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Originally posted by BktBallRef
And I don't doubt that's true. I've never been in a black man's shoes but I have been treated unfairly because I was white.
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Well at least you are surrounded by folks that make decisions that look like you. If you have been treated differently, instead of having to constantly overcome sterotypes and wrong preceptions and those are by the folks that have decision making power.
Quote:
Originally posted by BktBallRef
I've also seen situations where people attempted to play the race card when it wasn't happening. And you've seen it, too. We've all seen it. And that hurts those who really are being discriminated against. It can be like the boy who cried wolf.
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I am so sick and tired of people trying saying, "playing the race card." I really am. Because no one plays any card. Discrimination is not a card. Discrimination is a real and living thing. Most African-Americans that I know do not have a distrust for the systems they are under because there is a card, they feel that way based on very specific situations they have experienced. From an officiating standpoint, there are Black officials that have achieved everything or on the same plane as their non-Black counterparts, and they are on the outside looking in. I know more white officials that extensively in the Chicago Public League (which in many situations is all-Black players and coaches) compared to the mostly white suburban areas and the number of non-white officials ever have gotten in those circles. I work in some conferences were all I see are the "mostly-Black" teams. You tell me that there are 12 or more teams in this conference and I see 1 school every year not matter what? Why are we working only one team in a conference with 12 or more teams, every year? Now that can be a card to you, but to many there is a solid reason for that fact. It is not because they love me so much at those particular schools.
Quote:
Originally posted by BktBallRef
In the end, whether it's you or me, unless a man tells us that he didn't want us there because we're black or white, it's simply speculation and perception as to why we're not wanted back. Unless we're told, I have no way of KNOWING and you have no way of KNOWING.
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Well that sounds wonderful. But if you need to be told everything than I really do not see how anyone would function. We talk all the time about things that are "unsaid" but expected. And when folks change what they have done in the past, they move on or up. Ask Rick Berry and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar about why they cannot get a NBA job? They have not been told anything, but they are still trying to fight preconceived notions about their personalities.
Quote:
Originally posted by BktBallRef
Incidentally, I still work football games at that same school.
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Maybe they do not care as much about football?
Peace