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Originally Posted by VaTerp
This I agree with. But I don't think that is the case, at least not in my experience in the officiating I've witnessed around me. And I still see plenty of white men officiating at all levels of basketball.
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No disagreement there, at least on the men's side. It seems to me that, at least at the NCAA and NBA levels, white men and black men are treated fairly. Good officials move up regardless. There might be individual or localized problems but there doesn't seem to be any overall problems with discrimination. The women might very well have a complaint there, but that is a different discussion.
However, if you were to see WNBA or NCAAW championship games, year after year, with 3 women when there are plenty of qualified and capable men who also want that assignment (and that is not unlikely), that really would reek of discrimination. It would be no different that if you saw the NBA finals and NCAAM finals always worked by white men year after year with no other race represented. They might be qualified, but it would scream discrimination and would be a travesty.
Quote:
Originally Posted by VaTerp
And a related, but separate argument, is having officials who more closely reflect the makeup of the participants. I have no problem with the desire to assign more female officials to women's games.
Just as I have no problem with the lack of black officials in sports such as hockey or lacrosse, for example, where the overwhelming majority of participants are white.
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I think the real representation should be more a reflection of the number of people desiring to be officials in each area....as is the case with hockey/lacrosse. You just don't see than many non-whites that are interested there. So, you wouldn't expect many non-white officials either.
Also, desiring a makeup of officials that reflect that of the participants somewhat assumes that the makeup of officials as a whole reflects that of the participants. It doesn't, for whatever reason. Those that choose to get into officiating do so for different reasons and the those numbers more closely reflect the general population than the mix of players.
When those two groups (players and officials) are similarly composed, to expect them to resemble each other as the levels go up would not be unreasonable. However, when they are not similarly composed, expecting them to match doesn't make sense. That would mean someone is just getting left behind because of race. And I think we can all agree that is not right.
It might be a good idea to have a diverse crew on a diverse game but it wouldn't make sense to have an all black crew with all black teams just for the sake of having everyone of the same race any more than it would to have an all white crew on all white games because they match.