Editorial: We’re teaching our kids racism and it needs to stop
http://www.insidenova.com/opinion/editorial-we-re-teaching-our-kids-racism-and-it-needs/article_bfa490fa-fa85-11e3-8c7a-0019bb2963f4.html
Maybe we were naïve to think the days of blatant racism in Virginia were over. Maybe that’s why we found it so shocking that not only did a white high school soccer player call a black Hylton High School player “nigga” during a scuffle on the field, he also admitted to it without embarrassment or remorse on his Twitter account.
“I told this kid, ‘Get off me nigga’ and he punched me and got a red card,” wrote the senior player from Grassfield High School in Chesapeake.
What happened on the field during the June 6 semifinal playoffs between Grassfield and Hylton quickly drew passionate responses from readers, parents and school officials on both sides, and is now the subject of an investigation by Prince William police.
The Hylton player, Austin Black, is seen in a video pushing the Grassfield player on the field. But – Hylton officials say – only after the Grassfield player pushed and provoked him with the racial epithet first. Black was red-carded – tossed from the game and forbidden from playing in the next two. The Grassfield player was given a warning and allowed to continue playing.
Hylton appealed Black’s suspension to the Virginia High School League and lost. The VHSL gave Grassfield a warning about unsportsmanlike conduct, and put the team on a year’s notice.
And that’s it.
No public apology from Grassfield, no talk of sensitivity training, no real punishment from the VHSL. Just a lot of arguing in the comments on our web stories and in social media – much of that a disturbing commentary all by itself.
“Why is this even a story?” one reader wrote.
“It’s just name calling,” said another. “This is kid needs to grow tougher skin.”
“What about the reverse racism?” wrote another.
Maybe Austin Black did deserve the red card for losing his temper. Maybe some Hylton kids did behave badly in the aftermath, fueling the situation with taunts on social media.
But that’s not the issue.
What worries us is the unapologetic racism displayed by the Grassfield player and that it is seemingly tolerated, especially by adults.
Say whatever you want, but you can’t cry name-calling or reverse racism in a situation like this. Calling a white person a “redneck” is not and never will be the same as calling a black person a “nigga.” Growing tougher skin is not the answer to dealing with open racism.
And the fact that some black people use the term amongst themselves is also beside the point. It’s not the same, and it will never be OK, for a white person to address a black person by that term.
According to the African American Registry, a national education association, the word “nigger” is derived from the Latin word for black – niger – but was more than likely mispronounced “nigger” in the American south. By the early 1800s, the word was “firmly established as a derogatory name,” the registry says on its website. “In the 21st century, it remains a principal term of white racism, regardless of who is using it.”
It’s not too hard to figure out where this Grassfield kid learned his behavior. Children aren’t born knowing hate, we teach them.
We hope this incident serves as a wake up call and won’t be written off by parents, coaches, players and the VHSL. Why should it be OK for the Grassfield player who said the word, and for his team who laughed about it, to get away with such a disgusting display?
It’s time we take a hard look at what we’re instilling our kids. It’s pretty ugly, isn’t it?