Although by no means a sports fan, I've followed the story of
Mr. Aaron Hernandez with interest mixed with sorrow. Mr.
Hernandez
grew up in a tough neighborhood but became a high-school and college
football star.
He nearly didn't make the NFL. Despite his obvious skills,
teams
didn't want him because he was known for lapses of judgment
which got him into trouble. The New England Patriots
took a
chance
late in the draft when they wouldn't have to pay him much.
The Patriots got a spectacular return on their investment. He
gained
more than 1,300 yards, nearly won the Super Bowl, and was one of the
top 3 tight ends in the NFL. He signed a $4 million contract
and
moved into a $1.4 million house.
You Can Take the Thug Out Of the Hood, But ...
I first heard of Mr. Hernandez when he was arrested for murdering one
of his old-time companions from the 'hood. A few weeks later,
I ran across a
young man who'd played football against Mr. Hernandez in high
school. "He
was good, but my team beat his team," I was told. "I don't
care what
they say, everybody who plays wants to make the NFL. He had
it made
and he blew it."
"So he couldn't get away from the 'hood?"
"Yeah, the 'hood got him. That's why I never go
back. If I ever go
back, I'll get killed."
I asked why Mr. Hernandez, who has reportedly confessed, had felt he
had to kill
the guy. My acquaintance told me that the cops had found that
Mr. Hernandez had shot up a car while he was still in college and
inflicted "serious bodily harm" on one of the occupants. He
thought
someone from the 'hood tried to blackmail Mr. Hernandez and got killed
for it.
"Why shoot up the car?"
"To get street cred. He had to show them he was still tough
so
they'd leave him alone."
That didn't make sense. "Why didn't he go to the
cops? He had a
million dollar mansion. He was a taxpayer. His
taxes paid cops'
salaries. They'd have helped him."
I got a totally blank look. It seemed he didn't believe that
the
police ever helped anyone.
"If not cops, what about his coach? He got a thousand
yards. They
want another thousand yards; that's why they paid him so
much. The
guy who owns the Patriots is real rich.
He's probably on a
first-name basis with the governor. If he asked the governor
to keep
the 'hood off his thousand-yard guy, the state cops could put out the
word. If not the staties, they could hire Pinkerton's and
surround
his house with guys with guns. Why didn't he ask for help?"
I got more blank looks. We clearly weren't communicating, so
we
talked about his iPhone instead.
The Cops and the Hood
On thinking about it, this man might have reasons not to think of the
police as his friends. When cops patrol the 'hood, they
generally go
in pairs, and there are places they won't go no matter what.
As a
Detroit cop said when asked why he wasn't doing something about
vandals stripping copper out of a building, "I ain't goin' in there,
I'd get shot."
The cops figure that most every hoodie is either on welfare,
which costs the city money, or dealing drugs which leads to
criminal activity they have to try to contain. Could it be
that
cops
develop a somewhat unfavorable attitude toward people in the
'hood? Is it possible that dope dealers and muggers think of
law
enforcement as unreasonable interference in their pursuit of an honest
profit?
It may be that there were simply too many longstanding emotional
barriers between Mr. Hernandez and the police for him to ask them for
help, no matter what was threatening him. He seems to have
thought he
had to handle his troubles himself.
The 120 MPH Chase
After Mr. Hernandez' arrest, the papers told of the police pulling
over an SUV after a 120-MPH chase. Mr. Hernandez was in the
passenger
seat. "It's all right, officer," he's reported to have said,
"I'm
Aaron Hernandez."
I thought that he might have gotten a glimmer of the notion that now
that he was paying taxes, the police would have a different attitude
toward him.
My friends who're sports fans assert that this was just another
manifestation of our longstanding practice of cutting sports heroes
generous slack. Although Mr. Vick got in trouble for
dogfighting,
college players have gotten away with rape, theft, and other
misbehaviors that would put lesser beings in jail forever. My
sports
friends
believe that Mr. Hernandez was totally alienated from the police but
that he expected that his aura of sports hero would take care of a
minor matter like speeding.
This isn't all that unusual. The NFL web site told how an Indianapolis Colts
rookie safety was charged with disorderly public drunkenness and
resisting law enforcement after an "altercation" with police:
"You can't arrest me, I'm a Colts player," Boyett repeatedly
told the officers, according to The Indianapolis Star, citing an a
police report that described the 23-year-old's behavior as "very
abusive."
He later threatened a police officer, saying he was
"going to come back and break your jaw,"
according to the report.
Professional sports seems to be a continuation of the
'hood - players regard cops as engaging in unwarranted interferense
with their legitimate
pursuits. Why do we idolize these guys?.
The 'Hood Will Getcha If You Don't Watch Out
To check further, I asked a person I know who managed to escape
the 'hood. Her dad left her mother when she was quite young
and they
moved into the projects. One of her childhod friends was shot
in a
gang conflict. She was raped. Her mother worked very
hard and
finally earned enough money to leave the projects. She left
the
'hood and went to college, but the memories stayed.
When I asked her why Mr. Hernandez didn't ask the cops for help, she
said, "You gotta be kidding. All the cops I ever knew were on
the
take. If any strange kid can come to town and score drugs,
don't you
think the cops know who's dealing? No way he'd ever
talk to the
cops."
The 'Hood and the Cops
If my friends are correct in thinking that significant numbers of
hoodies are totally alienated from the police, we have a real
problem. If entire neighborhoods are growing up with no
regard
for law, we're going to have to deal with many, many people who're a
total drain on society.
What's more, they're armed and dangerous. Guns have been
common in
the 'hood for generations.
No less an apostle of nonviolent protest than Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr. believed in his right to keep and bear arms. In "MLK and
His
Guns," the Huffington
Post reports:
Most people think King would be the last person to own a
gun. Yet in
the mid-1950s, as the civil rights movement heated up, King kept
firearms for self-protection. In fact, he even applied for a
permit to
carry a concealed weapon.
A recipient of constant death threats, King had armed supporters take
turns guarding his home and family.
... Glenn Smiley, an adviser to King, described King's home as "an
arsenal."
Mr. Hernandez had no trouble getting hold of enough guns to shoot up a
car and then to kill a man who was bothering him. If his
willingness
to take violent action instead of involving the police when he felt
threatened is a common attitude among people of his background, we're
in for a lot of trouble.