Air Force coach's racial comments

[youtalkfunny]

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In general, this country is terrified to have any honest public racial dialogue. We'd rather stick our heads in the sand.

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I liked this post so much, I stopped reading the thread at this point. I mean that in a good way.

[mostsmooth]

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Is it really controversial or somehow demeaning to black athletes to say something like this?

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only if the coach is white

[Homer]

I always get pissed when someone makes a comment like these, then makes a half-hearted apology the next day to keep his job. I wish someone would stand by his comments, firing or no firing.

[HDPM]

Here is an article that has more of his quotations, and IMO they are worse than the quote in the OP. LINK

He looks like an idiot. The article also talked about the religious problem from a few months ago. To me that was very bad and should have resulted in his firing.

The USAFA has a mission, and that is to produce officers for the USAF. I know they think that football plays a role in developing the mentality they want at the academy. I tend to disagree with the overall approach there for various reasons and from some personal experiences with their end product, but I think they are right that a military academy uses team sports to contribute to the cohesion of the unit and to assist in the mission of the academy. To that end, a USAF officer needs to work with people of all religions and races, and must be extremely careful to act appropriately with subordinates and local populations of other faiths as they serve as officers overseas. It is clear that the coach taught players that proselytizing and religious discrimination at taxpayer expense was OK. He undermined morale at a military installtion and taught a message contrary to the message officers should take from their experience at the academy. This was a firing offense IMO. But he kept his job since not much has come of the fact that the USAFA was full of evangelicals who discriminated. (The article mentions this, and I have read some other stuff but no links right now.)

There are some problems at the USAFA IMO and the coach isn't helping. This latest thing shows he is a moron, but there's a shock. The football coach is a dolt. Another happy use of tax dollars.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with these comments. The man speaks the truth.

[masse75]

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I see absolutely nothing wrong with these comments. The man speaks the truth.

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If you're gonna gimmick this, at least get it right. DeBerry said nothing about "breeding" slaves to get big athletic blacks. Jimmy the Greek did.

Worst Gimmick Ever.

[Voltron87]

why is it unreasonable to say that a black ethnic gene pool might be different than the anglo saxon one (just examples, there are tons of different white gene pools and tons of different african ones)? there are white people with primarily black hair and pale skin (irish) and there are swedish people. obviously they have different traits. why can't one trait be strength or agility?

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there are white people with primarily black hair and pale skin (irish) and there are swedish people. obviously they have different traits. why can't one trait be strength or agility?

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b/c it is politically incorrect to say so.

[Josh W]

I have a bunch of questions. Okay, that's a lie. I have one question.

What group of people is offended by this?

I honestly don't know.

At first I thought it was anti-white...Oh, white people are slow and athletic. We can't win with white people. White people are inferior.

Then, I thought maybe black people would be offended. Ooohhhh, you think black people are gifted, they don't have to work hard at this. You think black people don't put in the time in the weight room and on the practice field.

I saw an interview by the author of the book "Taboo" which discusses this very topic (on Anderson Cooper 360...)...races are different, but why are we so afraid to talk about it? He mentioned that there is scientific evidence to support that muscle tissue and lung tissue in people from West Africa are more designed for football. White people excel in weightlifting. East African's excel in long distance running, endurance contests.

And if we watch the Olympics, this is tough to disagree with.

Obviously, as somebody stated, AFA doesn't need more black athletes, they need BETTER ATHLETES. Didn't the Notre Dame coach a few years ago make a similar statement?

But who's the best white tailback in the NFL? Who's the best white cornerback in the NFL?

I live in a fairly white part of Los Angeles. When I go to the local 24 hour fitness, most of the people in there are black.

I think that black people place a higher emphasis on physical fitness and athleticism.

And if I'm a headcoach looking for better athletes, I'm going to look for people who place an emphasis athleticism.

I've rambled a lot here. But I'm still confused.

Who was this coach's statement supposedly offensive to? I really don't know.

[SammyKid11]

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I think that black people place a higher emphasis on physical fitness and athleticism.

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Here's the point. Making inferences and generalizations can be a dangerous thing. The above quote is certainly not the only one in this thread, but the one I happened to see and respond to.

Because you see mostly black people at a gym located in a mostly white neighborhood, your inference is that black people care about physical fitness and athleticism more than white people do. This is kind of like saying, "I know hundreds of people and none of them are Asian...therefore, I do not believe that over 20% of the world's population is Asian. In my survey, 0% of the world is Asian." So the above type of assumption is especially faulty and very widespread among lots of people.

Now for actual facts...the most obese race in America? African-Americans. From that can we infer that African-Americans must care LESS about physical fitness and athleticism? Certainly it's a stronger case than the gym survey...however, once again - it's faulty. According to a study conducted by Professor of Sociology Theresa Martinez at the University of Utah, the primary REASON for the higher obesity rates of the African-American and Hispanic-American population is due to socio-economic status, not race. Minorities make up a large percentage of our country's lowest earners. Economoically-disadvantaged people eat cheaper foods. Cheaper foods are much higher in fat, on the whole, than more expensive foods.

So even an inference based on empirical evidence (African-Americans are the most obese in the nation) do not lead us to the proper conclusions about WHY.

Sure, there is some scientific evidence to support the idea that those from West Africa have a certain type of muscle tissue and are therefore genetically predisposed to being faster. But lots of African-Americans do not descend very directly or very purely (on a genetic level) from West Africa. There has to be more to it than that.

Personally, here's why I think statements like those made by Fisher DeBerry are problematic.

1) Yes, I think it's somewhat offensive to white athletes. Imagine if the CEO of a primarily-black corporation said, "man, white people tend to make better grades than black people -- I think that means they must be smarter overall...I wish this company could hire us some more white people." I think the African-American community would be a tad bit upset, and rightfully so.

2) Perhaps the REASON there are so many more African-American athletes in sports like football and basketball is BECAUSE the stereotype exists that tells African-Americans, "this is where you have the best chance to succeed. Here's an arena in which you're advantaged...so that's the arena you should pursue." Because of those persistent expectations, maybe greater emphasis is placed on raising great athletes in that community than the emphasis placed on raising great students. The problem with perpetuating those stereotypes is simply that very few people make it in professional athletics. Those that focus their efforts on athletics but do not either get a college degree or make it to the pros, especially those that come from economically-disadvantaged situations, often-times find themselves with very few opportunities in life once sports have come to an end for them. Comments like DeBerry's serve to perpetuate a potentially-debilitating stereotype.

3) Fisher DeBerry is the head coach of a military academy, funded by the taxpayers of the United States of America. In a nation that is supposed to be trying hard to end racial inequities and ease the tension of centuries worth of racial oppression, racially-charged comments from a man in DeBerry's position are simply unhelpful to the overall cause. Public apologies these days are so cheap that his means very little to me...he's a grown man, he knows what media interviews are like, and he made the statements anyway.

Are his comments "true" in the current makeup of college football? Yeah, sure they are. I'm not denying that black athletes currently hold most positions of speed in college football. So in that sense, what he said was true.

Is that the point? No, it's not. He gained nothing from his comments, and it cost him and the Air Force Academy a lot in the way of perception. I think on an admittedly small level, it also further racial tensions in this country, demeans athletes of other races, and serves to further pidgeon-hole African Americans into their already-accepted "good at sports" stereotype - thereby decreasing their likelihood to achieve in other avenues of life.

Anyway, that's what I think.