In a story tagged in the "White People" category, Deadspin writer Donovan Dooley goes off the deep end about a false premise: NBA player Sam Dekker's white privilege. The accusation is based on J.R. Smith, of the Los Angeles Lakers, claiming something Dekker denied -- that he's a supporter of President Donald Trump.
Dooley goes on and on about how Smith's accusation proves Dekker is clueless about his white privilege and how a vote for Trump is a vote for immorality.
"There’s a reason people look at Trump supporters differently," Dooley writes. "It has nothing to do with policy or party, but everything to do with basic human decency and respect."
This is also why Smith (seen in photo of 2016 press conference) looks at Dekker (a former teammate in Cleveland) as the only teammate he ever disliked. Speaking on the All Things Covered podcast with hosts Patrick Peterson (a cornerback for the Arizona Cardinals) and Bryant McFadden, Smith said:
“Throughout my whole career, it’s only one teammate I really don’t like. And he know that. And everybody else, I’m just cool with. This dude Sam Dekker, dog. I can’t – this dude. He did some bulls— on the bus one day, talking some Trump s—, and I just wasn’t having it.”
Dekker said he was shocked by Smith's unfounded criticism. “Well I am just as confused as y’all. I’m pretty simple, I’ve never been one to get into politics. Especially ‘Trump s—.’ I’ve never been a Trump guy, so this blindsided me.”
End of story? Not so! The flame under Dooley was already lit, and he singed Dekker with it. Dooley takes readers from Dekker denying he's a Trumper to, "It’s possible that he could just be voting for Trump based on the 'economy.' ” Even though Trump allegedly rode Barack Obama's wave of economic prosperity. And It’s possible that Dekker doesn't think Trump is racist because he has no understanding of what racism truly is. Dooley continues to fabricate his indictment of Dekker as a privileged white:
"Dekker’s thought process is more than likely shaped by his experience as a successful white athlete, which comes with a different level of privilege than the average white dude."
Dooley continues building his mountain out of Smith's mole hill. People can't stay ignorant anymore because Smith's I-hate-Dekker story illuminates the fear that many minorities have about continuing to empower President Trump, who only represents the interests of white America. Someone taught this hate to Dekker, too, Dooley pleads:
“It’s a thought pattern. You’re taught that. It’s the hate you give … The privilege he has was taught to him, and he took heed of it and run [sic] with it even further than somebody who was not — who was oblivious to what they have and what the life they lived. Because some people just go through their life — not necessarily knowing, but not aware and privy to somebody else’s circumstances. He’s a person who’s just very aware of somebody else’s circumstances and wants to keep them there, as opposed to try to help him elevate up. And I don’t respect anything about that.”
Dooley disqualifies his attack by admitting that, in fairness to Dekker, "we don’t know exactly what he said on the bus that day." But who cares about defaming someone's reputation when "a deeper conversation" is needed more "than just an alleged political disagreement between two athletes"?
The deeper conversation Dooley conjures up "is symbolic of the power struggle this country is facing between minorities who want equality and white people who want to keep their level of privilege that was given to them by the heinous acts of their ancestors."
Furthermore, the pundit Dooley says Donald Trump is a pawn used to advance white supremacy and he doesn’t agree with Black athletes exercising their right to protest. Advocating for the Orange man is not about political preference, but is "an attempt to further oppress minorities to maintain your White privilege in this country."
Congratulations, Donovan Dooley, the tagger of "White People.'' You win my "Emily Litella Award" for concocting a huge issue out of a false premise. Just as the comic Gilda Radner did in Saturday Night Live newscast parodies many years ago.
