2008 Woodie Awards
Lessons to be learned from athletic tragedy
Will Holden
Issue date: 2/9/07 Section: Sports
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Williams' death was likely a result of gang violence as the shooting occurred after an altercation between gang members at The Shelter nightclub. William's limousine was sprayed with gunfire after an altercation at the club. One of the bullets struck Williams in the neck, leading to his death, while two others were critically injured but survived.
The incident was truly tragic, but truth be told, there are many who were not surprised to see a professional athlete involved in such an episode. Every day I hear individuals, myself included, who label such athletes as thugs, and every time it carries a negative connotation. Many times I hear people say that they refuse to watch sports or support a league where these sorts of personalities are present.
In the wake of the incident Denver's sports media broke out in dialogue. One of the most interesting mediums of conversation was radio. Erv Brown and Joe Williams host Denver's most popular radio show, Erv and Joe, and each are white sports commentators that have been covering the industry for over 20 years.
The show was therapeutic, but it was after a specific caller that I began wondering if these conversations would indeed be helpful in trying to understand, cope, and learn from what transpired on that fateful New Years Eve.
The caller expressed his sympathy to the Williams family but explained that people like Williams and professional athletes everywhere should be hanging around a place filled with "people in suits," people who are more "respectable" than those at The Shelter.
Then it hit me, just like it hits assistant basketball coach R.J. Barsh, who played basketball and will graduate from UPS this spring. Barsh has called Hilltop, South Tacoma and Puyallup home over the course of his life.
"I know a lot of guys in suits who are slimy just like I know a lot of guys who are thugging out that are slimy," Barsh said.
Barsh also believes that there is a very involved debate over whether or not these sorts of gangsters could be respectable people.
"Gang members have habits that are respectable, but it's very hard for me to call them respectable people; there's a fine line," Barsh said.
"Someone might corrupt one person's life because he sells them drugs, but then he takes that money and uses it to help his own child's life flourish and he ends up in a cycle he can't break," Barsh said. "He's respectful because he's supporting his family, but everyone else sees him as this druggie.
"For me, I don't buy the excuse that he couldn't get it done legally though, because anyone can get an education. I'm living proof of that," Barsh said. "But then there's a whole circle of people that don't know that this education is available to them, so if they don't know and they get involved in that gangster lifestyle, how can I say they're not a respectful person?"
For Barsh the debate continues even further.
"Would it be more respectful to get a minimum wage job and have his family fall apart because he can't support them, or go sell drugs and be able to support your family? That's a real hard question for anyone to answer."
Dexter Gordon, the head of the African American Studies department at UPS, believes that the wrong thing to do when approaching the debate is to let appearances be the determining factor.
"A lot of people are to blame for these incidents of violence and the vicious cycles that lead to them," Gordon said. "But what is troubling is when assumptions are made that this sort of hip-hop culture is less than the corporate style and that clothes make you an upright citizen.
"This sort of characterizing leads to a very classist as well as racist point of view," Gordon said. "Every time someone takes this sort of violence and leaps to say that all people who look or belong to a certain socio-economic or racial group behave in such a way it is an insult to hard-working poor and black people everywhere."
However, there are many people, white and black, poor and rich that believe the gang lifestyle is never one of respect, and it is doubtful that Barsh and Gordon would disagree.
"There is a certain point at which you have to cut ties with people like that. You just have to in order to move on," Barsh said.
However, Barsh still says that he personally has loyalties to his old neighborhood.
"I feel as though it's my job to go back and say to the kids in my neighborhood, look, I'm not in the NBA, I didn't get full scholarships, but I have a four year degree, I have a great job and I'm getting it done," Barsh said. "What's more if you don't come back to your neighborhood, you're not going to be welcome there any more.
"If Marcus Trufant (a Tacoma native) never came back to Tacoma, people would hate him. The only way you can really leave that hood behind is to die, because for me, no matter what I do in life, I'm always going to be that kid from Hilltop," Barsh said.
Like Barsh, Williams was always that kid from Fort Worth. He was always going to be that kid without a father. Williams was always going to be undersized and he was always going to have something to prove. In the hood, Barsh explains there's only one way to get your point across.
"You have to be physical. People that come out of rough neighborhoods are more aggressive," Barsh said. "It's the only mentality you can have to come out of a place like that because it's all physical. People will judge you by what it looks like you have, it's all about the money and power."
Williams lived by that credo, as he was infamous for his aggressive play that made up for his lack of size. But despite his 'never-say-die' attitude, Williams made friends wherever he went. He had admirers because of the youth programs he started to get kids off the street at his home high school. He had boys because he began a record label, Ryno Entertainment, in hopes of supporting his friends and providing them a path off the streets and away from a life of poverty.
"It's obvious that Darrent was a man of respectability if he was able to do all these things," Gordon said. "It was also probably one of the joys of his life to come back to his friends, many of whom likely sought nothing but association and friendship, and to support them.
"I detest the notion that rich black people shouldn't associate with the people from their old neighborhoods," Gordon said. "For anyone to say that when a black person succeeds he or she must move all of these old people out of his or her life and create new networks by severing old ones is downright wrong because it is very unhealthy.
"I believe that people who go back to their communities should be praised and that more black athletes should behave as Darrent did," Gordon said. "Now if these friends are violent gang members that's one thing, but to classify his entire group of friends as thus is both dangerous and unacceptable."
For Barsh, the reasons for this vicious cycle of gang violence and classification can be broken down to a single personality trait.
"People have too much pride," Barsh said. "It's not just black and poor people, it's people everywhere. Everyone thinks that things have to be done on their terms and they aren't open to change. It's hard enough to change a person, but it's an entirely different matter to try and change your attitude if you don't think you need to be changed."
Armed with the words of Barsh and Gordon I urge students of UPS to be the igniters of change. Change your attitude about the people you watch compete on the television as well as the people you see on the streets.
You may wonder how anyone at a school like UPS could make a difference, but for Gordon and academics everywhere, the answer is surprisingly simple.
"Engage in discussion," Gordon urged. "When people like UPS students stand up and say that this sort of violence, this sort of classifying is not acceptable, we can fight it. By ceasing to associate violence with groups we can work to change the structure and repeating pattern of the system.
"Dialogue can be started about how we make entertainment in our cities that's free of violence, and as UPS students you have the ability to lay out new terms for the debate on violence," Gordon said. "Because we are all victims we must all work to free ourselves."
So the next time you see a professional athlete commit a hard foul or take a swing at someone on or off the playing field, think about it a little harder before trying to separate yourself by classifying him and his brethren as outright, low-down thugs. Because, to be completely honest, most people at this school of privilege have no idea what it means to be such a person.
Remember that we are all in this struggle together and that alone we can change nothing.
Do that, and a death on a day of celebration will not have been in vain.
•Since Will Holden will no longer be referring to athletes as thugs, he probably can't call himself one anymore either.
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