Dennis Rodman—Bad Boy Basketball Star, Misunderstood Humanitarian (Seriously)

The other day, I read that Dennis Rodman paid for the funeral of James Byrd, the black man who was murdered in Jasper, Texas, when 3 white men dragged him to death behind their truck.

I hadn’t really thought much about the crime since 1998, when I do remember it was national news for days. People said it set race relations back decades and I certainly don’t disagree. The whole thing was so heinous it was almost hard to believe it really happened. 

Then I started thinking about Dennis Rodman's part in all of this. Dennis Rodman, of all people! First of all, who even knows if it's true, if he paid, offered to pay, whatever. But what if it was true? As far as I can tell, Dennis Rodman didn’t know James Byrd or his family, he is not from Texas (he’s a Jersey boy, as it turns out), and obviously he would have had no responsibility to cover the funeral charge. So other than hearing the news coverage and wanting to help a family in need, I have no idea what his motive could be.

Dennis Rodman is known for many things, but giving of himself without seeking the recognition of the media is not one of them. He’s pictured by many (including me) as this:

Or this:

Or maybe even this:

But when I read about him paying (the stories differed: one said he offered and one said he actually did. They both said he also gave the family 25K as a gift) for this man’s funeral because his family couldn’t afford it, I was completely floored. I remember 24/7 media coverage of this event but I don’t remember hearing anything about Dennis Rodman getting involved.

Just as a reminder to myself, I looked up what Dennis was doing that year. 1998 was the height of his fame/infamy—he was a superstar with the Chicago Bulls and it was in that year that they won their third championship in a row. He was in full bay boy mode—I think that was when he was dating Madonna and appearing in a wedding dress to promote his book.

So I guess to come out and say you have a heart and that you want to step up and do the right thing simply for the reason that it’s the right thing to do—well, that probably would have hurt his street cred as an obnoxious hothead. Now I’m starting to think he had me fooled all along and that Dennis Rodman was never as bad as he wanted us to believe. Maybe Dennis Rodman had a heart of gold underneath all those tattoos, flamboyant clothing, and in-your-face personality. I just figured there wasn't anything more to this man than what I saw... shame on me for being lazy and making easy assumptions. 

Everyone’s got a persona that they broadcast to the world—whether you’re a celebrity or a stay-at-home mom. Sometimes who you are is who you portray yourself as but as I’m realizing, sometimes it may not be. Everyone has a story to tell and I obviously needed a reminder to dig deeper and not always believe what people put out there for public consumption. Headlines are just headlines, but I want to read the entire article. 

RIP James Byrd.