By Walter L. Hilliard III
Silence speaks loudly, always has, always will. And Shaquille “Shaq” O’Neal never, ever says anything about Black social issues, especially pertaining to the police. If he has, I haven’t heard it.
Dead Black bodies lie in the streets while Shaq has built a legacy of “hamming it up” on TV like a child — he’s a buffoon, but his net worth is said to be in the neighborhood of $400 million. Why is he so quiet about Black issues? Does he need another $400 million before he speaks up on behalf of Black America? I suspect this Manchild doesn’t even know any better and couldn’t string together a coherent thought about Black social justice and racism if wanted to. And America rewards Black “boys” who know their place, boys like Shaq and Charles “Stephen from ‘Django'” Barkley. Riff and Raff are always on the ready when the TNT cameras turn on, smiling on cue, “play squabbling,” and jumpin’ up to git in a quick “coon dance” to keep Massa Ernie Johnson Jr. and the TV audience entertained.
Before Shaq was an honorary cop riding around in police cars with his Po-Po brothers, looking like “Bozo the clown” on a ride-along,” this rich Black guy, this NBA Hall of Famer, was born a Black boy to a Black mother and father. And it was Black people who gave their lives so that he could integrate with White corporate America and make the millions of dollars he has made.
When sports talk host Rich Eisen asked Shaq about Colin Kaepernick’s flag protest, he rambled on and on about the following: “My father was a military guy so I’m all about the flag and the military . . . has this always been something he wanted to do, because there’s always been social injustice against the African American community since I was a little boy . . . ? Has this always been his thought process . . . ? When you do things like this, you can offend a lot of people . . . whatever path you choose, make sure you’re passionate about it . . . we as people just need to respect each other . . . one bad piece of fruit in the fruit basket should never taint the whole fruit basket.”
I would ask Shaq when is the right time to protest, exactly? In his case it would be never. In fact, Shaq said everything but “I don’t give a damn about the police shooting no damn Niggaz.” But we definitely got the message.
It’s also funny that Shaq and Charles Barkley have spoken out on behalf of the gay community, but not Black people. Black people “get their a@$ to kiss.”
Shaq also distanced himself from Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, whose name was Chris Jackson when the two played together at LSU. Abdul-Rauf also sat in 1996 during the National Anthem because of his being a devout Muslim (he later made deal with NBA to stand in prayer with his head bowed). Shaq said, “I only saw Chris on game days . . . I talked to him a couple of months ago . . . it was very, very short.”
Shaq finished up his interview with Eisen promising that if he loses a bet they made regarding his favorite team’s performance this year, he would come to Eisen’s show in a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader suit with pom-poms and a blonde wig and bend over with his butt in Eisen’s face.
Gross! And what is it with this coon’s proclivity for dressing in wigs and women’s clothing? He’s done it for years. Check the Internet. No wonder so many of young boys think they’re girls.
Yup, Shaq is who you thought he was — a buffoon to the tenth power.
