Jason Whitlock has joined forces with Clay Travis with his new sports columns at his blog, Outkick The Coverage. He has put out nine columns in the span of nine days since joining the online outlet. He’s dropping serious truth bombs about race and racism in America—especially as it has been exploited by major sports figures and corporations.
An African American sports columnist who started at the Kansas City Star, Jason Whitlock has made a career out of creating hot takes that get attention. He’s been on the woke side of many issues, including the tragic murder-suicide committed by Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher against his ex-girlfriend. He’s called the NRA the new KKK, which is odd since gun control bills were originally meant to keep blacks from owning guns. He’s also tweeted racist jokes from time to time.
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So when he joined Clay Travis to write for Outkick the Coverage, Jason Whitlock’s takes on race and racism in America may have come as a bit of a shock. Over the weekend, he responded to ESPN’s breathless reporting of former NFL player Ryan Clark’s son having a racial epithet hurled at him after a heated exchange with another customer at a fast-food restaurant:
We all know that there are three sides to every story. Having said that, I don’t doubt that the anonymous white woman hurled a racial slur at Jordan Clark and his teammates.
However, as a journalist and adult, I recognize the incident isn’t remotely newsworthy. Human beings treat each other poorly. We can be rude, crude, disrespectful and downright bigoted.
That is not a defense of bigoted actions. I abhor bigotry. I make an effort in all of my human engagement to treat people with the kind of respect that I want in return.
But an anonymous white woman with no power to impact Jordan Clark’s life momentarily hurting his feelings isn’t news. Unfortunately it’s life.
If every incident of word-driven hurt feelings is national news, no wonder we have no time to discuss behavior that legitimately damages life.
We’ve turned anti-black racism into Bigfoot. News of its existence is more interesting and important than the unsolved murders of thousands of black men across this country.
He goes on to point out how useless it is to wallow in these incidents and give them life.
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In another column, he excoriates LeBron James, Megan Rapinoe, Colin Kaepernick, and other prominent sports figures for exploiting woke culture with gestures instead of meaningful actions:
We’re making a mistake allowing athletes and celebrity influencers to set the agenda for the kind of reform and change we want to see in America. Professional athletes and Hollywood elites answer directly to their corporate overlords. They’ve lived inside an elitist bubble since they were teenagers and they don’t care to know what they don’t know.
They’re paid handsomely to represent the desires of corporate America.
The whole LeBron James-inspired obsession with being “more than an athlete” is a strategy to separate LeBron’s business from his alleged virtue.
LeBron James’ primary employer is Nike, not the NBA. LeBron’s shoe contract is worth more than $1 billion. Every calculated move LeBron makes related to social justice reform — from the Ahmaud Arbery tweets to the Equality T-shirts to the school his foundation partially funds to his decision to remain silent on the Hong Kong protesters — is made with Nike in mind.
Perhaps the most surprising thing written by Jason Whitlock is his view of the political landscape as it exists today:
Racial unrest in America leading into this presidential election cycle is good for Nike and great for Nike’s primary business market, China. Nike and China are aligned in their dislike of President Trump and his America First mantra.
Trump’s mantra is a call for U.S.-based companies to return manufacturing jobs to America. Nike and China preferred President Obama’s globalist agenda and the Trans-Pacific (Trade) Partnership Obama promoted at Nike’s headquarters in May 2015.
As I have stated in previous columns, I do not vote and I have not involved myself in politics. But I will admit President Trump’s America First mantra is consistent with my values.
This crucial point demonstrates what the Democrats have consistently sought to obfuscate in their messaging driven by Trump Derangement Syndrome. Jason Whitlock notes that his entire family—mother, father, grandmother—were union factory workers directly hurt by outsourcing jobs overseas and illegal immigration into the United States.
The American Dream has escaped many folks, especially African Americans, he says. “That dream has to be available for adults with little interest in college and even less interest in the debt that goes along with a modern college education,” Jason Whitlock wrote. “American unskilled labor needs their path to the dream restored.”
It’s important to reiterate: Jason Whitlock is on the wrong side of many issues. Sometimes it is not at all clear if he’s exploiting issues for clicks, perfecting the craft of the hot take, or just addicted to the spotlight. Sometimes he can be downright destructive with his beliefs.
When Jason Whitlock is right, though, he’s devastating. Case in point: his column on destroying American history via statues:
To the citizens cheering the dismantling of American culture — the toppling of statues, the renaming of buildings, the discarding of fight songs, symbols and mascots, the remaking of customs associated with singing our national anthem and flying the flag — let me warn you:
Destruction requires little skill or wisdom. Construction requires an abundance of both.
Destruction vs. Construction. One demands no thought. The other necessitates a plan. One relies on emotion. The other depends on logic.
The passionate supporters and silent sympathizers of the Black Lives Matter Movement mistakenly believe we’re living in an era of historic change similar to the Abolitionist Movement, the Women’s Suffrage Movement and the Civil Rights Movement.
Freeing slaves, granting women the right to vote and ensuring black people full citizenship increased American freedom. Supporters of those movements sought to strengthen our country by being additive rather than punitive and restrictive.
This current wave of social justice reformers seeks to punish and restrict and, perhaps most devastatingly, demolish every tradition that preceded their feeling of superior enlightenment.
Jeff Reynolds is the author of the book, “Behind the Curtain: Inside the Network of Progressive Billionaires and Their Campaign to Undermine Democracy,” available now at www.WhoOwnsTheDems.com. Jeff hosts a podcast at anchor.fm/BehindTheCurtain. You can follow him on Twitter @ChargerJeff.
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