Sports and cultural commentator Jason Whitlock recently claimed that Deion Sanders’ move from Jackson State to Colorado is part of an overarching trend of black people begging rather than building their own.
Jason Whitlock via Jason Whitlock YouTube
Sanders was announced as the 28th full-time head coach at the University of Colorado on December 3rd. The move comes after back to back Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) championships at Jackson State University.
He lead Jackson State University to a 27-5 record over three seasons, which included a COVID-shortened 2020 season where he went 4-3.In his second season he went 11-2 and completed an undefeated season at 12-0 record this past season.
Colorado Buffaloes Twitter
Whitlock reacted to Sanders’ move to Colorado from Jackson State on his show “Fearless with Jason Whitlock” where he stated, “My number one takeaway, and I don’t know how deep I’ll go into this with Jason Brown, but it is my number one takeaway: as black people we would rather beg than build our own.
“That’s what this whole Deion Sanders situation truly illustrates,” he asserted. “Rather than build our own great program, dynasty, legacy. Rather than build our own platform we’d rather go beg white people to give us access to their platform.”
Whitlock continued, “That’s what this is. Deion Sanders had an awesome opportunity. and not just Deion Sanders, a lot of the black celebrities that you hear running their mouths about black lives matter, and diversity, equity, and inclusion, and black coaches just don’t get a chance, all these people that are so pro-black, you won’t hear one black celebrity today, tomorrow, next week, anytime last week say, ‘Aw man! I’m mad Deion left Jackson State because I was going to donate $50 million to Jackson State’s football program and athletic program in order to keep that thing rolling.
“You won’t here P. Diddy say that. You won’t hear LeBron James say that. You won’t hear Dr. Dre, who gave $70 million to USC, you won’t hear him say that. You won’t hear Oprah Winfrey. You won’t hear any of the people, any of the alleged pro-blacks talking today, ‘Man, you know why I’m mad Deion left? It’s because I was just about to dump a bunch of money into Jackson State and really try to take SWAC football to the next level. You won’t hear it,” he declared.
He then rhetorically questioned, “You want to know why? Because we think that the white man’s ice is colder. Period. End of story. And we don’t believe in building anything of our own. Period. End of Story.”
Deion Sanders receives SWAC Championship trophy via HBCU Pulse YouTube
He then detailed, “You won’t hear any of the talking heads, any of the media personalities say, ‘Hey! How come black celebrities and people of wealth didn’t rally behind Deion Sanders and Jackson State and other HBCUs and see that Deion created a great opportunity to build the HBCU product into something great and profitable and exciting and sustainable for HBCUs? How come black celebrities didn’t rally around him?’
“What you will hear is some will complain, ‘Oh Deion ran off for Colorado’ or you’ll hear them saying, ‘Of course Deion left that’s what he’s supposed to do. He’s supposed to elevate.’ And it’s because anything that’s all black we don’t think is any good,” Whitlock opined.
“So we don’t build it, we don’t invest in it, and we certainly don’t support it over the long haul. That’s my number one take,” he stated.
Deion Sanders via Pac-12 Networks YouTube
Whitlock then predicted that he does not believe Sanders will be successful at Colorado and pointed to his speech to the players at Colorado where Sanders said, “We got a few positions already taken care of because I’m bringing my luggage with me.”
Sanders continued, “It ain’t be no more of a mess that these wonderful fans, the student body, and some of you parents have put up with for probably two decades now. I’m coming and when I get here there’s going to be change. So I want y’all to get read to go ahead and jump into that portal and do whatever you’re gonna get because the more of you jump in the more room you make because we bringing kids that are smart. Say that smart. Tough.”
Deion Sanders telling the CU Buffs football team that he’s bringing his own luggage, and that they better hit the portal. This is crazy 🤯 pic.twitter.com/004LUKiTr2
— College FB Transfer Portal (@CollegeFBPortal) December 4, 2022
Whitlock not only doesn’t think Sanders will succeed, but he predicts chaos.
He wrote on Twitter, “The attitude that makes you a great individual player doesn’t work as a head coach. It worked at Jackson State because of the talent disparity. Players win games, not coaches. I expect chaos at Colorado.”
Jason Whitlock Twitter
What do you make of Whitlock’s commentary regarding Deion Sanders’ move to Colorado from Jackson State?