We?re all brainwashed to varying degrees and in different ways and those who deny it loudest are the most brainwashed of all?
WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (39-0, 38 KOs), the undefeated ?Bronze Bomber? from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, has played the race card. With all sides of the racial divide hunkering down with their own kind to lob acrimony at the other, remedying this mess won?t be accomplished by finger-pointing or self-pity. But Wilder believes, and he might be right, that he has been treated unfairly by the media.
?The problem with America is we got media downing American fighters,? Wilder told The Guardian, ?we got analysts and so-called experts downing American fighters, you got former champions that have made their mark in the sport but don?t want to see their legacy passed downing American fighters.?
There?s no disputing that racism is real. But since we?re all out of Africa, which is less supposition than fact, maybe a reassessment of our own limitations, instead of the perceived limitations of the other, is in order.
?I never understand that, especially as a champion,? continued Wilder. ?You should want somebody to come and pass you. You should want someone to keep the sport alive and build it up. Even the champions don?t want their legacy passed because they don?t want to be forgotten, but if you did it right the first time you?ll never be forgotten. Casual fans come into boxing and listen to the so-called experts downing our fighters but praise the foreigners. We adopt the foreigners but down our own. That?s a huge problem. In other countries, they praise their fighters.?
The public?s relationship with boxing is ambivalent at best and deservedly so, a more prevalent attitude in the U.S. than abroad, where holier than thou-ism is as rampant as it is grotesque. But don?t tell that to Wilder who, like so many others, be they white, black, or chartreuse, assume they have the answers and have no compunction against shoving said answers down our throats.
?A lot of people don?t want to pull the race card but let?s be real,? Wilder added. ?I?m a realist, I?m a woke realist, I?m not brainwashed at all. I see what?s going on. If I was every other ethnicity, any type of person that?s not a black man, it would be different. If I was any other color but black, it would be different.?
We?re all brainwashed to varying degrees and in different ways and those who deny it loudest are the most brainwashed of all. It?s laudable that Wilder is using his platform in seemingly socially constructive ways. But drawing attention to what divides instead of unites us is counterproductive, especially in these perilous times.
