Don't be misled by Playboy story

by Jason Whitlock

Updated: May 15, 2008, 3:51 PM EST

Not only did Chris Napolitano, editorial director at Playboy, headline a story detailing the ills of America's astronomical incarceration rate "The Black KKK," he somehow managed to drag several professional athletes into his racist production.

I have to tip my hat to Napolitano. The man is clever. He had some things he wanted to say about Black America, and he used me as the shield to say them.

I first complained about the headline of my piece in the June issue of Playboy here. At that time, I'd only been told over the phone of Napolitano's plot to sell magazines by using what I written about Sean Taylor as an excuse to get a few things off his chest.

Well, now I've seen the magazine. It hit newsstands on May 9.

I was prepared for my name to appear on the cover with the words "The Black KKK." I was ready for the screaming "Black KKK" headline on top of my story. And I'd even accepted the fact that a sub headline would boast: "Thuglife is killing Black America. It's time to do something about it." (Although I thought I was told that Napolitano planned to say that "hip hop is killing ...")

Those lies outraged me. The words "Black KKK" do not appear in the story, and the piece passionately argues with sound reporting that America's love affair with incarceration is creating the violent lawlessness that is pervasive throughout our entire society.

The column was in no way specifically about black people. It was a story about all of us, any of us who care about humanity, any of us who care how our tax dollars are spent and what return we get on the spending. The piece was meant to be unifying.

Napolitano seemingly had a different agenda, one that amazingly included a massive generalization about black athletes.

In a story that makes a very brief reference to pro athletes Sean Taylor and Antoine Walker being victims of crime and no other mention of professional sports, Napolitano instructed writer Rocky Rakovic to construct a breakout box to splash in the middle of my story that says: "Some black athletes are not role models; luckily, a few are."

And then, Napolitano pictured four "bad" black athletes (Michael Vick, Eddie Griffin, Tank Johnson and Jamaal Tinsley) and four "good" black athletes (Alonzo Mourning, Magic Johnson, Warrick Dunn and Shaquille O'Neal).

I was heated before I got the magazine. I'd already explained to Napolitano that his packaging of my story screwed over the sources who worked with me on it. He shrugged those concerns off by stating he wishes we'd had better communication throughout the writing and headlining process.

I told the executive editor, Lee Froehlich, what I was going to write in February. I filed the piece in early March. Every e-mail I received from Froehlich and the magazine's copy desk hailed the story as top shelf.

There is no way to justify dragging Tank Johnson, Alonzo Mourning, Magic Johnson and Jamaal Tinsley into a story that had zero to do with them or professional athletes.

Honestly, I don't have a problem with rational, sweeping generalizations. Fat people are more prone to develop hypertension. Black people are good at dancing. Tall people are better at basketball.

I have a problem with people too gutless to sign their names to the generalizations they want to state. Napolitano obviously believes we're "lucky" to have a few black athletes as role models. He needs to man up and write that story for Playboy. Don't hide behind me or Rocky Rakovic.

I sign my name to and stand behind every word I write. I have no regrets about writing the Sean Taylor column and coining the phrase "The Black KKK." I believe what I wrote. We, black people, are in denial about the need to aggressively deal with the young black men terrorizing our communities with gun violence and inhibiting our ability to move forward.

Oh, and I'm acutely aware that some of my black peers in sports journalism are celebrating that Napolitano used a phrase I coined to "debase" my work. These critics are men and women who believe challenging the establishment equates to filing a Bud Selig-approved game story 15 minutes late, forgetting the cream in their boss's coffee and posting tough-sounding comments on message boards.

I'm out for justice. And justice has no color. The truth is very complex and layered. I'm attempting to assemble a body of work that makes my perspective clear. You can't understand anyone in a single conversation or in one column.

I'm not going to be reduced to a phrase. And I'm not going to allow a coward (Napolitano) to use my words to take potshots at anyone, regardless of color.

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