European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 14, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Friday february 14, 1992 the stars and stripes a Page 25commentaryhero-worship a ticket to tragedy Mike Tyson must now be sentenced As if he were any other Man but there is a broader Issue than one Man being convicted of rape there is considerable doubt about whether Tyson s Young accuser would have been in that hotel room that night if Mike Tyson had not been a celebrity. Are other women paying attention the Young woman was lured to Tyson s room not by his smile or his Burly physique or the depth of his conversation but by the Aura around him. He is a celebrity. We worship celebrities. He was bigger than life. He came to her direct from the to set that squawks and jiggles endlessly in our Homes even when people sit Down to eat supper or to entertain company. He was beamed straight from the 50-foot billboards that push $150 sneakers on the emotions of the poor. The Young woman had hit the big time or so it might have seemed a a Beauty pageant in the big City a and Mike Tyson suddenly materialized in her life straight from the Glossy front cover of the Magazine by the checkout counter. Or Mea culpa from your favorite neighbourhood sports column. Red Smith used to apologize for a godding up the celebrities he covered but usually that a exactly what the Public wants. I spent my 20s telling readers that Mickey Mantle was a self destructing lout. The response a no not the Mick. By Mike Tyson a own admission he mugged old women for sport and Loose change Back in Brooklyn and As a Public figure he apparently believed he had the right to any woman who crossed his line of vision. But he a not the Only one. As a would be abolitionist of the entire grisly a sport a i hasten to add that boxing was not on trial in Indianapolis. Many boxers Are sympathetic figures quite apart from what they do for a living which is blast each other in the brain pan. Tyson eventually put on a big round Button that said he had found religion which is often the last Refuge of assorted scoundrels rogue preachers emotionally dysfunctional political candidates. Some people were willing to believe his big round Button rather than an 18-year-old woman who said she had been raped. The jury believed the woman As foolish and immature As she May have been in going off in the Middle of a night with a stranger. People Are attracted to celebrities for a variety of reasons., i have seen Earnest country music fans offering homemade cookies life saving Ham and biscuits expensive Flowers that were bought from the Penny and Nickel Jar. The fans understood their thanks would be Little More than a wave through the bus window. Some of my musician friends Call these people a bugs a just like the abundant life that swarms around a Streetlight on a hot summer night. The word sounds affectionate when used by Loretta Lynn but lets face it there is another Side to the celebrity game. I have seen male country singers a we men being what we Are a arrange their social life by pointing an Index Finger at a you you you and in their classic Book a Ball four a Jim Bouton an homeboys contend Tyson verdict ignored Community reality by Richard Pyle the associated press new York a hunkered inside a Gray Parka warming his hands Over the campfire burning in a 55-gallon drum a Man who identified himself Only As elder issued the verdict of the Brooklyn streets guilty in Indianapolis maybe but not in bed Stuy. At the Corner of Stuyvesant and Quincy where Spike Leeds film a do the right things was filmed and a Large mural of a a Brooklyn a own Mike Tyson in fighting pose adorns the Wall of a three Story House the prevailing View was that the former heavyweight Champion was wrongly convicted of rape. A they had the wrong jury in the wrong place a it was not a jury of his Peers said elder 54. A a they re not dealing with the reality of our Tyson was convicted monday of raping an 18-year-old contestant in the miss Black America contest. It was Clear from random interviews tuesday that Tyson who was born in Brooklyn and once ran with a Brownsville Street gang called the Jolly stoppers remains a hero if a badly flawed one among his former neighbors. Among the homeboys who grew up in the same streets with the 25-year-old in Yson there was Strong sentiment that he was convicted for who he was rather than what he might have done. �?o1 think it was a racial thing said Eric Moore 21, a former boyhood pal who lived across the Hall torn Tyson at 178 Amboy St. Quot and if you got Money you be got to protect yourself. I know Mike pretty Good. A Man carries himself like that he a a a note of bitterness edged the com ments of Jay Simon 26, a Cable television employee who recalls the Champ Tyson visiting the Bedford Stuyvesant neighbourhood to hand out turkeys and demonstrate his ring skills at a local gymnasium. Tyson he said a had it All and he took it for granted. He let us All Down. The kids around Here All looked up to him. Something like this Breaks their egos their Hope of becoming something some echoed the argument on which Tyson a lawyers had based their unsuccessful defense a that the woman who accused him of rape was out to get some of his Money and if not she would have known better than to go to his hotel room at 2 . A a she a no retard a said elder. A she knew what she was getting herself into. She was willing she was of age a said jewel Thomas 26, walking on Amboy Street with her two children Ages 4 and 1. A i think its All a a they slammed him too hard. He did no to Force her by the neck. I say she Wasny to telling the truth a basically she was doing it just to get his Money a said Marie Alexander 19. A i done to think its fair. A lot of girls just think he s got the Money a said Mark Kemp 17, who is studying to be an architect. His Friend Ali kettles 13, agreed. Quot i hat Kennedy he added referring to William Kennedy Smith he raped a girl and he a still on the streets because his Uncle was the president. Feelings were solidly for Tyson along Amboy Street where the Boxer once lived with his Mother brother and sister in one of the Tew four Story tenements still standing in an area of More recent prefab housing. Leonard Sheeter said Ball players regarded flight attendants As the Vin Ordi Nniro of the Road. In her current Book Well Worth Reading called a fighting for air Quot the television correspondent Liz Trotta has some Strong things to say about the groupies who flock to some of our Best known politicians. Aids has undoubtedly complicated some of these traditions. Magic Johnson a accommodated Quot a his word a 2.000 women and he is paying the Price As Are perhaps some of the women and eventually might some of his Peers who ran in the same circles and in the worst Casc scenario his wife and unborn child. Johnson is Gallant and appealing but 1 never said this made him a role Model. Mike Tyson is no role Model either but he should not be sandbagged with a harsh sentence the Way three Kansas City baseball players were sent to jail for drug Possession a decade ago by a vindictive judge who thought they had let Down the youth of America. Nor should Tyson be Given one of those Community service deals that some athletes receive allowing them to sign autographs or preen for the Public in place of doing time. The pattern for such convictions in Marion county ind., suggests that unless his Appeal is successful Tyson will be going away for a while. He wont be missed. The Young woman was injured by thinking celebrities Are harmless just because they appear on television and Magazine covers. In reality celebrities often assume they Are owed something for nothing. Please done to say you were never warned. The new Yortis tymm it a it it troubled Mike Tyson has support in the mean streets of his native Brooklyn. 1 done to think he did it but he put himself m that position. They took him to court and Justice will be served being that he a Mike Tyson and being that s in said Russell h Thomas maintenance worker at the Amboy neighbourhood enter a facility for the homeless. Reggie Rollock 22, a Security Man Lor the Center put his hand to his Chest. I feel he did t do it. 1 feel it in my he said
