Why is Stephen A Smith blaming Renee Good for her own death? | US sports

TLast weekend, hundreds of protests took place across the United States after Renee Good, a US citizen and mother of three, was shot and killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jonathan Ross in Minnesota.

Anger also spread throughout the NBA. Steve Kerr and Doc Rivers, head coaches of the Golden State Warriors and Milwaukee Bucks, respectively, called Good’s death “murder.” Kerr also attacked the Trump administration’s attempts to portray Good as a terrorist.

“It’s shameful that the government can lie about what happened when there is video and witnesses who have all come out and disputed what the government is saying,” Kerr said.

Meanwhile, a fan at the Minnesota Timberwolves home game Thursday shouted “Go Home ICE” during a moment of silence for real. Many spectators responded with cheers.

Most rational-thinking people therefore seem to be in agreement on the subject. And then there’s Stephen A Smith. ESPN’s hot-take machine seemed to align with the Trump regime’s assessment of Good’s death. Here are his exact words.

“I’ve seen the video several times and seen what happened from a legal standpoint as far as a law enforcement officer, don’t expect him to be prosecuted. He was completely justified,” Smith said.

“From a humanitarian standpoint, though, why did you have to do that? If you could have gotten away, that means you could have shot the tires. That means you could have gotten a few feet away after you shot the tires. And if you hadn’t managed to do that, you could have pushed her down the road.

“You didn’t have to do that. She wasn’t driving down the road toward you at 90 miles an hour. She was parked in the middle of the street, and rather than get out of the car, she wrongly attempted to drive away and wrongly ignored a law enforcement officer, which is exactly what ICE is, and, as a result, lost her life because of it.”

To argue that a woman who posed absolutely no immediate threat at the same time deserved to be shot in the face is as disheartening as it is illogical. Like so many other Maga members, who don’t seem to take such a hard line on the January 6 rioters who definitely failed to respect law enforcement when they stormed the Capitol, Smith’s rhetoric seems to blame Good for her own death when he points out that she “unjustly ignored an order.”

Naturally, this led to a swift conviction of Smith. Don Lemon described him as a “disappointment,” while former ESPN personality Keith Olbermann called for his firing. Veteran journalist Soledad O’Brien said Smith simply doesn’t understand most of the topics he talks about once he steps away from the sport. “Stephen A Smith is constantly tackling issues, whether it’s a political issue or a social issue, or in this case a legal issue that’s looking at how law enforcement is supposed to respond, without any knowledge or expertise and happily stepping in,” she told me.

In response, Smith said his comments had been distorted and taken out of context. “I talk about legality when I talk about justification, nothing else,” Smith said. “Everything else is wrong. Morally and ethically wrong.” But it has retained much of its original position. “The moment you deal with law enforcement officials, you obey their orders so you can get home safely,” he said a day later in a lengthy segment intended to bring order to his initial remarks. “Renee Good didn’t do this.”

The problem is that just because something is law doesn’t mean it’s right. Yes, law enforcement officials often escape punishment through partial immunity. But as Chuck Modi, my co-host on The Collision: Where Sports And Politics Collide, points out: “If you’re going to make that point, the next thing out of your mouth should be that it’s a terrible law. And he didn’t say that.”

While Smith does not condemn the law, the message he sends is that, in his not-so-humble opinion, the law is acceptable. It is important to remember that not every law is good law. Jim Crow laws were legal. Slavery was legal for much of America’s history. Declaring something legal, without further exploration, is not enough.

Smith is starting to resemble another media figure he has long attacked: Jason Whitlock. Both echoed Maga’s talking points, positioning themselves as black faces on the right can point and say: “See, he agrees with us, so we can’t be racist.” This is why the Maga platforms welcome them so willingly: they are considered allies, at their side, the “good guys”.

Smith and Whitlock are aware of all this. “Stephen A Smith did the math,” O’Brien told me. “That’s what you have to say if you want to have the audience he’s trying to build. A rabid audience that will support you. And that audience has financial value. I’m not disappointed anymore.”

I hope that one day Smith and Whitlock will experience the kind of personal and racial reckoning depicted at the end of Spike Lee’s Bamboozled, when Manray, played by Savion Glover, looks in the mirror and realizes that he can no longer wear blackface and tap shoes for a white audience that has rewarded him with fame and fortune. That Smith and Whitlock realize that the gold coins and slaps on the head from Maga’s hands are no longer worth the price, and finally hang up their tap shoes for good. But I won’t hold my breath.