Stephen A. Finally Fights Back Against Race Queens Jasmine Crockett And Joy Reid

All of a sudden, Stephen A. Smith is a tough guy when it comes to Rep. Jasmine Crockett and Joy Reid.

On Monday, Smith appeared on ABC News’ All Access show, where host Linsey Davis played him a clip of Reid accusing him of accepting money from white people to say "nasty things" about black people.

"And she’s responding that way because when she got fired by MSNBC—her show got canceled—I spoke on it," Smith said. "And what I said was, she is a talented, highly intelligent woman. I respect her. The issue, however, is that if your numbers drop 47 percent, and you are black in this culture that we’re living in, did you really expect something else to happen? Of course, they were going to do that to you."

Davis also showed a clip of Crockett from October, during which the congresswoman claimed Smith has a track record of attacking black women.

"Jasmine Crockett has been invited on this show a multitude of times," Smith said. "You’re sitting down talking to everybody else—how come you ain’t sit down to talk to me? Scared of what I’m gonna ask? If you’re gonna say something like that about somebody, hell, say it to their face."

"They should be ashamed of themselves," Smith added, referring to Reid and Crockett. "Where is your evidence?"

For context, Smith criticized Crockett in October after she called President Trump a "piece of shit." He later questioned whether Crockett was more interested in going viral than in serving her constituents.

But here’s where Smith deserves criticism. Instead of standing by his mild comments about a sitting congresswoman, he folded when members of what he calls "the black community" challenged him. Days later, he apologized to Crockett, calling her a "sister."

Such backtracking is typical of Smith. Outside of ESPN, he has attempted to establish a career in political commentary, focusing on offering a moderate perspective. However, that approach has often drawn criticism from prominent black commentators.

The problem is that Smith is trying to wear too many hats at once. There are inherent tensions between his attempts to play the moderate and his desire to be a spokesperson for the "race crowd," a group led by figures like Reid and Crockett.

So the question now is: how long until Smith caves again? And how long until he calls Jason Whitlock "worse than a white supremacist"? For those familiar with his history, Smith often turns his fire on Whitlock whenever he’s under pressure, essentially trying to deflect negative attention.

We don’t have a lot of confidence that Smith will show much backbone, even though Reid and Crockett have no validity to their arguments. They operate from the belief that black commentators should never criticize black people — unless those they criticize are black conservatives, of course.

That’s not how the world works, or at least, it shouldn’t. 

An honest commentator should cover both black and white politicians with the same scrutiny. In fact, people who argue otherwise actually undermine black public figures, suggesting they cannot handle the criticism.

Stephen A. needs to be stronger.