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Originally Posted by Rich Fronheiser
Furthermore, if I were an African-American and someone called me "boy," I wonder how I would react. I'd probably want to punch the guy in the mouth. I would assume that "boy" is only slightly less inflammatory than the N-word. I may be wrong.
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You are exactly right. I know we are supposed to be professional, but those are what we used to call "fighting words." I can tell you calling someone Black a "boy" in other settings might get a bigger response than just getting punched in the face if we were on the block or in a club. Bailey knew what he was doing when he made those comments and based on other situations. Once again, we are not talking about a state here that has had no racial incidents in the past. We are talking about a situation where the state has history and a white person is accused of calling someone a racial slur. Now maybe there are people that think this is not a big deal. If you do not feel it is a big deal, go to the Proviso schools in Maywood and Hillside and call those kids and fans "boys." Come to the south side of Chicago and call those kids and fans "boys" then tell me when you get out of the hospital if you are lucky that is all that happens to you after you call some African-Americans that are not going to care about professionalism before they split your head open with a weapon or their hands, then tell me how much of a big deal this is not. I think if all Montgomery did was have words with Bailey that is a really good job on his part. If he said that to someone else Bailey or anyone else might not be so lucky. Now you can think this is a moral stand and try to act like these things are not a big issue, but I am sure no one's mother raised that big of a fool to think that you can say or do anything and a reaction is not a serious possibility. My Mom used to say to me all the time, "You can be right and dead at the same time."
Peace