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Originally posted by TXMike
That is BS!!! Are you going to decide whether or not to throw a flag based on the gender/race/ethnicity, etc of the sender and receiver? #1 - They are on a team. Let the team deal with the issue by informing the coach. We are there to "referee" between the 2 teams, not to "referee" within" the team. #2 - If it is wrong for a white player to call a black player a N____ then it is wrong for a Black to call another Black the same thing.
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Well Mike, I am Black. I am sure because of that reality, I look at this from folks that are not my color. And let us just say, if you were my color (but I am going to take a wild guess that you are not) you could see it different from me. But considering that music, culture and everyday practices with many African-Americans, this word is used often. Now I do not agree with the usage, but I understand it's history and would rather address it with the player, rather than flagging it. And to me it is not nearly the same thing as someone outside of that race using the word. Now if you think it is not fair, so what. Life is not fair. And considering that many Black players do not see that many African-American officials, I will handle this is a way that I see best. No different than if I am in a circle of friends and this would is used.
Quote:
Originally posted by TXMike
If 2 black teams are playing and 1 Black on 1 team calls another Black on the other team a N____, are you going to flag?
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No automatically. And probably not at all. But I would address it with the player that used it.
Quote:
Originally posted by TXMike
And what if they are Hispanic kids and speaking in Spanish? How are you going to know what to flag then?
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If they say something I understand. But I do not speak spanish and I am not going to try to make it my business to try to understand while the game is going on. If opponents are talking to each other, if I can I will say, "speak English Gentleman, if you do not want me to think you are using the wrong words." Not much else I can do outside of that. Now if we have a Spanish speaking official, he might help our crew understand those words and their context better. But that is not the case, so unless I have personal knowledge of words, I am not going to just flag something because "I think" it might sound bad. But even when I do not know what is being said (English or Spanish) I will let the players know I am there so whatever is said will stop ASAP. Because in Football, there is a lot of trash talking that you do not always hear. So I look for body language, volume and context.
One last thing. Being an Black person I do not advocate the usage of the "N" word at all. I do not use it in my daily life and have not for a very long time. But when I was the age of many of these kids, I just might have used this word around other Black people or folks my age. But I am the son of a Ph.D that was the first African-American Women to head a Department at my Alma Mater and that Department was The African-American Studies Program, I grew up around racial issues and dealing with during my education. My Mom has a Ph.D in Sociology, so we still talk about these issues and I have read many things about race from many authors that the average person, let alone
Black person has read on this issue. And my college minor was African-American Studies. Now what does this have to do with this issue, it affects the way I look at in and how I would handle this in life and on a court or field. And if I were to hear this word on the street or by someone close to me, I would address it differently depending on who used it and where we were at. If I am in a "professional" setting (like a sporting event) I am not going to scold the individual for saying it, I will pull them aside and tell them, "this is not appropriate here." And I have learned that my word means different things to kids that look like me. And because of that fact, I will use that to my advantage when appropriate. This has always worked for me, so I interact (and they do as well) with players that are my color much differently than players who are not. Just the way it is.
Peace