This is what Kansas Citians used to love (or hate) about Jason Whitlock…
Aside from pimping local sports fans in the pages of the Kansas City Star, Whitlock regularly delivered the pro white guy goods to the newspaper’s mostly non-black readership. These days he’s poking holes and obliterating political correctness online, like his column on the mainstream media’s current fave, the George Floyd mythology.
It didn’t really take that much, but Whitlock’s perspective on racial politics carried more cred given that a black dude was doing the honors. And despite the ups-and-downs of his career in the decade since he left KC, it’s made “big sexy” a popular Fox News guest for Bill O’Reilly, Tucker Carlson and the like.
Because almost without fail, Jason loves to debunk phony racism claims.
Usually skillfully, I might add.
Case in point, London Daily Mail’s recent release of the dramatic body-camera footage of George Floyd’s arrest.
Unfortunately, the way mainstream news organizations like USA Today and CNN covered the story, they mislead readers by casting police in a bad light so as not to contradict the media narrative that Floyd was a innocent victim of police racism.
Yet anyone who bothered to watch the video – like Whitlock did – can see that the cops were polite and unlike USA Today’s report, the officer did not approach Floyd’s car with his gun drawn. Only after repeated requests for Floyd to raise his hands did the officer briefly take his gun out, holstering it when Floyd finally complied.
The online headline for Whitlock’s column pretty much says it all:
“Leaked Video Exposes George Floyd’s Death as a Tragedy & Race Hoax Used to Divide Us”
“Will anyone locked inside the NBA’s groupthink bubble react to the leaked bodycam footage of George Floyd’s arrest and tragic death?” Whitlock begins.
“The videos show police verbally and physically struggling to get Floyd to comply. Floyd appears panicked, disoriented, desperate and totally non-compliant. He complains that he can’t breathe while standing on two feet. He claims his mother just died and that he can’t sit in the back of the police car because he’s claustrophobic. He repeatedly begs the officers not to shoot him. He worms the upper part of his body out of the police car and asks to lay on the ground.”
As for the cops being racist, no way, Whitlock continues.
“The behavior of the police officers seems appropriate and restrained given Floyd’s level of resistance and bizarre conduct,” Whitlock writes. “The footage reasonably explains how and why Floyd wound up on the ground with multiple officers restraining him.
“The video does not justify officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes. But it does offer context why Chauvin would be reluctant to believe Floyd’s ‘I can’t breathe’ cries. Nearly every word out of Floyd’s mouth was a desperate lie.”
And remember, long before Floyd was pinned to the ground, he said four times that he couldn’t breath.
Whitlock’s overall take on an event that sparked widespread rioting:
- Floyd’s behavior escalated a routine arrest into a possible abuse of force.
- The George Floyd case is not a race crime. No rational person can watch that footage and conclude the police were motivated by Floyd’s black race.
- It’s going to be virtually impossible to convict former officers Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao of any crime.
- It will be equally difficult to convict Chauvin of murder.
Whitlock’s bottom line:
“Years from now when the mainstream media finally objectively evaluates this era of sports… (and realizes they’ve) been played and used by anarchists and communists who are using opportunists to promote an American race war… their fear-driven leadership (will have) turned America’s great unifier — sports — into a racial divider.”
The sad reality if American society continues to devolve:
“LeBron James, Colin Kaepernick and all the other entitled millionaires will be locked in their gated bubbles watching poor people’s lives destroyed on CNN (and) No one will ever question them about the roles they played in stirring the racial outrage” Whitlock concludes.
The $64 million question:
How in the world would the Star editorial board have reacted to Jason’s pro police, law and order takes if he was still choking them out here in the Cowtown?
My take is he’d have the journalistic life expectancy of a gnat…a high paid gnat.
Here’s my bottom line:
Years from now people are going to look at all of this and ask themselves. Why did people idolize a two bit thug who was a known criminal, drug addict, who committed a home invasion and pistol whipped a pregnant woman?
In the year 2040 people will look at this summer in embarrassment.
Now saying that, do I think Floyd deserved to die? No. Floyd deserved to die when he and his buds pistol whipped that pregnant woman.
I personally care more about LeGend Taliferro death then Floyd’s. A four-year-old boy killed in his sleep in the early morning says more about the, “System” then Floyd’s ever could. And guess what, Taliferro couldn’t breath either.
As for Whitlock, I wasn’t his biggest fan when he was in KC. I largely thought he was lazy most of the time. But he seems to find his niche. Good for him.
I’m pretty much with you…ac ross the board here
Agree 100%. I watched the video today on The Daily Mail website. Floyd was a whiner and didn’t do what the police asked him to do.
One thing I can’t understand is how a UK newspaper got a copy of the video and not the media in the US …. UNLESS … they didn’t want people to see it.
Well, somewhat obviously most of them didn’t…
However the likely reason is the MONEY. British tabs are notorious for paying big bucks for stories like this…
Whereas the girl scouts at the Star wouldn’t dream of those particular types of journalistic infractions
Once again, love or hate Jason he is very dead on with his statement on the matter.
Floyd is dead.
He is dead because someone put their knee on his neck for nine minutes.
It was not done out of self-defense; not even close.
His life did not matter to the officers.
None of this is new. The only thing new here is everyone walks around with video cameras in their pocket.
If you do not see the bigger issue here, you never will.
Interesting take, Kevin and no doubt justice will be done.
My advice to you however is to try and wait for all the facts are in before you make up your mind.
You’ll never have to worry about jury duty with your current philosophy though and there’s something to be said for that!
Yes, the bigger issue is not nearly enough investment goes into correctly evaluating (both physical and mental), training (physical and mental), and maintaining your police force. You get what you pay for.
Commenters are more proficient at writing than the authors of the site, awesome. I guess there is one good thing about the internet!
George Floyd was a morally bereft, violent, moron. That said, the officer in question murdered him. No question in my mind. 2nd degree murder, at best. It’s going to be tough to prove 1st degree, as no juror with half a brain cell would think the officer had been planning to murder George Floyd ahead of time. That cop should never EVER wear the badge of a law enforcement officer ever again. He should serve decades in jail.
We have a HUGE law enforcement problem, and the solution is NOT defunding the damn police. That’s a simpletons answer. No, what you need is MORE police funding for more extensive training, that’s ongoing throughout the officer’s career. Especially training on de-escalation tactics. Continuous psychiatric evaluations, done by a third party, not beholden to the police unions, OR the police department. I’d suggest prior to being hired, and then every 6 months, and again whenever an officer uses his weapon. Any issues identified need to be addressed immediately by suspension, therapy, or dismissal. In short, want better cops? Pay more, evaluate more, and invest more time and money into maintaining the good cops you have.