Basketball Crimestopper

July 23, 2013 admin Sports 0

By Walter L. Hilliard III

Some time ago, I caught something quite disturbing to me — a story about a high school basketball player.

His name is Aquille Carr, a 5’8″ Bball artist, extraordinaire, racially profiled and I.D.’d as the Crime Stopper by his own people because, according to the CNN report I was watching, crime in the area stops when he plays. Even criminals like drug dealers halt their illegal activities to go watch him take his Ball Brush and paint yet another masterpiece on the basketball court.

Well, I suppose a basketball player everyone loves to watch can be a Crime Stopper?

But my question?  Was CNN glamorizing black pathology by showcasing a Black kid that even the police credit for crime in the neighborhood dropping 40 percent when he plays?

A native of East Baltimore and already a new father, Carr has already been profiled in GQ Magazine when he was only in junior in high school.

But what was also disappointing about the piece was the large number of parents standing on the outdoor basketball court watching the kids play, parents hoping their kids make the NBA; however, I doubt that this same number of parents show up at school PTA meetings.

Lastly, as if things could get any worse with this story, I was aghast when I watched Carr being introduced before a game and have his teammates pat him down like a cop patting down a suspect he’s about to arrest.

Really?

Yes, really!

About admin 175 Articles
My name is Walter Hilliard III. I have a B.S. degree in Public Administration and a Masters in Psychology (specialty in Media Psychology). I’m currently seeking publishers for a book focusing on Black Self-Destruction and two inspirational eBooks, having already published a multitude of articles in several different newspapers and magazines over the years. I’ve been a head basketball coach on the high school and college level, and taught success classes at a private college, created numerous community and college programs focusing on leadership, mentoring, college awareness (for inner-city kids), and employment and training. And I have worked as an employment and training manager, family therapist, behavior specialist, college retention specialist, juvenile detention center treatment supervisor, and a contractor, facilitating relationship and marriage education groups for couples. The purpose of Universal Soul Power is to confront negative media messages about African Americans, proliferate positive messages about the Black community, and inspire all those who are part of the universe, but especially African Americans, through my inspirational writings. The truth is that most African Americans haven’t lost their Spiritual Souls, yet (although some of us behave like we’ve lost our minds), but we have lost our “Soul” — that NewRhythmandBluesyContemporaryHipHopSoul that allows us to be compassionate, productive leaders who recognize what really matters in life and live our lives beyond fad terms like “Swag,” instead embracing more fulfilling concepts like being Calm, Cool, and Collected, and knowing what they are all about: being your “growing self,” dancing to your own Life Drum, in tune, on beat, unfazed by fear, and leaving the world a better place when they move on. Now dat’s Real Soul, and dat’s whatum talkin’ ’bout! Walter L. Hilliard III

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