Gilbert Arenas needs to go to jail

For years I have stated that entertainers need to be treated just like any other person when it comes to the law and the violations of them. For years I have been especially harsh on Black entertainers, as their actions directly and far too quickly reflect on their young fan base. And in all those years only a relative handful of bloggers have agreed or made similar comment.

Now there is the issue of Gilbert Arenas.

I'm no great fan of basketball, so I missed the initial outbreak of the news. It appears that Arenas has been carrying a gun, to the NBA Wizard's locker room, on a regular basis. This is a violation of law - there is no quibbling on that.

In addition there is an allegation that Arenas, just over the holiday, had an arguement with a teammate which devolved into both men pulling guns on each other. In the same locker room.

All of this has prompted the FBI (I believe it was that agency, though it is not clear which Government agency is involved) to get involved. Of course such attention could not exist without a Black "leader" getting involved - enter Rev. Al Sharpton.

Now Gilbert Arenas has done several positive things. I won't throw him under a bus without at least noting that he has made donations to local high schools in the D.C. area, that he is a mentor of a small boy (not related to him), and that generally he has maintained a low profile (for the NBA and professional sports). He has done good things in the past. None of that equates to, or supercedes what we have now learned.

Rev. Al Sharpton has stated

"The NBA needs to stand up and send a strong message by dealing with this situation," Sharpton told the Daily News. He also chided black leadership groups for not speaking out about the "culture of violence being perpetuated in professional sports." Sharpton cited former Giant Plaxico Burress as an example of professional athletes run amok."

Burress is hardly the singular example that Sharpton could have made. The list is too long for anything but perhaps Wikipedia to note. But the problem is real, and it goes back decades.

As a side note, while Rev. Sharpton makes a valid point above, the question must be asked of where were all the "Black leaders" for the last decade? Where were they as some of us pointed out and screamed about entertainers violence and rampant drug use? These issues are more than a soundbite, and it's about time that the "Black leadership" join the rest of us that have been speaking out for more than a decade.

Getting back to the point, Arenas needs to go to jail. It's the harshest penalty that the law will allow for this crime, and he deserves it. Not because I think he's a bad guy, I don't know him. Because a point needs to be made.

NBA commissioner David Stern needs to penalize Arenas as well. Again, harshly. Perhaps a year or 2 of UNPAID suspension.

Why do I advocate jail and the unpaid suspension? Why so harsh?

Because of several factors. First, a gun never should be in a setting where high tempers flare. That will eventually lead to an "accident".

Secondly, this is a violation of the law. Entertainers are not above nor equal to the law. They ALL need to be reminded of this.

Third, and this is most important, ALL the players in professioanl sports -
as well as all entertainers these days - are role models. They are the figures that kids wrongly mold themselves after. Kids emulate these entertainers in clothing, speech, and mannerisms. If it's ok for Arenas to have a gun in his locker room, then why not some other kid that thinks he's God's gift to basketball? Which refers back to the first point.

For decades the media, professional sports, and law enforcement have turned a blind eye to these entertainers as they commit crime after crime. In the rare instances that something has been done, it frequently has been a slap on the wrists (all without a word from Rev. Sharpton and other "leaders").

I dare anyone to present a positive example or outcome from kids increasing emulation of the violence and drug use among entertainers. It doesn't exist. Therefore this needs to end, and to do so an example must be made, then followed.

Gilbert Arenas may be a nice guy, he may be an excellent NBA basketball player. But there is no question that he is a criminal (by his own admission about his gun possession) and MUST be punished by the law. Because if he isn't, mark my words, there will be a kid that will be going to jail because he too had a gun in a locker room - and had an "accident".