OPINION & EDITORIAL
Society fails to regard all instances of racism equally
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Also by Ryan Masse:
- Rockin' around the what? (November 29, 2007)
- A downside to diversity, an upside to change (November 16, 2007)
- High schoolers can handle ads (November 8, 2007)
- Health providers must list prices (November 1, 2007)
- Employee policies in need of upgrade (October 25, 2007)
Related Stories:
- Unlikely Olympian becomes unlikely hero (February 21, 2002)
- Give thanks for life's simple joys (November 15, 2006)
- Want Big Ten sports? Get a dish (November 19, 2007)
- Big Ten foible fault of network, not Charter (August 31, 2007)
- 15 minutes of fame (annually) (July 3, 2003)
by Ryan Masse
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
I love watching the Winter Olympics.
I love seeing sports that don't get much exposure in the four years between Games and the frenzied following they attract in countries that aren't dominated by professional sports leagues. I love watching the great Bob Costas serve as anchor, and even will guiltily admit to sometimes enjoying Jimmy Roberts' fluff "Olympic Moments" pieces. And I'm anxiously awaiting to see whether the immensely athletic and elegant — not to mention gorgeous — Sasha Cohen can extend America's dominance in ladies' figure skating.
It seems, rather unfortunately, that Bryant Gumbel of HBO's "Real Sports" doesn't agree. Expressing his distaste for the Winter Games on his show Feb. 7, Mr. Gumbel said: "So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world's greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention." He went on to express his excitement for March Madness, presumably because most college basketball players, like Mr. Gumbel, are black.
Let's be clear: Mr. Gumbel is a bona fide racist here. He insinuated that skilled white athletes are, in fact, not really that great, simply because they do not display Mr. Gumbel's preferred skin color. Apparently, only sports dominated by blacks qualify as "Real Sports."
Never mind that there's no conspiracy by the International Olympic Committee to include only white athletes at the Winter Games. Never mind that the lack of black athletes is explained in large part by the fact that most countries that excel in winter sports just don't have large black populations. In those that do, like the United States, black athletes just haven't taken to winter sports in very large numbers.
But those are just details to Mr. Gumbel. In fact, I'm not even sure he'll be able to fully enjoy the NCAA tournament, as he says. Sure, the majority of players in it will be black, but it's near certain that college basketball's player of the year — either J.J. Redick or Adam Morrison — will be white this year. Perhaps Mr. Gumbel should boycott the tournament to protest a non-athlete winning that honor.
His remarks were also a blatant shun to the likes of Shani Davis, an African-American who won the men's 1000-meter speed skating race Saturday. And it's not a stretch to say the GOP convention comment served as a slap in the face to the likes of Lynn Swann, the former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver who is running for Pennsylvania governor this year. Swann is a Republican. He's also black.
But then, even though he disparaged the athletes that I've greatly enjoyed watching for the last week and a half, I'm not too mad at Mr. Gumbel. It wasn't the first time a racist comment was muttered on television. It won't be the last. I vehemently disagree with him, but he's allowed to advance his views, no matter how misguided or bigoted. If anything, I'm glad Mr. Gumbel is only able to spread his warped views to a more limited audience on the premium cable station of HBO, as opposed to his old post at NBC.
What really bothers me is the complete lack of reaction to his remarks. The blogosphere has rightly criticized him, to be sure, and there's no shortage of angry feedback at HBO.com, but by and large his remarks have bypassed any serious level of scrutiny — or repercussions.
The mainstream media seems hesitant to touch the subject, and some have actually defended Mr. Gumbel, such as Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Eugene Kane.
Flash back to 1987. Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis, asked why there weren't more African-American managers in baseball, said blacks lacked the "necessities" to fill those positions. Mr. Campanis was fired two days later amid a huge public outcry.
Now flash forward to 2003, when conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh, a new addition to ESPN's NFL pre-game show, claimed the media overrated Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb because they wanted to see a black man succeed at the position. Mr. Limbaugh was kicked off the show faster than Stuart Scott can say "boo-yah."
