FanPost

Now we know why Bolton bolted

Or at least how he got his immediate waiver.

https://theundefeated.com/features/noose-comment-by-penn-state-basketball-coach-points-to-larger-ncaa-problem/

My sort of takeaway from the article is that for black people ‘racial issues’ are always front and center because they’re living on a white man’s world. That dynamic is exacerbated by the power structure of black athletes being coached by white males. So while I (granted, another white guy) agree Chambers should have used different analogies, and complementing his parents’ performance in a meeting COULD be interpreted as the old Colon Powell "speaks so well" I don’t think Chambers meant them that way. He comes off as sort of bewildered b the whole thing. Which is also probably part of the point.

I think the article is saying everyone, but especially whites people in positions of power, need to take ‘how to interact with black people’ classes. That may seem glib, but what else is it that Chambers is supposed to learn? There’s no way he’s unaware of lynchings. But out of context I associate a noose with suicide, not murder. I can easily see an association of ‘choked by pressure - loosen the noose’ without any thought of lynchings, since that’s not a thing that happens any more. Maybe I’m wrong and Chambers saw a black kid struggling with pressure and his mind jumped to lynching. Even then, the context is Chambers wanting to help relieve Bolton’s burden. Does the context not natter?

For me, I honestly get a little nervous when I interact with a black person I don’t know. A little because I’m afraid I’ll say something I had no idea had become offensive in the last month or so, but much more so because I’m somewhat socially awkward, in case you all couldn’t tell. I constantly have to force myself to maintain eye contact, I trip over words when speaking, I have resting jerk face and I scowl more when I’m thinking. My fear is that any of these things will come off as ‘not liking the black person’ or something. And I’m sure being self conscious makes this worse not better.

I think the kind of racial sensitivity training being suggested here, the idea that white people REALLY REALLY need to watch how they interact with minorities makes things worse, not better. I think part of the point is that black people are tired of having to tiptoe around us - it’s time for us to feel a little of their discomfort. I understand that sentiment but I can’t help but feel it’s counterproductive to the idealized state of ‘we’re all just people.’



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