Wednesday, October 26, 2005

FISCHER DEBERRY COMMENTS

Fischer DeBerry’s comments bring many wide ranging issues to the forefront. Let me address a few of them. There is no question that the comment is totally inappropriate, racist and wrong. The issue is that the Air Force Academy is lacing athletes and they need to recruit better athletes. If those athletes happen to be black then they are the best choice. If you have any doubt about the comment change the word athlete and use doctor, president, lawyer or teacher. Then play around with changing white and black.

With that clarified here are the other issues that jump forward.

1) How much does a body of work count? In other words, how much does one comment outweigh his actions of the past two decades?

2) What was he really saying? If he is venturing down the awful road of we can’t get these guys into school then it is a more significant issue.

3) Is it worse that he clearly had no idea that what he said was wrong? Or is it a sign of innocence?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let's be honest. Deberry is only bringing out what's been hidden or been in the locker room for years. Haven't we all been in either a two hand touch football game or pickup basketball game? What happens when we pick teams before the game? Isn't it true that the black guys get picked first before the rest? Let's face it black athletes have always been perceived as being faster or can jump higher than the average Joe. If you went around and asked a group of guys confidentially, "are black athletes better than other athletes?" I think that most guys would say "yes". And if you think that I am being racist then you haven't been around a diverse group of people ever. Deberry only stated something that has been "accepted" for a long time.

Ex. If you had to put your life on the line and you were asked to pick between a black guy and a white guy in a 100 yard dash race, who would you pick? Don't lie to yourself now....

Anonymous said...

Let's be honest. Deberry is only bringing out what's been hidden or been in the locker room for years. Haven't we all been in either a two hand touch football game or pickup basketball game? What happens when we pick teams before the game? Isn't it true that the black guys get picked first before the rest? Let's face it black athletes have always been perceived as being faster or can jump higher than the average Joe. If you went around and asked a group of guys confidentially, "are black athletes better than other athletes?" I think that most guys would say "yes". And if you think that I am being racist then you haven't been around a diverse group of people ever. Deberry only stated something that has been "accepted" for a long time.

Ex. If you had to put your life on the line and you were asked to pick between a black guy and a white guy in a 100 yard dash race, who would you pick? Don't lie to yourself now....

Anonymous said...

The only sad thing is that these days, blacks in general have been praised for their athletic ablities and not their other accomplishments. It 's great that blacks are given their props as far as athletics are concerned, but I hope that this isn't the only thing that they will be recognized for.

Anonymous said...

Naterob1,

You forgot that blacks are also recognized in the music world as well as in cinema!!!!

Anonymous said...

BLACK,

GOT YOUR POINT.