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There is a special little place roped off for Paul Shirley in hell.
ESPN has cut ties with this loser former NBA player/part time contributor over this disgusting display of low morals in a racist blog rant against the people of Haiti and a belittling open letter to its suffering people.
Dear Haitians – First of all, kudos on developing the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Your commitment to human rights, infrastructure, and birth control should be applauded. As we prepare to assist you in this difficult time, a polite request: If it’s possible, could you not re-build your island home in the image of its predecessor? Could you not resort to the creation of flimsy shanty- and shack-towns? And could some of you maybe use a condom once in a while? Sincerely, The Rest of the World
I slammed the chinese for poisoning their own country in large part due to their communist government's policies, I never once thought about race. Shirley showed little sympathy or empathy and was mean spirited even if much of what he said was correct. Haiti is in need of outside help and governing and it will take an entire world to help get them back on their feet and turned around. Maybe it isn't even possible, our country is going to soon see mounting problems of our own. But race never made it into what Shirley said. The only racists I hear are the ones calling him a racist.
Hate on, race baiter dudes.
Have to agree with the previous posters. I read NOTHING that indicated racism. In fact what he wrote very much echoed the words of Haiti's ambassador to the US, on his fears of the shoddy construction and what would happen to his people in the wake of a severe hurricaine.
For those who do not believe that his rant was racially motivated, ask yourselves if he would have felt the same pull to make those statements had the victims of the earthquake been Italian or Irish? Somehow I doubt that he would.
Because Italy and Ireland haven't had $20+ billion dollars of US aid pumped into them over the course of the past 20 years, only to become poorer and more corrupt in the process? This is probably where his feelings on the matter stem from, not the color of the Haitians skin.
I don't think Paul Shirley was being racist because he put the Haitians on human level (something bigots don't do). In my opinion, Shirley was blunt to the point of offensive and that "Dear Haiti" letter was like chopping off a finger because of a paper cut, too excessive. I'm Black and I do agree that the people of Haiti should want to fix their country themselves instead of being overly reliant on outside help (easy for me to say). I get and agree with some of what P.S. said but I thought that he was a little aloof, cold, and inopportune.
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