A Brotha Beyond the Brink???

You can take him out the ghetto, but you can't take the ghetto out of him...

Say it aint so...Please.

Now, I don't know all the details to this but I do know that Isiah JR Rider, former NBA player who once possesed one of the sweetest jump shots in the NBA, was arrested early Thursday 1/26/2006 morning on kidnapping and battery charges in Marin City --as in "The County of Marin" (One of the richest counties in the US).  Basically, he wasn't in the hood.

It seems like dude was smashing off in ol' girl's Benz with her in it against her will. I guess he didn't have a white Ford Bronco of his own...

Nonetheless, it's a tragedy to see such a talented Black man fall from grace only to be a mug shot and a topic on my blog. 

In time, the racial identity of his alleged victim may be revealed.  But I'm leaning toward her being a white girl.  I'm saying, he was in the NBA!

Feel free to bet me.

Comments

[satisfiedsistah]

Part of me wants to believe that its the fault of recruiters and the people that these men are surrounded by.They only see them as "performers" and "money machines." These guys don't get the advice or grooming to be mature, so they make horrible choices. We see it all the time. Extreme immaturity and little impulse control. My bet; Shes white and probably a Girl Gone Wild over sports figures. she thought she could "handle" it and well, she found out different..........

[Supa Sister]

*sigh* nah I don't want to bet you, dude...

[That Girl Tam]

My spin on the white girl/black athlete connection...they just wanna see if those dudes are really "BLACK ALL OVER". He was either smokin that shit, he's a dumb ass with no self-control, or she's a paranoid white chic...no bets, but I'm kinda leaning with YOU...

[HumanityCritic]

I saw that too, its a shame..

[sake one]

Marin City is tha HOOD patna....Pac lived there and if u remember tha swap meet there u know it aint nothin rich about Tha Jungle.

All that other shit, no comment. JR did alot for bay area rap music. ;-)

[Don't Push Me]

Sake Weezy:

Actually, you're right about Marin City aka "The Jungle." I've heard about it. But I aint never been there myself. Perhaps she wasn't white. I wonder?...Nonetheless, Rider can't (excuse me) cain't seem to keep out of trouble. If he had a grip on things, he could quite still be ballin' in the NBA.

[ladydaynyc]

Marin has a ghetto. It is taped for service industry jobs and several "outstanding" students are allowed to attend the private schools so that the rich kids can have a more diversified experience. Marin is one of the most racist places I have ever been period. Try like everybody who stepped into the restaurant after me and my friends sat down were served their meals 30 minutes before us! And when the food came it was cold and hungry as I was, I wouldn't eat it and left it right there on the table. And no i didn't pay for it either! I am giving this brotha' the benefit of the doubt cuz, Marin is one wacky place where white folks are very liberal as long we colored folk live in the ghetto or across the bridge! And besides when did we of all folks start being so quick to condemn? Sure so many brotha's get caught with their pants down with white girls but we at least gotta hear what they say about it first.

[DPM]

True dat. Marin is a whacky place. And (like most places) they do have a hood. I stand corrected. Moreover, the underline issue here really ain't race. It's Riders career which earned him 10's of millions versus the fact he can't stay out of trouble no matter how much scrill he has.
Whether he likes or knows it, he contributes to the image of young rich Black men in (although formerly) the NBA. Personally, I hate to see this type of crap.

[ladydaynyc]

I feel you. He should have common sense enough to stay outta trouble but the strange thing about athletes is they do not necessary come to the lime light for their intelligence. Having said that I am not coming down on the players that do have common sense and intelligence, but it ain't really a prerequisite for the job. you know what i am saying? and i also gotta say that he is one man and he doesn't represent all athletes. if we expect other folks not to bunch us we can do it to ourselves. we gotta learn to separate ourselves and not feel bad cuz of the "one bad apples" cuz otha' folks don't feel bad about their bad apples...like white people weren't ashamed to white when Bernie Ebbers ripped off Worldcom or because of the Enron ting and do ya' think they felt bad about being white cuza' Jeffrey Dahmer (sp?). Naahh they just kept moving and contrary to popular thought they got a lot more bad apples than we do....just so many more of us get caught, with our pants down so to speak.....

[DPM]

Word. I feel you. I notice that we, as Black people (not all, but a lot), are quick to embrace our celebrities in supportive ways.

I believe that because we have expectations for our rich and famous to continue to be "rich and famous," when they abstractly fall from the comfortable status of "rich and famous" we experience disappointment.
We've done this with Michael Jackson, OJ Simpson, and Kareem Abdul Jabar...just to name a few.

True, White folk generally don't tend to get racially disappointed or deffensive whether Robert Blake is up for murder or Martha Stewart is doing time in the pin.

Although I've never possessed a JR Rider poster on my wall, I hate to see a brotha go out like that. As a Black man myself, I feel like he is representin' whether he is in the NBA ballin'or not.

In sum, there are way more White "rich and famous" celebrities than there are Black. Perhaps this is why they don't trip as hard as we do...(?)

I can't really explain it. It's a slippery thought to even try. But I was deveasted when they said MC Hammer was broke.

Not Hammer...