But Mr. Gumbel? Nothing. No scolding. No reprimand. Certainly no termination.
If Mr. Gumbel was white, he'd be looking for a new job right now. Imagine if Mr. Costas signed off tonight's Olympic coverage by complaining about the shortage of white athletes on the United States' track-and-field team at the Summer Games. NBC would blindfold Mr. Costas, send him down the downhill course in Sestriere during a snowstorm and wish him good luck.
So where's the outrage over Mr. Gumbel's bigotry? Perhaps the country's indignation is still being wholly devoted to Cartoongate, another perfect example of the dubious double standard that exists in this country when discussing issues concerning race — or in this case, religion.
Although some papers, including The Badger Herald, have published some of the Danish cartoons that have sparked international controversy, most newspapers have refused to reprint the images, despite the inherent news value in showing the cause of scores of deaths in Muslim countries.
But these same papers routinely show little discretion in printing cartoons depicting Christianity in a negative light. The Pope, Jesus and priests are all considered fair game for negative cartoons — including some in The Badger Herald — but the uproar over such depictions rarely rises above a light murmur.
Of course, that doesn't take away from the offensiveness of the Danish cartoons. I will always defend the Herald's decision to reprint one of them, but then, it wasn't the Herald's original creation. The cartoon's viewpoint — a message that is obviously offensive to followers of the second most prevalent religion in the world — is not one I personally agree with.
Yet if there's this strong of a backlash over the mere reprinting of an anti-Muslim drawing, then where's the outrage when papers present original content demeaning to Christians? And where's the scorn for a man who disparages an entire race with his outlandish comments about the participants of winter sporting events?
Society will never overcome the presence of racism or religious hatred so long as it defines the terms by this double standard.
Newspapers certainly are under no obligation to run the cartoons, and there are many factors that must go into any decision to publish them. But if newspapers refuse to run the cartoons because of a specific effort to not offend Muslims, they're really making the problem of religious bigotry worse by imposing an unequal standard when dealing with material pertaining to certain religious groups.
That doesn't help anybody. Not Muslims, not Christians, not anybody.
A class cannot be afforded different protection because of who they are or whom they attack. When applied to criminal behavior, such a belief is an affront to our principle of equal protection under the law for all. When applied to comments such as Mr. Gumbel's or the cartoons, it only acts to deepen the divide between the multitude of racial, ethnic and religious groups comprising this country.
I won't call for Mr. Gumbel's head. I'll simply say comments like his won't go away until they're subjected to the same benchmark as other racially insensitive remarks.
In the meantime, I'll be enjoying the Olympics, where the commercials remind us Visa is everywhere you want to be.
Like American Express, Mr. Gumbel's race card should not be accepted.
Ryan Masse (rmasse@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in political science and economics.
Anonymous (February 22, 2006 @ 2:36am):
GREAT piece.
Anonymous (February 22, 2006 @ 7:25am):
this was the most illogical article i've ever read. What the hell are you taking about. On a postive note i did like your witty ending
Anonymous (February 22, 2006 @ 7:29am):
Absolutely. As with everything else, white people should come first. Not until every vestige of racism against white people is stamped out should we do anything about racism against people of color. Or, even better, we'll give exactly five minutes, no more, to publicizing and addressing each instance of racism. We will alternate equally between racism against white people and racism against non-white people. What could be fairer, Ryan, eh? Equal treatment is fair. Thanks for standing up for the little guy.
Anonymous (February 22, 2006 @ 7:45am):
"And where's the scorn for a man who disparages an entire race with his outlandish comments about the participants of winter sporting events?"
Didn't you get the memo? Gumbel is black and therefore he can't be a racist.
Anonymous (February 22, 2006 @ 8:15am):
Well told, well put!
