[420 Girl]

While many of us are celebrating the election of a black president of the United States and the Republican Party putting a black man chairman of the party, the double standard of white privledge remain intact.

I don't want to run Michael Phelps down. That is not my intent at all. BUT He smoked weed. It's illegal. Now mind you, it is not as serious offense as murder, armed robbery or assault. But there was such a hostile outcry and outrage when Ricky Williams of the Dolphins smoked marijuana.

Phelps, who has won more Olympic gold medals than anyone in history, has received hardly any backlash. His millions of dollars in endorsements are in no jeopardy. Speedo, Omega, Hilton Hotels and Purex said they would continue their business relationship with the swimmer.

His admission of "bad judgment" has been met with jokes and a non-chalant attitude.

As I said, I don't want to drag Phelps through the weeds, I like him. But if Michael Phelps was black, I believe things would be different. His endorsements would have evaporated in thin air. TThe buzz would be about the shame and disgrace his drug use has brought on him, his swimming team, his family.

Michael Irvin's indiscretion a few years ago cost him his job on ESPN. A drunk-at-the-wheel Charles Barkley has drawn venom before he's been convicted of anything in a court of law. .

It is like the disparity in sentencing laws in the 1990s when those who used powder cocaine got less jail time than those convicted of using crack cocaine. Mostly blacks were smoking crack. It was unfair.

It it also unfair that blacks and Latinos make up the bulk of pot arrests despite a higher usage by white Americans I am not condoning the use of pot but it is a doggone shame that Michael Phelps can pass off his error as a youthful mistake.

I hope young black and Latinos receive a similar break from the cops and society.

Do you think Michael Phelps would have received backlash and his endorsement jeopardized if he was black?

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/in...lps-black.html