I have no problem with someone - anyone really - wanting to
honor Martin Luther King, Jr. He was a great man with a lasting
legacy that we would all do well to remember. That said, I get
serious douche-chills every time WWE dupes themselves into thinking that
honoring the man with a one-minute video at the top of an episode of wrestling
is in any way tasteful or appropriate.
Frankly, the whole thing reeks of crass, shameless, tacky
exploitation - similar to when the company pays homage to the armed forces with
the year's hottest jingoistic Nickelback or Kid Rock track. What makes it even
worse, however, (aside from the fact that it happened during a Linda McMahon
election year) is the way in which wrestling is not only an industry largely
built upon xenophobia, racism and bigotry, but that it has yet to fully confront and come to grips with that
ugly truth. And adding insult to injury, the only black wrestlers to appear on
the show tonight were a dude from Boston that the company used to bill from
Jamaica before deciding he was from Ghana, a fat guy with a funk gimmick, the
fat guy's jobber, a crazy guy who talks like a character in a racist joke, and
Mark Henry, who, incidentally, I'm totally fine with.
Still, it could be worse: As of this writing WWE has yet to
put on a "Martin Luther King of the Ring" event, which is a remarkable show of
restraint for the company.
