Whatever Happened to a Good Old-Fashioned Fist Fight? The death of former New Orleans Saints' Player Will Smith

 

William Raymond Smith III (July 4, 1981 – April 9, 2016)

There was a line that Warren Beatty read in the movie "Bullworth," which said in part, "If you don't put down that malt liquor and chicken wings. . ."

I'd like to add to that and say "If black men don't put down their guns and start using their heads, our race will soon be extinct."  Maybe that's an exaggeration.  Maybe it isn't.

The death this past weekend of beloved ex-New Orleans Saints' player Will Smith by another black man, after what appears to be an incident of "road rage" brought that movie to my mind.

"Bullworth" came out in 1998.  It's now 2016.  18 years later and we're still dealing with the same issues.

There used to be a time when real men didn't need guns to settle their differences.  At worst, there was a "fist fight" and the best man won.  I don't condone violence of any sort, but when did black men become so "hard on the outside, yet soft on the inside," that they couldn't handle themselves without lethal weapons?

Blame it on the rap music, blame it on the white man, blame it on the boogie.  Bottom line - we need to have a serious conversation about where this ends.

Prior to the last couple of years, I've really not had a particular stance on gun control.  Now, I do.  It's obvious that people feel empowered to do things while "carrying heat" that they wouldn't feel empowered to do if they weren't.  

Gun control may not happen overnight and it may not be the only solution.  But what we're doing now isn't working.