Volume 3, Number 4
April, 1998
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An Open Letter To Rev. Reggie White
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by Dave Lind |
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Admittedly, sometimes it can be difficult to come up with a topic of
discussion worthy of hashing out in the public forum, even for a
part-time sports hack like myself. There are times when the ideas flow
faster than the fingers can type and there are times when you find
yourself perched in front of your keyboard like a vulture waiting for
something to fall out of the sky. Such dry spells are commonly referred
to as "writer's block" in an effort to assign some sort of tangible
quality to the elusive demon that plagues all writers at all levels of
all genres.
Then along comes Reggie White, and the column just seems to write
itself.
In deference to the nearly-three-hundred-pound future Hall of Fame
defensive end for the Green Bay Packers who could surely pinch my head
off at the 2nd vertebra, let me just say that I had a professional
difference of opinion with the man concerning his remarks to the
Wisconsin State Legislature on March 25. In a rambling, hour long
dissertation before the Assembly, White invoked the Word of God to
denounce homosexuality, blaming it for the moral decay of American
society, and neatly segregated the human race into tidy little groups
according to dancing ability, financial skills, and procreative
ability.
According to White, blacks are "gifted in what we call worship and
celebration", and that blacks "like to dance". He also credited Asians
for their ability to "turn a television into a watch", Whites for their
"ability to make money", and Hispanics because "they can put 20 or 30
people in one home."
I guess when they said that Reggie White is "intelligent and
well-spoken", what they meant was "for a football player."
Ok, perhaps that is unfair. There are a great many truly intelligent
and articulate football players and I meant them no insult. The point
is, Reggie White is apparently not among them. How else to describe
someone who propagates such narrow-minded, bigoted, crap. To suggest
that being black makes you a good dancer or that all Hispanics do is
pump out children is exactly the type of thing that civil rights
activists have railed against for decades, and rightly so. When Al
Campanis suggested to a reporter several years ago that whites were
better suited to managerial positions and that blacks "lacked the
tools" manage, he was publicly vilified and his career was utterly
destroyed overnight, and again, rightly so.
Yet here stands Rev. Reggie White, idol to many, paragon of his
community, respected and revered across racial lines, stating precisely
the same thing that Campanis was crucified for over a decade ago.
The remarks seemed to have dampened CBS's interest in hiring White, who
had auditioned for a job as an announcer, though one must admit the idea
of a Racial Round table with Reggie White and Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder
seems too good to pass up. Marge Schott and Al Campanis could be a
regular guests and we could finally explore such tantalizing topics as
"Why can't white men jump" and "The downfall of the Jewish athlete in
America."
To be fair, though, let me point out that I understand that White's
motives were as pure as the driven snow and that the message he was
trying to convey was an honorable one, though it did not translate
well. What White was trying to say, I believe, is that people are
basically different and that each of us has something positive to
contribute to society. And again, while I agree wholeheartedly with
this ideal, White erred badly in his thinking by taking that ideal and
projecting it across racial lines. Stating that blacks are "good
dancers" and whites are "good money makers" and Hispanics are "good
baby-makers" simply reinforces hurtful stereotypes which this nation has
fought for years to dispel. Worse, for a highly respected sports figure
such as White to take advantage of his stature to spew hateful, divisive
rhetoric, to thump his bible and denounce gays as the bane of American
society while he himself propagates racial stereotypes which serve no
purpose other than to impede harmony among the races, is beyond
reprehensible.
Had he not been a sports figure, he likely would never have been
afforded the opportunity to embarrass himself publicly as he did. Had
he not been a black sports figure, he likely would have been booed from
the chamber floor, his misguided ideas chastised as being offensive,
narrow-minded, and bigoted.
Rightly so.