sensitive issue

[JRutledge]

I think that the business situation is a bit difference. In business you might not be dealing with one group of people. In Basketball or Football for that matter, you might be dealing with schools that have teams that are monolithic. Because officiating is part sales job, you should have individuals that affect the participants. I am not saying that in parts of business and Corprate America do not have elements of this (I should know, I worked for Walgreens about a year ago and our entire staff was Black. Both stores I worked in were on the Southside Chicago and almost all of our customers were Black), but at least in sports you are judged for the most part on wins and loses. You know after every contest who won and who lost. And because of that the best participants happen to be Black, especially in basketball. You are judged more on talent which sometimes has to do with size and ability. Not that one race over the other has a genetic advantage over the other, but Black kids see more role models that look like them and excel. It would be the same in Golf, but Golf is very expensive to play and you have to have money to play on a regular basis. Even in baseball, this is not a major issue because there are not as many players that are Black. I do not here the same cry for Black officials in that sport and do not see being Black as an advantage. At least if I do a game with a all-black team and an all-white team, the Black team can hardly say that it was a racial thing. As I said before the tournament game I did on Wednesday had that very thing. Now, I will say this, it was implied that we were calling a "different" game than they were used to, but the coaches cries does not wash as well. We even T'd up the Black coach for is behavior. But it is not the reality, it is the appearence. But understand we are also judged on our weight, our uniform and sometimes our family situation. The color of our skin is only one of many things. At least the further you move up.