Not a 'thug'? Don't try to fake it
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There are things about Sherman that I really like and admire but as a father and a youth coach I was really put off by his behavior after the SF game. Whether he wants to be or not, he's a role model and that tantrum set a bad example.I understand Sherman's umbrage, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that my first thought upon seeing Sherman put his face into the TV camera lens to bark at Crabtree was, well, "thuggish."
I did not think about Sherman's academic achievements in high school, against great odds in his low-income Compton, Calif., community. I wasn't thinking about his college degree from Stanford University or his commendable record of community service. I was only thinking about what I was seeing — and it was not pretty.
I don't use the word "thug" loosely. Too many African-American males, as Sherman suggests, have been unfairly stereotyped with it. But I also believe we should avoid feeding the stereotype.
As I wrote back in the early 1990s, in response to then-NBA star Charles Barkley's odd "I am not a role model" ads for Nike, "Yes, you are."
The role models that kids see on TV are particularly important to kids who don't have enough role models at home. That's particularly true in African-American households, where the out-of-wedlock birth rate has been hovering at almost 70 percent in recent decades.
The shortage of adult male role models in their homes makes the role-modeling they see on TV even more important.











