A black poet on Antonio Brown

E. Ethelbert Miller is an African-American poet, teacher and literary activist in Washington DC

There are many Antonio Browns running around they just are not getting paid. Too often when I walk around DC I see Black men talking aloud to themselves, at times trying to control their bodies, I see Black men suddenly laughing, their eyes filled with a funky fear and rage. Some say Brown had a meltdown as if he was a nuclear reactor, tearing off his football jersey like Chernobyl or Three Mile Island. All Black men are radioactive it seems but we need the energy. We need them to perform on the field or the stage. Black can crack and it has nothing to do with age. We suddenly explode, releasing our frustration against not only a team but a wife or lover. When things are not going our way we strike, we smash, or simply exit like Brown waving to the crowd, doing jumping jacks and then running into a dark tunnel - through the door of No Return. Everyone will have an opinion of what happened to Antonio Brown, but what if we were only witnessing the "Browning" of America. Why is a football shaped the way it is? Why do we like to kick it? Did Brown just tell the world - "Buc You!" - E. Ethelbert Miller