During Friday’s “First Take,” co-host Stephen A. Smith reacted to the Thanksgiving Day feud between Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant and Washington Redskins cornerback Josh Norman, which Norman accused Bryant of telling him, “Where I’m from, we don’t lip, we unload the clip, so pretty much whatever you want to do.”
Smith noted Bryant has since denied telling Norman that, but said the Redskins star should refrain from telling the media Bryant threatened him with a gun because it “contributes to the stereotypes attached to young black men.”
Partial transcript as follows:
The fact of the matter is we’ve got some real, real serious issues as it pertains to violence in America, and in particular in the black community. So when you’ve got two brothers who are unquestionably elite, I know both of them at least a little bit, I consider them both to be really good brothers that I’m incredibly proud of the things they have accomplished in their professional careers and beyond, this is not the kind of language we need to be hearing from them. You can’t sit up there being elite as you are, being the winners that you are, thinking about your futures and the kind of impact that you are trying to have, not just on the football field, but extending beyond that, and then literally go in front of the media and start echoing stuff like this.
I don’t know if it is true or not, because to Dez Bryant’s credit, he categorically denied that he had said what Josh Norman said he said. But, if he is wrong, if he is lying, if he did say that, it’s wrong and we need to make sure it is clear he don’t need to be saying that anybody.
And if you are Josh Norman, you damn sure don’t need to be going to the media and telling the media that he said those words to you because it’s not just about you at that particular moment in time. It carries far, far, far more weight and it contributes to the stereotypes that are attached to young black men and what they are willing to resort to in the event that there is some kind of disagreement where by and large we are law-abiding citizens that don’t need to go that route.
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