But one question I can't answer is just what the "black" and "white" communities think.
And it's not because I'm not black or because I am white.
I can only speak for myself as a free individual citizen of the greatest country on earth.
So what's the point I'm trying to make?
Only that as free American citizens we are responsible for our own thoughts and actions, and how we take advantage of opportunities that come our way.
How we choose to live our individual life, embrace our individual liberty and "pursue happiness," in other words.
But Jim Brown thinks he speaks for the "black" community, so let's let him speak.
Jim Brown's Soul Patrol has the story:
"Last week football great Jim Brown suggested that basketball great Kobe Bryant was somehow less black than, say, Jim Brown because Mr. Bryant spent part of his childhood in Italy where his father played professional basketball.
"He is somewhat confused about culture, because he was brought up in another country," Mr. Brown told talk show host Arsenio Hall. "[Bryant] doesn't quite fit what's happening in America." Back in the 1960s, Mr. Brown hosted a gathering for black athletes interested in social activism. "If I had to call that summit all over," he said, "there would be some athletes I wouldn't call. Kobe would be one of them."
The Lakers' Kobe Bryant
Mr. Bryant replied via Twitter. "A 'Global' African American is an inferior shade to 'American' African Americans?? #hmm . . . ," he wrote. And on Sunday ESPN's Stephen Smith, who's also black, called Mr. Brown's comments "inappropriate" and "wrong" and then used the dust-up to make a political point about the diversity of views among blacks that some people don't want to acknowledge.
"When it comes to the African-American community, you have a plethora of individuals," said Mr. Smith.
"For example, the black population hasn't given the Republican Party more than 15 percent of its vote since 1964. And anybody who is deemed a black conservative, I am not one of them—I'm a registered independent, just to get that out of the way—but those that I know who are black conservatives are considered pariahs and are ostracized in our communities and it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
"But this is how—this is a problem that exists within our community. Because you are from our community, everybody believes that everybody is supposed to be identical to one another and we can't display or exercise any kind of versatility, all right, or range in our thinking. It's a problem that we have to deal with."
Mr. Smith is correct to note that it's an internal problem. There is a long tradition of policing racial betrayal in the black community, where certain people—sometimes referred to as "soul patrols"—take it upon themselves to determine black authenticity. Of course, the identity politics of the left encourages these attitudes. Democrats appeal to blacks as blacks, not as individuals, and they regularly ascribe racial animus to political opponents. This racial solidarity allows Democrats to take the black vote for granted. But it also results in too many blacks being more concerned about the approval of black America's Jim Browns and less concerned with whether the liberal agenda helps or hurts black people."
Summing Up
To me the concept of personal freedom very much includes the freedom to think and act for myself. Period.
Giving up that freedom to gain the approval or acceptance of others is something I choose not to do.
Having spent lots of time in other countries and with people who aren't Americans has given me a broader perspective and a greater ability to appreciate just how "exceptional" and lucky I am to have been born a free American.
I suspect Kobe Bryant feels pretty much the same way.
Of course, that doesn't make me "black" and neither does it make him "white."
Just two free Americans who are trying to "take care of business" and live our own lives as we choose and without feeling guilty about doing so.
That's my take.
Thanks. Bob.
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