Recently, a young white woman named Kylie Rae had announced her retirement from professional wrestling through a post that she had made on her Patreon page by saying:
Good morning,
I’m truly sorry for the pain I’ve caused and miscommunication, I am currently unwell. I’m also sorry that I wasn’t able to get this out before your monthly subscription charge. I wanted to take this time to say I am no longer a professional wrestler and am currently taking a break from social media. It’s been a very hard decision to make but please understand. When I am well, I will try to fulfill any obligations that have missed.
During this time, most tiers will not be able to be fulfilled, please feel free to unsubscribe from this membership/PatreonAccount. Thank you for your understanding.
Within hours of her making this post on Patreon, a huge outpouring of support and sympathy was showered towards her from wrestling fans to fellow wrestlers on social media.
There’s one thing I must point out however; If Kylie Rae was a black woman, she would’ve never gotten that much outpouring of support and sympathy from the predominantly white male IWC because she would’ve been verbally buried through social media through the use of racially insensitive remarks as well as making nasty, sexist, and body shaming comments.
Life as an athlete in any sport including wrestling is never easy as much as The Corporate Mainstream Media tries to tell you otherwise. The entire sports industry in America makes millions and billions of dollars each year mostly off of the backs of black male athletes. The NCAA in particular makes over a billion dollars a year mostly from the exploitation of unpaid black male athletic labor in football and basketball.
There’s also a very dark and destructive side of the American sports industry which includes having multiple baby mamas, alcohol/drug abuse, financial irresponsibility by blowing 20 G’s aka $20,000 in the club which to me is absolutely ridiculous, and just making bad and irresponsible decisions. This also negatively affects young black men who are in the mainstream American sports industry the most.
There’s a double standard surrounding mental health in America that I will explain in two actual examples:
A white guy commits a mass shooting often in broad daylight is often humanized by the corporate mainstream media as “mentally ill” which actually psychologically manipulates the public into being sympathetic towards him especially on social media.
A black guy legally defends himself and his family from police terror while suffering from real mental issues is automatically vilified by the corporate mainstream media as being a “criminal, menace to society, and a thug” which automatically psychologically manipulates public opinion against him especially leaving toxic racially insensitive remarks on social media.
Another actual example of a double standard regarding mental illness:
A white woman who suffers from mental health issues will be given access to therapy, counseling, and all the other resources necessary to treat her mental health issues.
A black woman with mental health issues will not be given the access to therapy, counseling, and the other resources necessary to treat her mental health issues like her white female counterpart gets.
The Conclusion - The reason as to why I wrote this article is to let people know that mental health issues isn’t solely based on the corporate mainstream media portrayal of “only white guys” because other non-white groups of people like myself suffer from mental health issues as well.
By Kwame Shakir
I don't think you need to go further than wrestling for an example. Lars Sullivan went on racist rants, made fun of those with disabilities and was dropping homophobic bombs. But we're all supposed to forgive him because he has some anxiety and may have had questions about his sexual orientation. It doesn't matter if he was quoting actual Nazis or hurling slurs at Mysterio. It's just his mental illness and we should embrace him.
ReplyDeleteBut, there's also ACH. Everyone with decent sense can see he was right about the shirt. But, his actions beyond that can be questioned. Instead of an outpouring of support such as Kylie Rae or even pleas for forgiveness like Lars, he got calls for his career to end. People wanted him dead when he was clearly going through a manic depressive episode. Toying with ending his own career through suicide, and also viewing himself as the savior of wrestling. Dave Meltzer didn't refuse to report on him out of respect.
But if you want an example of a Black woman being treated poorly, I point to Alicia Fox. Many people reported on her being an alcoholic after she got into an altercation with Ronda Rousey & her husband during Mania weekend. Never mind his history of racism that likely sparked the situation. Since then, she's gotten death threats, racial slurs and everything else you can name. She lost her spot on TV. Kylie no showed two big events for AEW and IMPACT. But it's all love. Alicia recieved so many death threats she quit Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. If it wasn't for The Bella Twins, we would have no idea what she was doing.
Where's the love?