“The Meritorious Manumission Act of 1710 was the legal act of freeing or showing favor to a slave for “good deeds” as defined by the national public policy. Meritorious Manumission could be granted to a slave who distinguished himself by saving the life of a white master or his property, inventing something that a white slave master could make a profit from or snitching on a slave rebellion.”
We currently have a 2015 version of that act of 1710 in many of the most visible Blacks in media. The most notable Black media members that operate under The Meritorious Manumission Act of 1710 are Charles Barkley (NBA on TNT), Stephen A. Smith (First Take ESPN), Tom Jackson (Sunday NFL Countdown), Don Lemon (CNN), Cris Carter (ESPN football Analyst) is heading that direction as well. There are many other Blacks that make statements and take actions against the black community hoping to receive current day benefits of Meritorious Manumission.
Current day Meritorious Manumission, for the uninitiated, is when Black media personalities, athletes or entertainers take the liberty of over zealously criticizing the Black community often using skewed stats, generalizations, stereotypes and/or false statements . All media members mentioned previously have behaved in this manner consistently but I want to focus on Stephen A. Smith because he has an interesting event as an example for contrast. Stephen A. Smith’s commentary and responses in regard to the Black community and domestic abuse point to flaws in Stephen A. Smith’s relation with the black community as well as flaws in the power of Black community.
Stephen A. Smith has had a long history of criticizing the black community harshly ( tattoos , Uneducated/Ignorant Athletes , Mark Cuban comments about prejudice, stupidity of Black athletes , Blacks need to be more forgiving , NFL blacks smoke weed , All lives matter/Black on Black crime ). His criticisms of SOME members of the Black community are not completely wrong yet his obsession with pointing out the bad and very very rarely the good becomes suspicious. What is even more offensive is his consistent position that he “doesn’t give a damn” if the black community does not like what he says. As bad as all of that is the contrast is stunning to how humble and meek he became once he voiced his opinion about women’s role in some domestic dispute cases. All of his bravado and ego was no where to be seen when the feminists put pressure on ESPN to suspend him. He issued a heart felt apology the same day he was suspended
How all of this plays into Meritorious Manumission Act of 1710 is that he is essentially rewarded (keeps his job) for his negative rhetoric against Blacks and was punished (suspended 1 week) for his negative rhetoric about domestic abuse. The contrast and irony caused me to question his conviction among other attributes. He is not unique in his position of critiquing the black community while he and other like him are very well equipped to point out the issues of the black community at the same time they are equally unequipped to provide a solution. My feeling has always been that you cannot bring attention to a problem that you are not willing to help solve.
Stephen A. Smith’s suspension also points out the lack of leadership, power/influence and organization in the Black community in comparison to, in this case, the feminist community. We have no leaders in the Black Community that have proven themselves to speak on real issues for Black people. For the record the majority of Black people do not see Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson as leadership for the black community, both have often seemed to be working against the best interest of Black people. Chastising and forcing apologies from Stephen A. Smith, Charles Barkley, Tom Jackson, Cris Carter and Don Lemon for their many flagrant violations is something that the Black community would require from Black leadership. For now the leadership void still exists and these media personalities are free to take advantage of 2015 Meritorious Manumission.
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