Slamming Sammy Sellout Teaches Us A Lesson
After I saw the recent photos of MLB legend Sammy Sosa sporting his new anti-tan, I declined to rush to conclusions. I just knew it was a crappy photoshop hoax, you know, some kind of an internet prank. As a couple more days passed and Sammy admitted he was indeed the pasty creature in the pictures, I remained in denial. They were obviously remnants of Sosa’s Halloween evening dressed as Count Chocula I rationed. Then I turned my Dell Plasma to Univision, a channel I frequent to ogle the amazingly hot female reporters English speaking American channels could never get away with exploiting brush up on my Spanish. To my utter disbelief I watched a grown up Eddie Munster, purported to be the Dominican home run king, give an interview bragging about his new skin “rejuvenation” cream. Left with no other conclusion besides “this Negro done lost his natural Black mind,” I proceeded to torch my Sosa Topps rookie card.
As the card disintegrated under the flame, I reflected on what could make my formerly Jheri curled brethren cave in to white supremacist ideology. Was Sammy dealing with post-traumatic stress stemming from Michael Jackson’s death? Was he attempting to revive the spirit of MJ through self replication of his vitiligo? Maybe his wife’s light characteristics just started to rub off on him; you know, the longer people stay married the more they start to look the same (just look at Billary Clinton). Nah, for the second time in his life Sammy Sosa simply sold out to the Cream. He let everyone down when it was revealed that he cheated by consuming those magical home-run enhancers, and now he has destroyed any confidence that his remaining fans had in his integrity by whitewashing his pigmentation. 
The perpetual optimist, I am ever so grateful to Sammy Sosa Sellout for giving me a platform to discuss the overarching problems that are indicative of his predicament. First, as a man of mixed Negro and Latino heritage I must address the problem of race misidentifcation in the Black and Hispanic community. I can recall days where I kicked it with my Puerto Rican and Dominican homies and comments about “morenos” were hurled around. Most of the time their skin was as dark, if not darker than mine, yet there was a clear distinction made between Blacks that spoke English and Blacks that spoke Spanish. It was clear to me that in their minds the Spanish language created a physiological distinction between them and English speaking Black people. It mattered not that they congenitally inherited just as much African blood as the next Negro; Spanish meant you were phenotypically different from English speaking Blacks.
This division, based predominately on language differences, has always disturbed me. Growing up with my Dad’s side being African-American and my Mom’s side being dark, Spanglish-speaking, Panamanians, I never considered myself anything other than Black. I hate when I have to fill out a form and I am forced to make a decision between shading in the “Black” bubble or the “Hispanic” bubble. It’s as if I’m being told it’s impossible to be both; or better yet, Blacks who natively speak Spanish are Hispanic, while Blacks who speak English, French, German, or any other language are a different race altogether. That’s absurd… and this is why Sammy’s overt attempt to make a clear distinction between himself as a Black man and himself as a Latin man is a wake up call – Blacktinos we must unite!
As Sammy Sosa has suddenly burst onto the scene as the real life Clayton Bigsby, I must also address the issue of self -hatred in the Black community. Females always ask me what type of women I find attractive. When I simply respond “sexy women” they tend not to believe me. After all, every guy has a certain “type” of women they explain. 9 times out of 10 they’re referring to skin color and body type. “Do you date dark skinned girls, or light skinned girls only?” they ask. Once again I assure them that I date sexy women. Period.
Years of being a sought after Black man (don’t hate!) has led me to understand why Sisters feel the need to ask this question. I recall conversations at Vanderbilt University with my boys. Sitting around talking ish about chicks, I can vividly remember a couple of buddies confessing that they exclusively devote their attention to light-skinned females. Strangely, these were some of the darkest brothers I ever met. I could never grasp how they couldn’t find women of their own skin color attractive. Not only were they Black-than-a-mofo, their mothers were dark as well. “Do they despise their mothers?” I pondered. Better yet, “do they despise themselves?” Clearly, white supremacy has permeated the minds of Black men to the point where many do not find mates of their own skin color to be worthy companions. In their eyes light is right.
Unfortunately, many Black women are guilty of the same sin. I realized this as I watched Precious (Monique deserves an Oscar BTW) last weekend. There’s a scene where the lead character looks into the mirror and sees a thin, blond-haired, White woman in the reflection, instead of a heavy-set Black woman. Also, the main character frequently fantasizes about her desire to find a light-skinned man with “good hair” to settle with. It is due to this mentality that situations like Sammy Sosa’s are more common than you might think. Skin bleaching products are a big hit in the Caribbean right now. Don’t believe me, check this out:
At the end of the day I am thankful for Sammy selling out so publicly. The conversations this fool has sparked will hopefully bring attention to the issues of Black/Hispanic race identity, self-hate, and the global skin bleaching epidemic. Whether you agree with my analysis of this situation or not, I hope you will heed the moral of this story: be comfortable with the skin you’re in.
8 Responses to “Slamming Sammy Sellout Teaches Us A Lesson”
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I read this article and I certainly think that you are above writing this kind of material. If one man decides to destroy himself so be it. Michael Jackson (RIP) destroyed himself…so be it.
What you do with this blog has a much better impact if you focus on issues that matter. Sosa obviously has personal issues. But there are more important things to discuss and educated our people on other than this. For example…When we think about Detroit people’s first reaction is “oh the economy and it’s sad”. Yes it is sad but why does this state of a once great city have to exist?
I moved to Houston in 2007. Now I come back to the D in 2009. And all I see is memories. It’s like a ghost town. Never did I expect to see the day when cities close down their police stations and schools. Never did I expect to see my city get involved in Gangs. Seriously being in a Gang is the dumbest shit ever. You are not an individual. You are a faceless coward amongst a group of chumps. And the only gang I follow is that of Jesus Christ.
