Stephan A. and Jerry Jones: A case study of White Supremacy’s economic foundation

An article by the Washington Post discovered a photo of Jerry Jones standing with a group of white teenagers who were blocking and harassing six Black students who were the first to desegregate schools in the south. The picture sparked controversy, especially after weeks of media coverage about NBA star Kyrie Irvin’s tweet of a movie on Amazon caused a fuss. As they say, a photo speaks a thousand words and people like Stephan A. Smith deflect and tries to isolate the conversation around this issue of the WP posting the photo. Stephan A. knows what he is doing and is running to the rescue of Jerry Jones. This is classic of bootlicks and those who are employed to protect the status quo and why you consistently see them.

The white supremacist corporate media, as many in the black media, have shown and taught us, is anti-black by default. This is the front line of how white supremacy is perpetuated. The propaganda arm is the white corporate media. You see it when the enforcement arm of white supremacy shoots an unarmed Black man and how the media gets on code with the police. You see it when a company like Pepsi tries to co-opt the murder of George Floyd with a commercial of Kendall Jenner giving a smiling officer a soda at a protest. This is how it has lasted for so long and continues to refine itself. The master-slave relationship at work before us right now in the media, specifically Stephan A. making excuses for the Jerry Jones photo shows us how WS has been able to survive for over 500 years.

First, the photo is probably an attempt to put in context Jerry Jones’s questionable track record and the media’s hypocrisy. He has partnered with open white supremacists such as Donald Trump about players kneeling during the national anthem. He has never hired a Black head coach and I would bet that the Cowboy’s corporate offices have no or few Black executives. Also, where has Jerry Jones been on matters of race, either in or outside the NFL, mostly silent and we know that within itself is complicity. I would also imagine his business dealings all have mostly white faces with no Black people to be found. This is what players, fans, and others would like to see some leadership in, but without a doubt, we know there are many owners, if not all, who want to maintain control and put people who look like them in the driver’s seat.

Secondly, what Stephan A. represents is exactly the problem. He is running interference in a broader conversation about the blatant white supremacy that is being perpetrated by the media and sports. A double standard that drags players or employees through the mud for an act as minimal as referencing a movie in a tweet, but a photo and a defense of a racist President’s bullying of players goes with little or no scorn. Stephan A. is typical of corporate America. A person who tries to play both sides and always deflects from the real issue – racism. At best, they know how to keep their heads down and not to speak the truth to the hand that feeds them because that risk is career suicide.

You can easily identify people like Stephan A. because they always appear like they are talking to the dominant audience, even when talking about race. He speaks in generalities and never proposes demands or corrective action. They are in business for themselves and that should always be the prism we look at these people through. He also committed one of the oldest tactics of a bootlick. Talking down or with contempt to the least powerful people in our society is cowardly. Why? Because there are no immediate repercussions for doing so, but eventually this always comes back to bite you. There is no retirement plan for bootlicks, sell-outs, and those who try to toe the line for white supremacy.