I read about this early this morning on another site associated with the Golf Channel. After reading the primarily Anglo response, I decided to chime in:
Looks like the lessons of history still haven't been learned. The media is already covert in its bias (for those of you who never notice, reporters/videographers of general news stories have been notorious, since the invention of the tv tube of using negative,stereotypical images of minorities if the story is not a positive one and cutting them out of the positive ones) and for someone to still feel comfortable enough to make such a statement when they have control of the mike tells me where we are still stuck in this country when it comes to race. But in the process of dialogue on another board, I had a paradigm shift. An African American man commented that we get it twisted: white supremacy and racism are not synonymous. White supremacists simply believe that they are superior to non-Anglos. Racists are the ones who hate. And in that light, I now understand the condescending befuddlement of Anglos who state that they don't understand why we didn't get the "joke." Tiger Woods is a person of color and African descent who has changed the face of a sport, not because of the color of his skin but because of his exceptional talent. And his preference is not to have anyone focus on his racial makeup but on his amazing ability to hit the ball. Yet from early on in his career -- yeah, I had the opportunity to go to his very early US tournaments -- those with the lynch mentality were embedded in the crowd. He has managed to stay far above all those who attempt to make his race an issue and continue to play his game. So as we talk among ourselves perhaps we should take our own individual temperatures when it comes to the sickness of bigotry, the myth of white supremacy and hatred of those who are of color and of non-Anglo descent. When you are quick to minimize, trivialize and approach reprehensible acts with a condescending, supremacist attitude perhaps you have a slight fever, yes? When people show you who they really are, you should act accordingly. The only way racism and the myth of Anglo supremacy is quashed is changing one paradigm at a time -- if the person with that paradigm is willing to change. In the meantime we still have to take the time to let those who continue down this path know that comments, actions, images that are racially charged are not socially, politically acceptable and will not be tolerated in the workplace -- or any place. And "I'm sorrys or "I was just kiddin'" is just not enough when you are in control of the mike. One more thought -- Jesse, Al, please...stay out of it. I am sure Tiger's got this.
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