Anonymous (February 22, 2006 @ 8:42am):
Ah here it is, I've been waiting for some repub BH board member to start their hissy fit. All Gumbel was saying is that these Olympics are just mind numbingly boring, which is pretty much the consesus among all sports writers, and apparently the American public as well based on the ratings. It's not that Gumbel wants everyone to be black, but he is just saying that it is obvious not a representation of the best athletes when such a small amount of the athletes are anything but white. Gumbel has been one of the best sports casters of the last 20 years. Much like Wayne Gretzky recently when he had his run in with a PR scandal, all of those years of good will should earn him the benefit of the doubt.
Anonymous (February 22, 2006 @ 10:12am):
This is truly an ignorant piece of writing and I am shocked the Herald would print writing of this level. You have manipulated what this man said in order to fit your topic.
Gumbel was not racist one bit. Nowhere did he say or imply whites aren't good athletes. He was saying that you can't consider the Winter Olympics a collection of the world's best athletes when an entire section of the population is not included in the selection process. You dismiss this exclusion by simply saying the blacks haven't "taken" to the Winter Games. Did you think that the reason this portion of our population doesn't participate in the Winter Games might not be due to a lack of interest? That maybe the majority of our black population faces significant geographic and economic barriers that preclude them from the necessary resources to even begin training for these Winter events? It is no secret that much of our black population resides in inner cities, far from the picturesque mountains that are required to train for many of the Winter games. Many of these people are also far from being able to afford the years of endless training it takes to be the best figure/speed skaters of the world. Gumbel was referring to an entire population's lack of resources and facilities which inherently exclude them from these games. It seems like you really missed Gumbel's point and I must say I am a bit embarrassed that some people who read your article might think this is what all whites thought of Gumbel's speech.
I have added a link to a well-written critique of Gumbel's WHOLE speech. Please take notes for future opinion pieces.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=402916
I would also like to add that I was a bit shocked that someone from the Badger Herald, considering the ongoing debate, would refer to the caricature of Muhammed as a "mere cartoon." Wow.
Sincerely,
An embarrassed white boy
Anonymous (February 22, 2006 @ 10:48am):
Let's be honest, the Olympics, both summer and winter have become more boring over the past 15 years because of things such as the break up of the Soviet Union and allowing professional athletes to compete more and more in team sports. It's not the Communist empire vs. the Democratic empire anymore. There will never be another "Do you believe in miracles!?!?" In other words, the Olympics, both summer and winter, are pretty freaking boring.
Anonymous (February 22, 2006 @ 10:59am):
EWB, you can't be serious. Gumbel by stating it looks like a GOP convention is making a racists statment. He is stating clearly that blacks must all think like him and belong in only one party. Thomas Sowell, Lynn Swann and Justice Thomas are all the wrong kind of black person according to Gumbel.
To your point Skiing, Hockey, Skating (paying for ice lift tickets) are all expensive sports but apparently that didn't stop Shani Davis's Mom or Bode Miller's (white but grew up with an outhouse for a toilet) parents. Maybe, we need a midnight curling program istead of Midnight Basketball? Or maybe we can force all the Black and Hispanic kids in Denver to start skiing make it part of the high school curriculum and drop Algebra.
But then again Golf is expensive and the #1 player in the world is.....
If you start with the premise that race is most important you end up seeing racism every where. If you start with the premise that indviduals are most important you see success or failure based on performance not race.
Anonymous (February 22, 2006 @ 11:32am):
Gumbel should go cover the black super bowl aka NBA all-star game if he is so bias against the winter olympics. It's not norways and sweden and russias fault they just dont have many outstanding black athletes, let alone blacks altogether.
Anonymous (February 22, 2006 @ 12:02pm):
GREAT piece! It's not that often that I run into an intelligent and well-written opinion column in The Badger Herald.
Anonymous (February 22, 2006 @ 12:21pm):
"Never mind that there's no conspiracy by the International Olympic Committee to include only white athletes at the Winter Games. Never mind that the lack of black athletes is explained in large part by the fact that most countries that excel in winter sports just don't have large black populations. In those that do, like the United States, black athletes just haven't taken to winter sports in very large numbers."
