Because They Can

June 30, 2004

Why Black People Tend to Shout
by Ralph Wiley

When Ralph Wiley died a couple of weeks ago, he died as the only sportswriter I actually looked forward to reading. The thing about sportswriting is that most of it is terrible, a semi-regular crawl of column inches put out as filler, occasionally being controversal enough to piss some people off. Wiley always read differently to me. He was a guy who clearly loved writing, sports and writing about sports. Even with a weekly column on espn.com, he put out consistent work with a distinct voice.

So when he died that was a real bummer, and for consolation I got one of his non-sports books. Why Black People Tend to Shout is (like a lot of my recent non-fiction) a compilation of essays. As the title may suggest, Wiley takes on various aspects of Black culture and goes through it bit by bit while being simultaneously entertaining and educational. It’s not a huge eye opener in a lot of respects. It was written in 1991 and similar material’s been mined since then (most of Chris Rock’s career-breaking standup covers a lot of the same ground).

That said, it’s still sharp and relevant as ever. You can’t knock a guy willing to title a chapter “Why Black People Have No Culture” and has the first line of that chapter be “because it’s been on loan to White people with no interest.” Another nice bit, on why White people shouldn’t expect Wiley to trust them:

So why should any white person be somehow offended because he or she isn’t trusted by me? Why should that make me suspect? Why?

Because everybody wants to be respected enough to be trusted. Only white people assume they deserve this respect just because they are white and want it. The truth is simple. Black people have to love you before they trust you - and then it’s iffy. This has nothing to do with color or preference. It all depends on you.

Hard experience has taught black people this: Only those you know and trust can truly hurt you to the quick in this life. You expect to be hurt by everybody else.

Thanks for all the words, Wiley.

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