When a quarterback throws to a perfect wide receiver who is white, and the white receiver drops the ball, the white announcer will say, “The pass was badly thrown,” instead of saying “it was a perfectly thrown pass, but the receiver dropped it.”
This is called subliminal racism; its too bad, white folks just can’t help themselves.
Just Chillin said, “Give us another example.”
Genius put up his hand and said, “I’ll give you an example.”
“A white TV producer calls the TV reporter who is Black, a monkey. The Black sues, they settle out of court. He gets another job doing TV work, but the hate is building up inside him because of racism. He flips out, goes crazy and kills two people. He’s called a mad man. The first lawyer he had when the TV producer called him a monkey, and they settled out of court said on CNN that he should get medical help, not the TV producer who called her client a monkey.
It’s like the joke I heard. A guy gets hit by a car which throws him 15 feet, police come to the scene go to the victim, give him a ticket for leaving the scene of the accident .
There are over 300 million legal guns in circulation; the gun merchants are not called mad men because they sell guns in the USA, but this is the white media.
However, there are some exceptional people in the media who are white who have shown, when writing about certain subjects, like social justice that they are not latent racists. Ian MacDonald was one of those people; he passed away at 87 years old.
The phone in the barbershop rang for days; every call was about the late sports journalist Ian MacDonald. Most of the calls were from former pro athletes that Ian MacDonald wrote about.
“Nobody had a bad word to say about him,” said Professor. “This is unique for a white journalist writing about Black athletes…”
He was born and raised in Montreal and was a very good friend of Black athletes. A Black could have their voice heard through the pen of Ian MacDonald.
Genius said when you wake up, if you ever wake up you will notice that we live in two worlds, White and Black. Writer Ian MacDonald knew this because some of his very close friends were regulars of the Ways and Means Committee.
To tell you the truth put up his and said, “Everybody be quiet, there are two subjects that there are no solutions for—religion and politics—two people will argue about religion or politics, and you will get three opinions.
Professor said, “That’s not true, you left out one very important topic, race. North America is divided by racism; it’s a very sensitive issue among white folks, who honestly believe that they are not latent racists.
North America, and Montreal is still part of North America, is obsessed with race and always will be, why? Because racism is big business. A lot of inferior whites get jobs, only because they are white, when a qualified Black cannot even get an interview to apply for the job. Just look at the city hall in Montreal, there are 55 city councilors, only one is Black and he has no power. And even if you get an interview, you will not get hired, unless you’re the best at what you can do. Let the owner or shareholders know and see what happens.
Actually asked one of the Regulars about the late Ian MacDonald, who just passed away? The Regulars said, “He met sports writer Ian MacDonald in 1943 at YMCA on Drummond Street. We learned to swim and learn to play water polo. We became so good that I made the junior and Ian MacDonald made the senior team. Remember, Jackie Robinson had not come to Montreal yet. He came in 1946.
The YMCA received an offer to compete in New York City. I competed all over Canada, but not in the USA. I had met Afro-Americans who came to Montreal, a lot of people in show business like Sammy Davis Jr., Nipsey Russell and a lot of lesser names who played Rockhead’s Paradise and Café St. Michel and Billy Daniels.
I’ll never forget what Ian MacDonald told me. He said, “Don’t worry, the New York athletic club is restricted, but we are going as a team. Jackie Robinson is not allowed in there; those Americans will see us from Canada and they will think Canada is in Europe. After we leave as a team, don’t go back because they will not let you in.
When Black baseball players came to Montreal to join the Montreal baseball team, they never expected to meet a white writer who was unique like Ian MacDonald who did not have that white superior attitude. They said, “You can feel it when they talk to you instead of talking with you.”
The other white reporters-writers would never admit that there was professional jealousy, because Ian MacDonald always came up with a great story. Now in 2015, they call him a legend, all he was doing is his job, in an atmosphere that was very racist.
Baseball is not the same now (2015) Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby would roll over in their graves if they could see what’s going on. The best players in the game were mostly Black; now when you look at a baseball game, you see a lot of mostly white players, why? Because the recruiters don’t want to recruit Black prospects; the “system” wants what they had at the beginning, all white guys playing America’s national pastime. So the talented Black athletes go to football and basketball.
Jackie Robinson revolutionized the game of baseball. Before Jackie, baseball was very boring, then the “brothers” came into the game and took it to the next level; they made the game exciting to watch. And the timing for Ian MacDonald was perfect. How many white writers/reporters do you know that attend a funeral with mostly Blacks in attendance? Ian MacDonald would show up and sit in the corner by himself. He was a friend of the Black community when Montreal had a Black community.
When a Black in Montreal finds a friend who is white and a white finds a Black or two they are blessed. Why? Because you only live once. Some people can put two lives into one. Ian MacDonald was one of those people. Regrets he had few, but too few to remember. He did it his way, and it worked. We are glad we knew him and he was glad that he knew some Regulars at the barbershop.
May Ian MacDonald Rest In Peace.
There was an Amen from everybody.
One of the Regulars of the Ways and Means Committee asked, “What about the upcoming election?”
Professor said, “It’s easy, we called all of the political parties for a meeting, we wanted to meet them, only one called back, the Liberal Party, Marc Miller. We went to his office to meet him, we had a talk with him; his office is across from the Corona Theatre on Notre-Dame Street West.
During the conversation with Marc Miller we found out about his love for music. Rhythm and Blues, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, Dr. Oliver Jones, Oscar Peterson. The Director of Operations for Marc Miller is Lisa Montgomery; her father was the popular Jimmy Montgomery.
If you were born in Montreal back in the day, you knew Jimmy Montgomery, he was a good, good, friend to all of the Regulars downtown and would stand up for a change, and change is what we need. And this is why we hope we found a friend with Marc Miller.
If you are Canadian citizen, you can vote and should vote, it’s your right to vote. Why? So you will have a voice after the election. So here is a chance to make your voice heard, just vote.
Now when we talked with Marc Miller he not only promised, but guaranteed that once he gets elected and goes to Ottawa to represent the Southwest area of Montreal, one of the first things he will do is send a letter to the Minister of Culture to inform him about the late great Oscar Peterson. There is a statue of Oscar Peterson in Ottawa, but none in Montreal where he was born and raised. At one time, Oscar Peterson was Canada’s greatest ambassador.
Marc Miller said, “This is very simple to do and I’ll do it.”
Everybody said “Amen! Marc Miller is our man.”