Do offer any reasoning for why these black athletes haven't "taken to winter sports" in large numbers? Maybe it is due to institutionalized racism in this country that no one asks them to or they are never given the opportunity. Or maybe it is because winter sports, generally, are quite expensive to participate it. I think THIS is what Mr. Gumbel was referring to. And I think you may be the one with racist tendancies.
Anonymous (February 22, 2006 @ 12:54pm):
If racism is institutioinalized in this country, that's no excuse for a lack of black atletes from other countries. Yes a lot of these sports are expensive to participate in but not all of them. A lot of them are particularly expensive when you train 8 hours a day and don't have a job. yet many athletes and their families do exactly that.
Part of the problem might be that people facing economic hardships don't view curling, biathlon, or ice dancing as a way to move the family out of the ghetto. Where as success in basketball, football or baseball (see A-Rod 250 million over ten years) is as much a financial goal as any other motivatioin.
Anonymous (February 22, 2006 @ 1:33pm):
You ask why there has not been as much uproar in response to Gumbel's statement. The reason is because he is right. One can argue that this issue strictly about race and in some ways thats right. However, the main point Gumbel is making is that one can not characterize all Winter Olympic athletes as the best in the world. It does not take athletic expertise to go down a bobsled or to sweep ice. These are certainly not the best athletes in the world. When I watch the Winter Olympics, I continuously ask myself why I am watching such ridiculous events. I feel that if I turned making a snow angel into a competition, they might make it an olympic sport. People, myself included, like the competition above all else. There are also some fantastic sports that are also extremely athletic, but the stupid ones taint the whole olympics. Gumbel was on the ball and its about time someone said something.
Anonymous (February 22, 2006 @ 2:34pm):
In reference to Lynn Swann, et al, if you think that the republicans are hyping them up because of their politics and not because of the color of their skin you are a fool. Blacks are nothing more than pawns for the republican party to hold up and say "see, even though our policies say otherwise we really do like black people." There is no way that a black liberal would be able to win any election on a wide spread scale because of so many backwards thinking conservatives. The only hope for blacks to ever win anything in politics is for them to be so conservative that the republicans have no choice but to pick them over the white liberal.
Anonymous (February 22, 2006 @ 2:39pm):
Way to bring up some good points. I love the one about how its ok to bad mouth Christianity, but not Islam. I am a Catholic, you don't see me protesting and freaking out whenever someone tells a priest joke. The Badger Herald really supports free speech, which is going to offend some people. The people bad mouthing what the Herald does are idiots. Everyone is offended by something. Thats the way life is. Every one should watch the Penn and Teller BullSh*t about college so you know about being offended. It's really incitefull.
Anonymous (February 22, 2006 @ 3:13pm):
EXCELLENT article!
Anonymous (February 22, 2006 @ 3:23pm):
"Do offer any reasoning for why these black athletes haven't "taken to winter sports" in large numbers? Maybe it is due to institutionalized racism in this country that no one asks them to or they are never given the opportunity. Or maybe it is because winter sports, generally, are quite expensive to participate it. I think THIS is what Mr. Gumbel was referring to. And I think you may be the one with racist tendancies."
This is a ridiculus argument. Don't blame the white kid because the black kid doesn't have the money to participate in a sport. If someone truly wants to participate in a sport, they will. It's people like you who turn everything into another reason to give more to one race and not to another.
Anonymous (February 22, 2006 @ 4:07pm):
Maybe its because it costs money to participate in winter sports but more likely it's because nobody pays millions a year to pro winter sports players.
You don't get rich by bob-sledding like you do if you are even a bench warmer in pro football.
It's all about the benjamins!
Kyle Bruce (February 22, 2006 @ 4:31pm):
Would everyone be happy with a percentage allotment? There should be 11-13% black head coaches. There should be 11-13% black athletes in the Winter Olympics. There should be 83-87% Non-black basketball players in the NBA?
NASCAR is going to be fun watching the 6% Asian drivers!
