Air Force coach's racial comments

judgesmails · #1 10-26-2005, 06:29 PM

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DeBerry raised the topic Monday while discussing Air Force's 48-10 loss to TCU, telling The Gazette of Colorado Springs the academy needed to recruit faster players and noting, "you don't see many minority athletes in our program."

Asked about it Tuesday, DeBerry noted that TCU had more black players than Air Force.

"It just seems to me to be that way," he said. "African-American kids can run very well. That doesn't mean that Caucasian kids and other descents can't run, but it's very obvious to me that they run extremely well."

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He said this after his predominantly white team lost to a predominantly black TCU team. His comments brought about some controversy.

I don't see anything controversial about these comments. He was just stating a fairly obvious observation. Look at the 100 meter finals in the world championships or Olympics. Look at almost any sprinting championship for that matter. Blacks dominate. Is it really controversial or somehow demeaning to black athletes to say something like this?

#2 10-26-2005, 06:37 PM

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

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It's pretty demeaning to white athletes. "hey team, you're all so damn slow! Why cant you be more black?"

pudley4 · #3 10-26-2005, 06:41 PM

It shouldn't be. It's the truth - people whose ancestors come from the Western part of Africa are in general quicker, faster, and more athletic. There's nothing wrong with making a true statement like that.

The problems come when the knee-jerk PC police get involved and start crying about racism. Um, hello, what's racist about saying another race is superior to your own in some way? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

The true problem is that there are some people who make these statements and their underlying meaning is that these athletes don't work hard to be successful (which is almost always completely false).

holeplug · #4 10-26-2005, 06:47 PM

Well he shouldn't have said it because it could cost him his job since we live in such a politcially correct world right now. I agree that all he did was make a correct observation though.

wonderwes · #5 10-26-2005, 07:05 PM

we will hear this on sportscenter/espn for the rest of the week. Why, because the sports media can not find stories fast enough. Already saw PTI's take, and agreed with them. Correct comment, but not the best public statement for him. Nothing to get him fired though.

CD56 · #6 10-26-2005, 07:05 PM

Any person in the public eye who makes racial generalizations, even if correct will almost always draw serious criticism and probably face serious consequences, so in that sense it was pretty dumb.

JayLear · #7 10-26-2005, 07:18 PM

The problem is not that he made this obvservation. Your parallels to sprint runners and the "majority" of athletes are certainly, as a whole, correct. I think where we get into trouble as a society is making generalizations such as this. "How do we get better? We need to get more black players, because they run faster!" How about, "We need more team speed!" Pretty much says the same thing, without the stereotyping.

This is a problem because as a society we're SUPPOSED to be at a point now where we don't see people for their color. I don't think it's a problem when offering it as a description. "He's the black guy over there!", to me is basically like saying, "He's the guy with the red hair over there!". But statements like what this coach said are what make people look like idiots. Doing things like looking at a black guy and assuming that he must be really good at basketball. Think about it -- maybe he's never picked up a basketball in his entire life, but he happens to be an exceptional lawyer. Or a guitar player.

Statements such as this, while seemingly harmless in concept because they're largely true, end up perpetuating stereotypes in our society that make it very difficult for us to move forward and see things beyond what they're "supposed to be".

The team doesn't need to get blacker -- they need to get faster and more athletic. Believe it or not, they don't mean the same thing.

lastchance · #8 10-26-2005, 07:21 PM

Definite agreement with most of this post. However, certain generalizations are correct due to physical/genetic traits. However, saying things without the proper research can be very harmful.

MCS · #9 10-26-2005, 07:37 PM

JayLear's post is excellent.

I didn't think DeBerry's comments were racist. And I usually think everything is racist.

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

judgesmails · #10 10-26-2005, 07:47 PM

I don't think the stereotype that black athletes are fastest will ever go away because, well, it is the truth. I don't think coaches or media should have to pretend it is not the truth in athletics. Your point about the general man on the street notwithstanding.

If you attended a college football game where one team was 100% black and the other 100% white and that was all you knew about the teams. All other physical factors are equal (size, roster, experience, etc.) And you were offered even odds on a wager before the game started - who would you chose and how much would you wager?

I take the black team for a big bet every time.