The Blackest Men On The Planet

Nah DV...
This isn't about you.

What makes one Black?
Is it ones amount of melanin?
One's upbringing?
One's level of success?
The way one speaks?
Or the way one dresses?
Where one lives?
Or with whom one associates?
Is it one's (learned) culture?

Maybe it's a combination of all of the above.
Maybe it's none of the above.
But IMOHO - It's the ability to overcome whatever hurdles one has placed in front of them, contrary to what society tells them they are supposed to do.

So how does Mike qualify?
Because he danced and kicked down the doors of an MTV that refused to play videos by Black artists.
Because he ruled the airwaves as part of a group - and as a solo artist.
Because he raised the bar concerning what was expected from other Black people.
Because Mike help to make progress.

Jack Johnson, Ali and others also furthered the cause of a race.
But it was Jackie Robinson who first had the temperament and patience to endure the taunting of a nation.
Some Blacks probably thought, "We have our own league. Why do we need to integrate.".
But Jackie understood the old axiom of being the best by beating the best.

Lewis Hamilton gives the Formula One world a big eff you by winning (and dating that baad chick from the Pussy Cat Dolls).

Obama won in spite of not asking permission first.

Obama's eff you helps to shape the world.

There is no way imaginable that an unattractive, fat, poor, abused Black girl from the South was expected to be a success.

But Oprah can say "Eff You" in more than a billion ways.

People often dismiss Eldrick as not being really Black.

Pa-lease...

What's more gangta' than forcing formerly all white country clubs to accept Blacks?

Ummm. Did you watch Wimbledon?

Some would say that this is a true and complete image what is means to be Black.

That this is true Black culture.

That this is what we are all expected to be.

But who do you admire more?

One who stays within the confines of the plantation and performs within the norms that were determined by the master?

(Or calling one's culture that which has been determined by those whom you call your enemy.)

Or he who escapes and defies the rules set forth by one's supposed master?

(Or creating one's own culture that is predicated on the best one can be - without regard for those who have failed before you or those who wish to subjugate you.)

To (mis)quote Forest Gump; "Black is as Black does".