Lighten up...take the best first and the only colors that matter are gold, silver and bronze.
Anonymous (February 22, 2006 @ 4:34pm):
Do some of you realize how racist you sound, in particular those responding to the "insitutionalized racism" comment? Some deep thinking is required.
Anonymous (February 22, 2006 @ 7:59pm):
"it's all about the benjamins"
yeah, i'm sorry, i have no idea why we would accuse you of being a racist, except for the blatantly racist comment you just made that is.
Anonymous (February 23, 2006 @ 5:12am):
Offering up stereotyped images of a group of people in order to explain "their" disadvantage is not remotely the same thing as Mr Gumbel's comments, about as racist as banning Kenyan's from taking part in public marathons. Any competition where privileged sections alone can afford to compete have no place in a modern world where apparently there are decreasing social barriers. From accross the pond I'd say Mr Gumbel's comments need to viewed against American social history. Some of the poorest people I've seen recently came from New Orleans, USA and predominantly one colour/class. Mr Gumbel's comments are that of a commentator with a particular style making an observation about a competition in Europe. It's not an indictment, Shani Davis' experiences are more relevant.
Anonymous (February 23, 2006 @ 9:55am):
I guess when you are a black conservative, hearing white people tell you that you are a pawn (or is it Uncle Tome) for the Republican party could be annoying. What the left has forgotten is that my father was registered to vote by a Southern Republican and not a Southern Democrate.
If anyone is confused about their stance within a party it should be blacks voting for Democrats. Since LBJ blacks have been promised the world by mostly DNC mayors, senators, representatives and presidential candidates who have delivered.....more rhetoric. How much has Watts changed since the riots, or Compton or pick a ghetto. The vote is rounded up after promises are made and nothing changes. Even when both houses and the President are from the DNC
Republicans or more accurately Conservatives say do for yourself, the DNC says wait, stick with us your chariot is coming. After 40 years of the same message some people of color have figured that the DNC folks are all about the message at the televised event and weekends on Nantucket.
As for Instutional Racism does that include all of Africa as well. Or is it only states with a majority of white people that prevent blacks from competing in the Winter Olympics. If what Gumbel meant was that the events in the Winter Olympics do not demand that the best of athelets compete then why did he mention race. He could have said instead that most of the events in the Winter Olympics are like bowling. You don't have to be in shape but it doesn't hurt to be either.
Anonymous (February 23, 2006 @ 10:38am):
Great article and well thought out.
Anonymous (February 23, 2006 @ 6:58pm):
Excellent column!
Anonymous (February 25, 2006 @ 7:39pm):
it's just not that good of an argument. anyone who knows sports or athletics will tell you that the winter games aren't about either. the most popular event is freaking figure skating; that's just dancing, no matter how you disguise it, and dancing ain't athletics.
how many of the winter events are even competed in at uw? hockey? anything else? i can't think of anything. gumbel's comments were certainly stupid. race just isn't the problem he's noticing. the winter olympics aren't awful (and most people will agree that they are awful, just look at the ratings) because there aren't enough black people. they're awful because there aren't enough real athletes.
Barbara Masse (March 9, 2006 @ 7:02pm):
Not printing/reprinting those nasty political cartoons depicting turbans as bombs, even with "I don't agree with this" disclaimers, is giving in to blackmail (oops, there's that color again....). It is wimpy - oh dear, have I offended hamburger lovers? - to refuse to print them not because they might offend those of the Islamic Faith, but because printing them might cause violence. If I say or do something that offends you, you're going to bomb my embassy? You're going to shoot all sorts of innocent people who have nothing whatsoever to do with printing or not printing them? Boycotts are one thing, violence and murder is entirely different; and, by the way, strongly disrespectful of the Prophet himself as well as prohibited by the Qu'ran.
And Mr. Gumbel should be fired, just like any white broadcaster who makes such a racist statement. Go Shani! You're tops, and you have a gold medal to prove it, just like Apolo and the Flying Tomato!
