Sydney McLaughlin: A Public Relations Dream Come True.

By Raynard Jackson

This week, I want to juxtapose Richardson, with a true sprinter who has a natural case of “professional laryngitis.”

Professional laryngitis is a condition that afflicts people who have amassed a body of work that by all objective metrics would be deemed consequential and very successful; a person who is at the top of their field.

These people could justify being braggadocious, but by their nature are very humble beings.

The embodiment of the type of person I am referring to is professional sprinter, Sydney McLaughlin.  She is everything Sha’Carri Richardson will never be!!!

McLaughlin was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and raised in Dunellen, New Jersey, about an hour southwest of New York City.  She is twenty-two years old.

She comes from an intact two parent family.  Her siblings are all successful in their career pursuits and seem to all be upstanding members of society.

Running is part of this family’s DNA.  McLaughlin’s parents and siblings all have run track on various levels.

But more importantly, her parent’s values and morals are also running strong through her DNA.

Sydney is such a breath of fresh air (B.O.F.A.).  She should establish a foundation with this name so she can give back to her community.

She doesn’t appear to have any tattoos, no piercings, has her own hair, and can speak the King’s English.  A PR executive’s dream come true.

What I find amazing is that I could take Sydney to the “hood” in any town in the U.S. or to “high society” in New York or Paris and she would be comfortable in either environment, and everything in between.

This is a direct result of her upbringing by her parents. They need be recognized for this great gift they have given to their children.

Oh, and did I tell you that McLaughlin is also one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen!  Again, a PR dream come true.

She makes it easy to forget how beautiful she looks because her behavior shows how beautiful she is.

By now, McLaughlin should be a household name.  She should be all over TV, radio, newspaper, and social media with corporate endorsements.

She holds the world record in the 400-meter hurdles, setting the world record last month at the World Championships in Oregon by running an amazing 51.42s.

Last month’s 51.42s in Oregon, broke her own world record from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 400-meter hurdles.  She ran a stunning 51.46s, winning a gold medal.

McLaughlin was also the first woman to ever run under 52 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles.  She ran an astonishing 51.90s at the USA Olympic trials in 2020.

With all these accomplishments under her belt and after her world record setting race last month in Oregon, you know what she did?  Absolutely nothing.  That’s right NOTHING!!!!!
She did all of her mandatory media interviews and went back to her hotel.

Sha’Carri Richardson, are you listening?  Can you hear me now?

Sydney has over a million followers on her Instagram, she is following 449 people, and only posted a mere fifty-two times since her account was set up.

She just broke and set the world record and acted like she had been there before.  In a world of social media, where everything is about me, me, ME; do you understand how much humility and maturity McLaughlin is showing for a twenty-two-year-old?

Now juxtapose McLaughlin’s Instagram page with Richardson’s Instagram page.  Richardson has more than twice as many followers, but everything on her page says “look at me.”
Whereas everything on McLaughlin’s page says “look at God!”

Richardson is trying to make a living and McLaughlin is trying to make a life and a wife.
Which was probably part of her calculation in getting married at the ripe old age of twenty-two.

Her husband seems like the perfect fit for her.  They both are devout Christians and seem to practice what they preach.

He played wide-receiver for three years in the NFL.  Now he works in corporate America.
They both come from God fearing Christian families who instilled in them great morals and values.

With McLaughlin’s success on the track and her character off the track, you would think she would be having endorsement deals raining down on her.

But that is not the case, because she is a Christian and doesn’t fit Hip-Hop’s ghettoization of the Black female image that appeals to corporate America.  I can most assuredly guarantee you that if she came out tomorrow morning and said she was homosexual, had tattoos all over her body, and wore less than lady-like clothing in public she would have well over $ 50 million dollars in endorsement deals already in the bank.

Unfortunately, corporate America doesn’t seem to value women like McLaughlin, especially if they are Black.  Ask fellow Olympian, Allyson Felix.

Don’t believe me about corporate America and Blacks, both male and female?

Look at Step Curry from the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.  In 2015, when he released his first pair of shoes called Curry One with Under Armour, they had Bible verses on them.  The shoe’s tagline was, “charged by belief.”

He came under fierce criticism for the Bible verses ala Tim Tebow.

As is the case for many elite athletes and entertainers, Curry got worn down up by the system.  He rarely talks about his faith other than the perfunctory mentioning of it during an interview.
He had to make a choice as to which was more important to him, endorsement deals or his Christian faith as though they were mutually exclusive.

He is now a big advocate for the radical homosexual movement and all things Black Lives Matter.  In other words, he made the decision to become woke.  That’s what corporate America demanded of him.

Sydney, you to will be asked whom thou wilt serve.  I have every confidence that you and your husband will choose God.

I read in Matthew 16:18 “…Upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”  This rock is the knowledge that Jesus Christ is the son of God!

Sydney, we are counting on you to restore femininity back to our young girls and prove once and for all that you can indeed be a faithful Christian and be very successful simultaneously.

We are counting on you to prove to corporate America that a person with your values can also help them sell products without you comprising who you are; and that there is a thirst for women to be seen as sexy without being sex objects.

Sydney, I think you are very well aware that your accomplishments are much bigger than you.  God has given and is giving you a platform that says, “behold, I will do a new thing.”

In some ways, Sydney, it is very unfair for the public to put these expectations on you.  You don’t know us, but I can’t help but to believe that you know God has his hand on you for a greater cause than simply fortune and fame.

As Mordecai said in Esther 4:14: “…who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

[Raynard Jackson is talented brother is a Pulitzer Award nominated columnist and founder and chairman of Black Americans for a Better Future (BAFBF), a federally registered 527 Super PAC established to get more Blacks involved in the Republican Party. BAFBF focuses on the Black entrepreneur. For more information about BAFBF, visit www.bafbf.org. You can follow Raynard on Twitter; RealRaynardJ; on Gettr: RaynardJackson.]