Rob Parker

Were Parker's comments about RGIII being a brother or a cornball brother appropriate? Was it a fair question?

This is copied from Wikipedia, but it's a fairly accurate transcript.

On December 13, 2012, on the ESPN's First Take, the subject of Robert Griffin III came up and an answer Griffin gave at a press conference that happened on December 12. In the press conference, Griffin was asked about his race and being a quarterback in the NFL. Griffin stated, among other things: "“For me, you don’t ever want to be defined by the color of your skin,” Griffin said. “You want to be defined by your work ethic, the person that you are, your character, your personality. That’s what I strive [for]. I am an African American, in America, and that will never change. But I don’t have to be defined by that.” This topic was then brought up on First Take when Rob Parker was asked, ‘What does this say about RGIII?” “This is an interesting topic,” Parker said. “For me, personally, just me, this throws up a red flag, what I keep hearing. And I don’t know who’s asking the questions, but we’ve heard a couple of times now of a black guy kind of distancing himself away from black people. I understand the whole story of I just want to be the best,” Parker continued. “Nobody’s out on the field saying to themselves, I want to be the best black quarterback. You’re just playing football, right? You want to be the best, you want to throw the most touchdowns and have the most yards and win the most games. Nobody is [thinking] that. “But time and time we keep hearing this, so it just makes me wonder deeper about him,” Parker went on. “And I’ve talked to some people down in Washington D.C., friends of mine, who are around and at some of the press conferences, people I’ve known for a long time. But my question, which is just a straight honest question. Is he a brother, or is he a cornball brother?” ""Is he a brother, or is he a cornball brother", and then proceeded to state Griffin wasn't "down with the cause."[citation needed] Other participants continued the conversation by asking Parker for further explanation:
Cari Champion: "What does that mean?" Skip Bayless: "Explain that." Parker: "He's not real. OK, he's black, he kind of does the thing, but he's not really down with the cause. He's not one of us. He's kind of black but he's not really, like, the guy you want to hang out with because he's off to something else." Champion: "Why is that your question?" Parker: "Well because that's just how I want to find out about him. I don't know because I keep hearing these things. We all know he has a white fiancee. There was all this talk about how he's a Republican, which, I don't really care, there's no information at all. I'm just trying to dig deeper into why he has an issue. Because we did find out with Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods was like, 'I've got black skin but don't call me black.'
Then Skip Bayless asked Parker about RGIII’s braids. “Now that’s different,” Parker said. “To me, that’s very urban and makes you feel like…wearing braids, you’re a brother. You’re a brother if you’ve got braids on.” Later, Parker was given an opportunity to clarify whether he was judging Griffin’s blackness. “I didn’t mean it like that,” he said. “We could sit here and be honest, or we can be dishonest. And you can’t tell me that people in the barbershops or people that talk, they look at who your spouse is. They do. And they look at how you present yourself. People will say all the time, you’re not gonna get a job in corporate America wearing those braids. It happens all the time. Let’s not act like it doesn’t, because it does.”

I think that was Parker's personal question giving him the "black test".

But looking at what RG3 said it sounds like an Army Brat answer. In the military out in the field you pretty much want to know the person standing next to you is competent and you could give a damn about what race they are.

I'm sorry Parker didn't like his answer.

"I am an African American, in America, and that will never change. But I don’t have to be defined by that."

I'm pretty sure that was the bit Parker was offended by because it can be taken different ways. For Parker it probably sounds like he's saying I'm sorry I'm black but I can't help that so don't hold it against me. I think what RG3 meant was you're more than the color of your skin so don't let misconceptions about your race misconstrue how you see yourself and what you're capable of. But this is all just speculation.

African American is the dumbest thing ever. As is Asian American, etc.

Just call them fucking Americans.

Rob Parker is a hater,thats all

It's a retarded, belittling, insulting, racist question to begin with. He handled it with as much PC as he possibly could. What was he expected to say?