to reject more of his African self to remain in the good graces of his white patrons.)

Let’s be clear; Woods is an adulterer—no more, no less.  But, this is not a crime but a moral failing.  Unfortunately for Woods, the bulk of his money is not earned on the golf course but is earned through endorsements, and those endorsements are gained by creating an illusion of being the perfect (safe) eunuch with the blond-haired, blue-eyed bombshell.  Woods is not the first major athlete to be an adulterer, and none of those others loss major endorsement deals.  However, Woods has done the unthinkable.  He has not only had the nerve to master one of the last great havens for white masculinity—golf—he has also had the nerve to “cheat on this pure and innocent white woman,” as poet and social critic Charlie Braxton puts it.  So, the shock and outrage of whites at Woods’ indiscretions raises the question, “If Woods’ wife was African, would there be this much outrage?”  Additionally, is it not interesting that most news reports concentrate on Woods’ indiscretions and not on the violent actions of his wife who allegedly struck Woods with a golf club while he was sleeping or under a sedative?  She strikes a defenseless man with a deadly weapon, and she gets to remain as Bambi?  And, I must draw the parallel.  Her actions are no different than the female who shot Steve McNair while sleeping.  Of course, I know that some are thinking, “Well, if these men were faithful and not womanizers then these things would not happen to them.”  To this statement, I assert Baldwin’s “selective naiveté.”  The female who shot McNair knew she was the other woman.  Thus, her actions portray a woman desperate to keep her cash cow.  As for Woods’ wife, one should know the person they are marrying and not merely marry the illusion or myth.  More specifically, what does it say about a woman who allegedly demands that she will only remain in a marriage if the prenuptial agreement is changed?  (Where is Kanye West when we need him?)  If you have been truly hurt or betrayed by someone to the point where you no longer love that person, then can money actually save the marriage?  Now, none of this excuses Woods’ behavior.  Yet, Woods can be crucified for being an adulterer, but no one says anything about the blond-haired blue-eyed bombshell being a golf club wielding fury who is now, allegedly, demanding to be paid to remain in the marriage?

So, Woods has, temporarily, fallen from white grace, which will last until he wins his next major or depending on if he can be linked to the steroid scandal of his former doctor who is being questioned about prescribing steroids to his clients.  The steroid scandal will be interesting because it was Woods who caused golf to be seen as an athletic activity due to his powerful drives.  He was the one who forced the other golfers to embrace more rigorous physical training to compete with him.  In this, he became the “Big Black Buck.”  If he can be tied to steroids, which I think is a bigger crime (not moral act) than adultery, it will have a more lasting impact on his sports legacy than his adultery.  In either case, Woods is now learning what it means to be a “special Negro,” and how quickly one’s “special Negro” status can be revoked.  I only hope that Woods uses this incident as fuel to his fire for winning, unleashing his anger and rage on the golf course, demolishing his competition.  Yet, Braxton wonders if Woods’ desire to be a “special Negro” is stronger than his desire to be a sporting champion, especially since he knows that sporting accomplishments alone do not get you into the graces of white adoration, which leads to a billion dollars worth of endorsements.

I first become aware of golf as something that could be entertaining when I worked at Colonial Country Club while in college in 1987.  Before then, I considered it a slow and boring sport.  However, like many, golf was not something I regularly followed until Woods.  But, in 1987, I did want to know how many Africans had played the sport, and my father along with Tommy McCullen—the country club maitre d’ and part-time golfer—hipped me to Calvin Peete and a few others.  So, while I cheer for Woods, he is not a validation of African genius.  While I cheer for Venus and Serena Williams, I knew of Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe long before the arrival of the Williams sisters, and none of them were validations of African genius for me.  I’m not concerned if Woods will rebound as an elite golfer.  I think he will.  The truth of the matter is that Woods does not have the same amount of competition as Jack Nicklaus did.  Today’s golfers are better athletes, but the field in which Nicklaus competed was deeper.  This may be caused by the fact that today’s golfers do not have to win tournaments to earn millions of dollars where in Nicklaus’ day winning was the only way to earn money.  So, again, Woods should return to his elite status if for no other reason than the field not being that strong.  But, will this episode change Woods’ mentality at all about being a “Caublanasian?”  Will this episode affect how he navigates being an African in a white world?  This latest episode should teach African people that no amount of money is worth your culture or your soul.  Besides, to be a “special Negro” means to be an illusion or a plaything.  Illusions eventually fade, and playthings are eventually tossed into the trash for the next thing of pleasure.