I was listening to Stephen A. Smith of ESPN radio this morning and he had this to say about the death of Shawn Taylor:

"...a lot of black people have been writing about how people don't want to hear this stuff in regards to Shawn Taylor's past. I respect that, and I understand where people are coming from. They talk about this was a burglary and it was a tragedy, and all of that stuff- - fine. And then you've got people in the media saying 'let's not make this the same old story'. There's a problem there. You know what the problem is? This is eerily similar to some of the things that have been happening, and the fact of the matter is that it is only happening to black athletes. I'm a black man. You think I like coming on the airwaves talking about there's a common denominator someplace along the line? A Darrent Williams? A Brian Potter? You look at this situation with Shawn Taylor, and you hear and see a lot of stuff going on, but it's not happening to white athletes. People need to think about that. And I'm not going to be hypocritical and come over the airwaves and act like it's not an issue. And there's not some common denominator somewhere. Because there is.

As much as I'd love to sit here and look White America in the face and say 'don't jump to conclusions', well dammit how many times am I on the airwaves talking about 'if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it ain't a mongoose'? I don't want to hear Black America talking about not putting race into the equation. Black athletes are falling by the wayside. Wasn't no white athlete who went into a strip club in Las Vegas and said 'I'm gonna make it rain', and it ended up with someone getting shot and paralyzed. Wasn't some white athlete, who's sitting there and threw away a $130 million contract to win- - thousands- - betting on dog fighting. Revealing and exposing themself as arguably the worse math student in the history in America. That wasn't a white athlete that did those things. It was black athletes. And if I'm gonna sit here and point the finger at White America for jumping to conclusions or stigmatizing people in Black America, what level of validity am I gonna have if I'm not exercising 20/20 vision and tell Black America what is happening to us? It may have nothing to do with Shawn Taylor, but it kinda looks like it. I can't knock White America for noticing that. Because I notice it. White America ain't the problem here, it's us. And we have to deal with it... and we can't ignore it."