Saturday’s Cincinnati Xavier fight that started toward the end of the basketball contest was a sad moment in American culture. The brawl started back during halftime of the game and toward the end of the game the same two players got into each other’s faces, but it was Xavier Freshman Desmine Wells who really started the fight, when he pushed the Cincinnati player to the ground and from his blind side. If Wells had separated the two players, we would not be chatting about this issue now; he didn’t do that.
Yet, Desmine Wells isn’t mentioned; Yancy Gates, who hit an Xavier with closed fist, is. A lot. And because a camera caught him in the act of throwing the punch. That’s sad. And it’s awful that this conversation is becoming one about young Black men.
The fact is that if this was a fight between white players, no one would be talking about the ‘problem with white young men.’ Yet, that’s the national conversation now. It’s weird. When white students get involved in protesting Occupy Oakland, and throw bottles at cops, no one states that there’s a problem with white youth. In the Cincinnati Xavie case, an Xavier claimed that what was done was what people from his neighborhood do. I’m sure there are people from his ‘hood who would take offense to that.
The bottom line is these young men were wrong. Period.
Stay tuned.
Bill Carroll