So, my point is this; your blog has great commentary. Do not spoil your site with trash talk. Let us look into this article because I promise you one thing…what is happening in Detroit is the prequel to the rest of the union (USA)
http://www.detnews.com/article/20091113/METRO08/911130370/Slaying-of-murder-witness-in-Detroit-leaves-trail-of-fear
The video about the skin bleaching is sad. I have heard on numerous occasions ” Syreeta I don’t like dark girls but it’s something about you”.
Or “Syreeta you’re too pretty to be black” and that came from a woman. So many people ask me what race I am or what I am mixed with and when I tell them different types of blacks, or black and more black they look so disappointed or they look at me like I am lying. I even have African woman that come up to me and ask me what I am and when I say black they look like no shit what part of Africa are you from and when I say I’m not African , that I know of, they look down at me after they just told me how beautiful I was. Black woman are treated like wet socks lol. So many woman go to the doctor to look like us but no body wants to “look” like us. Black men want a woman to have a black girl’s booty, hips, & lips and not be black. Men of all races secretly desire a black woman, but would rarely ever be caught dead marrying one. I didn’t grow up thinking like that so that was never fed to me and I was taught that that thinking was insane.
Now that I’m older I feel that type of thinking is demonic. I feel Satan is underestimated and to convince a race that they are less than and they’re gorgeous woman are less than is a form of genocide. I mean it clearly states Jesus’s features in Revelations 1:14 Hair of wool and Revelation 2:18 feet of brass. Come On!!!! He clearly was not white. I’m not saying he was a black dude but I’m saying his skin was not white. I believe Jesus wanted his works to be the focus not his looks. Satan teaches looks are more important than works. Also, if he were a white man surrounded by Darker skinned people of that time wouldn’t he be someone to believe when he said he was the son of God? Yeah, but if he looked like everybody else did at that time….. maybe they wouldn’t believe him as much. Isn’t that what happened? People did NOT believe him. It was because he didn’t “look” different. Satan fed them to believe that he can not be because he does not “look” like a son of God. Hmmmm Doesn’t Satan still today feed people to believe that what has hair of wool and feet the color of brass is not appealing? He sure does. People don’t see the big picture. He gets people to think the way God created them is wrong and that they should desire to look more like something else. Asians, Indians, Latins Blacks all kinds of people, alot of them believe the closer you look to black the less appealing you are. Why is that? So if you look more like Jesus did you are bad and should desire to look the opposite? Hmmmmm
People are killing themselves with Mercury poisoning which attacks the liver. Some become darker after using the skin creams because of the mercury.Sounds like another form of genocide. I tell you you are ugly then provide you with a product that can make you pretty which then kills you. Yeah sounds demonic to me. I’m glad I grew up with black dolls and all types of black complexions around me, and all types of black people in my family. Having a mother who was a proud black woman helps as well. People don’t realize what you see everyday can potentially change how you view things. I am glad I have my own mind and I believe what I believe. I think all races are beautiful, but I love a man of color, as you may know; I think nothing is more beautiful. It is sad that Satan has created a division in the black race to hate each other, when we clearly look more like Jesus did. We should be the TOP DAWGS lol but it’s what’s in their minds. That is why we are not, people are still slaves in their minds.
Reo,
Start a Detroit blog and get some help for your ailing city. If you read my article you would have seen that the points I’m addressing are race identity, self hatred, and the skin bleaching epidemic that is destroying lives all across the Caribbean and Europe. Read past the headline and introduction!
Demetrius…I read the first 2 paragraphs. And no I don’t have time for writing blogs. I write songs.
I will not get into an argument with you on the internet. What I’m saying is the work that you do on this page has a greater message than gossip. I hope you steer clear of that. Yes you point out some good things but who cares about Sosa or Michael Jackson for that matter. Mike died ALONE! So let us discuss a dying society within the United States. Not just Detroit. I can careless about one single city. I care about the United States and what I’m telling you is that this is a prequel. You already know that I think the internet is a waste of time and a big distraction from what’s most important. With what you do with these blogs you point out issues of relevance but I noticed you doing the Sosa thing and previously you had comments about Spike hating.
My point is eff that noise. That’s all non-sense. Stick to writing about the community and suggesting solutions for how to make it better. You do that well. This gossip and finger pointing leave that foolishness to TMZ.
Seriously you have the ability to make impacts on the younger generation who is mislead with this internet bullshit. But at the end of the day this blog belongs to you and you can write whatever you want….I guess that’s the true beauty of the internet.
I’m not arguing with you either… especially since you didn’t read the entire article to understand that it is much deeper than celebrity gossip. It’s always best to listen first then react. You took the time to kindly write me several paragraphs of opinion before you even listened to my prescription for improvement of the Black community (which just happens to be the focal point of most of my blog entries). Kudos to Syreeta for her insightful response.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4f9zR5yzY
(Have a sense of humor will you…)
Bob,
That’s the funniest video I’ve seen all year! Time machine? Re-up on whiteness? CLASSIC!
Demetrius, I think that this is an excellent vehicle for your witty, incendiary, and clearly polarizing thoughts.
Your sense of humor really shines through. I love it!
Even if there is a bit of “gossip” on here I think that its context is warranted. If this were simply a blog about your random musings with no reference it would fall on deaf ears and have no efficacy. As much as we deride it; we all subscribe to popular culture in some form and entertainers/celebrities are unfortunately the great equalizer for most.
It is worth mentioning that S.Sosa not only whitened his skin but he also chemically adjusted his hair and was sporting a pair of contacts in the infamous pictures.