On Saturday morning, most were reflecting on the one-year anniversary of DMX’s passing when news came of Dwayne Haskins’ passing.
Haskins, the Steelers’ 24-year-old quarterback, was killed after being hit by a truck in South Florida.
The devastating news was first tweeted by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who put his own unnecessary, disgusting spin on Haskins’ tragic death.
“Dwayne Haskins, a standout at Ohio State before struggling to catch on with Washington and Pittsburgh in the NFL, died this morning when he got hit by a car in South Florida, per his agent Cedric Saunders. Haskins would have turned 25 years old on May 3rd,” tweeted Schefter.
But the egregious dehumanization of Haskins didn’t stop there.
A few short hours later, Pro Football Hall of Famer Gil Brandt added to the inhumane evisceration of Haskins.
“I hate anytime anybody is killed, or anybody dies,” said Brandt. “But he was a guy that was living to be dead, so to speak. They told him, don’t, under any circumstances, leave school early. You just don’t have the work habits, you don’t have this, you don’t have that. What did he do? Left school early.”
Brandt then proceeded to admonish Haskins for hosting an event at a bowling alley on draft night in 2019 and charging $50 a person.
So instead of mourning Haskins’ passing, expressing genuine sympathy, or discussing how much Haskins loved his family, Brandt decided to vent on a prior moment in Haskins’ life.
Only a few short hours after the world lost a good person, a family lost a son, a sister lost a brother and a wife lost a husband, Schefter and Brandt chose to dehumanize a young man instead of eulogizing him.
Unfortunately, this isn’t a rarity, especially when it comes to Black men.
Remember what Michael Wilbon and Colin Cowherd said after Sean Taylor was murdered?
After Haskins’ tragic death yesterday, their comments came roaring back to life on Twitter, with fans rightfully taking them to task for their vile commentary and never apologizing even after the facts of the case were released.
Painting Black men in a negative contrast is a common practice employed by the media. How often have we heard them referred to as “thugs”, even grouping innocents into the reporting without remorse.
And the arrogant and ignorant are happy to run with this narrative because it placates and fuels their ignorance, narrative and purpose.
We saw it with young Trayvon Martin, who was profiled and murdered by a racist coward, after which Martin was crucified in death as a thug because he wore a hoodie and refused to submit to a “figure of authority.”
We witnessed it after George Floyd’s murder when antagonists pointed to his previous arrest record and that he used a counterfeit $20 bill to purchase cigarettes.
In both cases, ignorance rationalized and justified Black murder through factors that were as far from deserving death sentences as could be.
This practice isn’t reserved solely for individual bodies though.
In Thoroughfare, a historic community in the Gainesville District of Prince William County in Virginia, an effort to save the historic Scott Cemetery is currently being waged by attorney Qasim Rashid, his clients and supporters.
The Cemetery is a family burial ground in Thoroughfare, a land of free/formerly enslaved Black people and Indigenous people. According to records and testimonies, between 75 – 100 people are buried in Scott Cemetery.
After the land was purchased in a tax auction the desecration began. Digging commenced and some graves were already violated. The current owners state the cemetery doesn’t exist because the families can’t provide proof or records of burials.
Thanks to slavery and oppression, Black deaths were seldom recorded or accessible, so the only proof is fieldstone markings and grave impressions.
That the owners would dispute the cemetery’s existence simply adds to the dehumanization of those who already passed without proper, or even decent, recognition.
This is the pain that’s inflicted on Black bodies, even after they’re no longer with us.
And that’s exactly what Adam Schefter and Gil Brandt did mere hours after Dwayne Haskins passed away.
Brandt later apologized for his remarks. Schefter, who has a history of irresponsibility and stupidity on Twitter (Deshaun Watson, Dalvin Cook, etc.), deleted his original tweet but has yet to apologize for the shot he took at Haskins.
Regardless, the damage was done.
The disrespect and almost villainization ported on a young Black man taken far too soon from this earth were committed.
The only thing we should be doing now is mourning Dwayne Haskins’ passing and celebrating his life.
We should be honoring a man one New Jersey high school coach called “amazing, respectful and talented.” A young man who addressed coaches by “yes sir, no sir.”
We should be honoring a man his former Buckeyes and Washington teammate Terry McLaurin described as “a guy who wanted to see the ones around him win and have success. He was a man of God and spoke of his faith quite often. A beloved son, brother, husband, friend and teammate.”
That’s why it’s an absolute shame that instead of doing just that, we instead have to fight against the dehumanization of Black bodies that continues to persist, even in death.
