THE BURNING QUESTION: Are blacks secretly pleased with the downfall of Tiger Woods?

     His declaration was widely interpreted as either a statement of self-hatred or an indication that he despised other African Americans.

     From April 1997 forward, Blacks kept Woods at a distance but nevertheless maintained a love-hate relationship with him: on one hand angered by his degrading statement and seeming desire not to associate with Blacks while on the other hand admiring of his sensational achievements in a “white man’s sport.”

     Indeed, Blacks even appeared to be warming up to Mr. Woods. Then this latest scandal broke revealing a man who appeared almost insanely obsessed and conflicted about his Blackness by simultaneously exploiting and denying his Blackness by playing the ebony stud to every white woman he could get his arms around. As of this writing, the total is eleven mistresses and counting. His clean-boy, non-controversial image has been dirtied, he has begun to lose product endorsements and the end is not yet in sight.

     As a result, last week Woods was the but of jokes on Black talk radio ranging from Tom Joyner to Russ Parr. He had a few defenders, but he also took a hit on Black-oriented chat lines and websites.

     A Springfield, Ohio member of one of our social websites perhaps summed up the attitude of many Black women when she wrote “I, for one, never cared that much for Tiger after he made the comment that he is not black. I am bi-racial and I am black no matter what and I love my black brothers. What bothers me more than anything is why are black men running after white women. That to me is a slap in the face.”

     It is that type of attitude which appears to be behind a lot of the pleasure many Blacks are currently finding in the Tiger Woods saga. (Share your views by logging onto http://betterlifesociety.ning.com or leave a brief message at 202-657-8872.)

(source: Taylor Media Services)