If you have been living under a rock please don't read the following news article below: Because it details the 2008 Olympics which has been pretty much on the news for the past week and a half. So if you don't know by now Micheal "Fish" Phelps has 8 medals and my man below has 1. But His one is more important than all of Fish's eight combined. Why? Because Stereotypes exist because there are some truth to them.
The article below explains it all. Of how the press stretched the BLACK fact so thin that cosmetic surgery couldn't repair these marks. Damn! So What if He's Black and He can Swim! I know I cant swim, I don't need to, Cuz I can RUN!!!JUMP!!!CLIMB!!!SHOOT!!! Shall I go on?
Riding Olympic wave Bronx-born swimmer now champ in Beijing
BY EDGAR SANDOVAL and CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Updated Tuesday, August 12th 2008, 1:05 AM
Hewitt/Getty
Cullen Jones' Olympic win will set a new standard for African-Americans.
Bronx-born swimmer Cullen Jones didn't just help power the U.S. relay swim team to Olympic gold - he just may have shattered the stereotype that blacks can't swim.
Although Jones isn't the first African-American swimmer to make the Olympic squad (he's the third), or the first to win a gold medal (he's the second), he figured in one of the most exciting races in sports history.
And that thriller will be replayed on Olympic highlight reels for generations to come. "I hope this exposure from the race today, a kid can see this and say, 'Wow, a black swimmer - and he's got a gold medal,' " Jones, 24, said. "The stigma that black people don't swim ended today."
"That's great," said Jones' teammate Michael Phelps, who also romped to victory today in the 200-meter freestyle for his third-straight gold medal of the Games.
As for Jones, the reason he began swimming in the first place is because the water nearly killed him.
Jones was 5 years old and living in Irvington, N.J., when his parents took him to a Pennsylvania water park to cool off. His mother, Debra, didn't want him to go down a slide in an inner tube because he couldn't swim.
Jones should have listened to his mother. When the inner tube flipped over, he panicked instead of letting go and then passed out.
It took CPR to bring him back to life. The next week, his mother sent him for swimming lessons at a YMCA in nearby Newark and then the John F. Kennedy Aquatic Center, which is also in Newark. Jones took to the water immediately, but wasn't a standout at first, his coaches said. "At first he was an average swimmer and he progressed," said Elliott Bradley. "The more he progressed, the better he got at it. I never thought he would go this far. I'm very proud of him."
Jimmy Wilson, the head coach at the swimming center, said Jones just worked harder than the other swimmers.
"His mom would have to drag him out of the water," he said. "He was very highly motivated. Some kids just have that glow in him. I just watched him grow."
When Jones started winning, his mom began taking him for specialized training, where he refined his swimming skills. For a time, she would get him up before dawn and take him all the way out to Long Island for 5 a.m. practices in Hempstead.
"She was very devoted," Wilson said.
Jones was acutely aware that he stood out in the mostly white sport. But it did not deter him. And if he felt uncomfortable, he did not let it show.
"My parents always believed in the fact that whenever you leave the house, you're representing the family," he said in a recent interview.
Jones' father, Ronald, who played basketball in the Bronx, died of lung cancer when the young swimmer was 16. He did not live long enough to see Jones win a college scholarship, an NCAA title and a multimillion-dollar Nike endorsement contract or help set the world record in the 4 x 100-meter relay last year.
Although Jones set an American record in the 50-meter freestyle preliminaries at Olympic swimming trials last month, he didn't qualify for any of the individual events in Beijing. So his only shot for a medal was Sunday's dramatic relay race, in which he swam the third leg.
Now Jones, who hopes to channel his Olympic success and good looks into a modeling career, is devoting himself to a foundation he started aimed at helping minority-group members learn to swim - and compete. He is dating Olympic swimmer Maritza Correia, and he still swims six hours a day, seven days a week.
Jones said blacks can swim as well as anybody. "Not many black people played golf before Tiger Woods," he said.
The Best Part of a Daily News Article are the Comments People make so here are a few:
SayWhat Aug 12, 2008 9:22:44 AM Report Offensive Post
"Wow, all these years I never knew about the stereotype that black men can't swim. I just figured they knew better money was elsewhere should they wish to pursue an athletic endeavor'
veni26 Aug 12, 2008 10:02:26 AM Report Offensive Post
Exposure to new experiences in life is so important. I think the source of this stereotype comes from the fact that most inner city blacks do not have formal training in swimming. There are limited facilities, esp. in urban area, and virtually no free training programs available. This is why so many young minority kids run the streets and get into trouble. It still stuns me when I meet someone from the WI/Caribbean who cannot swim and/or are afraid of the water. When you grow up around in communities affected by poverty, crime, drugs, un-employment, violence, "luxury activities" and "vacation sports" are the least of your concerns. The reality is, unless someone in your family swims, or you can afford private lessons, you're on your own and may never learn. Note the high number of minority swimming deaths just this summer alone in NY & NJ.
tejastiger61@yahoo.com Aug 13, 2008 1:01:41 AM Report Offensive Post
Jones statement "not many black people played golf before Tiger Woods" is so stupid and racist I can't believe he said it. And this piece of **** publication reprinted it. And why is it that the first time someone black does something like win a Olympic Gold Medal in swimming, something men and women the world over have been doing thousands of times for 100 or more years, They and I quote this rag " Cullen Jones is an ICON for African-Americans" Give Black people a break, and Cullen Jones his due for his hard work, ( the amount of pool time, weight lifting and other training the average person could not even attempt to imagine, let alone try to copy) Lets congratulate him for the huge achievements he has dedicated his life to. Not for something he was born with and has no control over. Of course I mean no disrespect to Michel Jackson. The first Black man to turn himself white, and into some sort of half man half woman, that is 100% weird. Now what was it we were talking about
2 comments:
Although this may seem like such a "heart-warming" story for Blacks, it may not hit home to kids or even people living in the urban community. They made sure in the article that they included that Jones was Bronx-born. He certianly didn't grew up in the bronx though. As per the article, he lived in NJ and also took lessons in that state. Some kids in the Bronx may think that they have hope but realize that they have a single parent that's working 2 jobs just to put food on the table and DEFINITELY cannot afford swimming lessons for their child at the 92nd Street Y. I never said it can't be done but for the vast majority, especially for blacks, it's light years away. Why do you think that A LOT of urban kids play basketball? It's played in every gym class, there's a b-ball court or hoop in the yard of most schools, and if you don't have a ball, best believe there going to be someone there that has one. Most importantly, it's FREE and you didn't have to break mama's pockets.
Although this may seem like such a "heart-warming" story for Blacks, it may not hit home to kids or even people living in the urban community. They made sure in the article that they included that Jones was Bronx-born. He certianly didn't grew up in the bronx though. As per the article, he lived in NJ and also took lessons in that state. Some kids in the Bronx may think that they have hope but realize that they have a single parent that's working 2 jobs just to put food on the table and DEFINITELY cannot afford swimming lessons for their child at the 92nd Street Y. I never said it can't be done but for the vast majority, especially for blacks, it's light years away.
Why do you think that A LOT of urban kids play basketball? It's played in every gym class, there's a b-ball court or hoop in the yard of most schools, and if you don't have a ball, best believe there going to be someone there that has one. Most importantly, it's FREE and you didn't have to break mama's pockets.
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