Following the latest travesty starring former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson last Saturday in Washington, D.C., the word “tragic” was used by many people to sum up his life and career.
While many words can be used to describe Tyson’s rise and fall, “tragic” should not be one of them.
Countless black athletes have come from backgrounds worse that Tyson’s, and have found a way to manage wealth, success and human nature and not end up in prison and a laughing stock of the sports and entertainment worlds.
Tyson is not a testament to the cruelty of boxing and professional sports. He is a walking proof that greed, foolishness, vice and disrespect toward females will certainly lead to poverty and a fall from grace, regardless of perceived status and great riches.
The word “tragic” should be used when writing or speaking of Josh Gibson and thousands of other great black baseball players that were not allowed in the Major Leagues because of their skin color and died almost penniless instead of rich.
The word “tragic” is appropriate when speaking of the U.S. Olympic Committee stripping Jon Carlos and Tommie Smith of their gold medals during the 1968 Olympics and suspending them from international competition without just cause.
“Tragic” describes what boxing authorities in the United States of America did to Muhammad Ali, stripping him of his titles and refusing his right to earn a living as a boxer while his effort to avoid the draft on religious beliefs slowly crept through the legal system.
Tragic is the on-court death of Hank Gathers and, years later, Reggie Lewis.
Mike Tyson’s life story is not a tragedy. His life is a dark comedy at which society chooses to gawk.
