Whitlock: Blame Joe Biden, Barack Obama, the New York Times, and ESPN for DeAndre Hopkins’ vaccine skepticism

According to this country's newspaper of record, the New York Times, America is systemically racist and has been since 1619.

President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, former President Barack Obama, former first lady Michelle Obama, the six members of the U.S. House of Representatives who call themselves "The Squad," CNN, MSNBC, ESPN, Nike, the NBA, the NFL, our highest academic institutions, and Black Twitter all, in some way, support the New York Times' narrative on America.

And you wonder why football star DeAndre Hopkins is reluctant to take the COVID vaccine?

There's no mystery here. Hopkins' skepticism about the efficacy of the vaccines makes perfect sense. As a black man, he's been programmed to distrust the motives and deeds of the country that enriched him. When he turns on his television, pops an app on his smartphone, or listens to his favorite R&B/hip-hop radio station, he's overwhelmed by anti-American sentiment.

America is Derek Chauvin and Hopkins is George Floyd. Hopkins' racist country sees him as a violent drug addict who must be subdued by any means necessary.

I'd question his sanity if he enthusiastically took the vax.

On Thursday, the Arizona Cardinals receiver and several other NFL players reacted to the league's heavy-handed approach pushing vaccinations on its players. A league memo said that teams with COVID outbreaks caused by unvaccinated players could lead to forfeitures of games and paychecks.

Hopkins tweeted:

"Never thought I would say this, but being in a position to hurt my team because I don't want to partake in the vaccine is making me question my future in the NFL."

Hopkins is an eight-year veteran on pace for a Hall of Fame career. So far, he's earned approximately $85 million.

He deleted his tweet, then posted another one with just a single word — freedom — with a question mark.

Los Angeles Rams all-pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who is black, tweeted: "I know two people right now who got the vaccine but are COVID positive. I'm just saying. I wouldn't look at a teammate as bad if he don't get the vax. No pressure from number 5."

For a time, the anti-vaccination movement was framed by corporate media as a MAGA movement, as the resistance of angry white males. Corporate media did this despite statistics showing the black man and woman as the most reluctant Americans to get the shot. Once again, as always, corporate media are lying.

Are you surprised?

Corporate media, your favorite broadcasters on CNN and MSNBC, your favorite reporters and editors at the New York Times, including red-headed Ida Bae Wells, constantly wrap black America in a state of racial confusion.

America is systemically racist except when 1994 crime bill writer Joe Biden is in the White House. Old Joe isn't racist; just ask Kamala Harris. She didn't mean it when she insinuated he was bigoted in a 2019 debate. That was just old-fashioned debating.

Here's what we know for sure. If Donald Trump still called the White House home, the very people pushing the hardest for NFL players to get vaccinated would take the opposite position. Medicine has been politicized. This isn't a debate about science. It's all a wrestling match over political power.

Yesterday, I mentioned the HBO TV show "Game of Thrones." Some people couldn't get into the series because of the plotlines around medieval sorcery and fantasy. It bugged me, too. But the show and the books are really about exposing the depths men and women will sink to in their pursuit of power. History makes it clear there's nothing humans won't do to acquire power.

We have committed and will commit unspeakable atrocities to impose our will on each other.

Twenty-four-hour race-baiting on TV and social media to control a voting bloc is nothing. Hell, it's downright humanitarian compared to Hitler's tactics.

America's most influential institutions have told DeAndre Hopkins and all black Americans to distrust their homeland. They've said that nothing has really changed in the last 240 years as it pertains to this country's relationship with black people.

If America is really that evil, why would anyone — regardless of color — take a vaccine developed here and advocated for by our government?