Race card played

[Corndog89]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

It is not a racist remark. The coach was accusing him of something. Not sure how it is racist to accuse someone of a certain behavior or action.

I also did not say he could not discuss it, but this is not the "race card." Race is never a card; it is a reality of life. When I stop hearing about burning crosses in communities and race issues go completely away, then we can call it a card. Until that time racial issues are a fact.

Peace

When someone disingenuously uses one of society's hot-button topics or values, such as race or gender or religion or sexual preference or anything else for that matter, to further his or her own agenda or twist a situation, then that is playing an advantage, as in a game of cards. "Playing the race card" is taking a real issue and falsely injecting the negative annotations of that issue onto someone. That makes it different from the "real" issue, of which racism and all the nasty history associated with it is one. Playing the race card is different from the reality of racism, and race is indeed all-too-often used as a card for advantage.

A few years ago I was calling a rec game in Panama City FL. The coaches and all the players on both teams were black, my partner was black, the scorekeeper was black, and the 20-30 or so people watching the game were black. The only other white guy in the gym besides me was the clock operator who was about 70 years old and weighed all of 130 pounds. At some point during the game I made an out-of-bounds call. One of the players on the bench didn't like the call and loudly called me a racist. I'm not sure who I was supposed to be racist against, but he was obviously trying to intimidate me. It didn't work. I wasn't (and am not) racist, but he tried to influence me and the people present just by making the accusation. That is playing the race card.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Corndog89

That is playing the race card.

People have the right to make judgments about race or anything else for that matter that they can come up with. Some of those accusations will be to your face; many will be behind your back. Coaches and players accuse officials all the time of being bias because of where they think we live or who we have some kind of relationship with. If it bothers you so much that "race" was the reason bias was claimed, then maybe officiating is not for you. That is a very common accusation where I live whether you are Black or whether you are white. It is also very common to work a very racially diverse game on a regular basis where I live as well. I have been accused of selling out because I did not appease a Black coach and his team the way he felt I should. You simply get over it and move on. I think the most people do not want to seriously deal with issue of race in this society, so called a racist becomes a tragedy to some. I know 3 Black officials that took a hell of a lot more crap for not "helping" an all-Black team/school win in a big playoff game in 2005. At least this incident happen on the court and it did not spill into phone calls and emails and multiple conversations when the game is over about your "loyalty" and "integrity" based completely on your race. Then one of the officials was essentially fired in a league for not being "loyal" to this one team only because he shared a race with the players and their coaches in this playoff game.

The point of all of this, there are worst things that could have happened. I seriously doubt this official is going to lose anything because of this accusation.

Peace

[BktBallRef]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

It is not a racist remark. The coach was accusing him of something. Not sure how it is racist to accuse someone of a certain behavior or action.

Even you aren't that damn dumb. He is accusing the man of making calls against his team because of the color of their skin. That's not racist?

I also did not say he could not discuss it, but this is not the "race card." Race is never a card; it is a reality of life. When I stop hearing about burning crosses in communities and race issues go completely away, then we can call it a card. Until that time racial issues are a fact.

This isn't about burning crosses. It's about a asst. coach who thinks just because a white official makes a call against his player, the official has to be a bigot. You're the one who's trying to twist this into something it's not. Camron and Corndog hit the nail on the head. The only things that are racist are what Rutledge says is racist.

[Corndog89]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

People have the right to make judgments about race or anything else for that matter that they can come up with. Some of those accusations will be to your face; many will be behind your back. Coaches and players accuse officials all the time of being bias because of where they think we live or who we have some kind of relationship with. If it bothers you so much that "race" was the reason bias was claimed, then maybe officiating is not for you. That is a very common accusation where I live whether you are Black or whether you are white.

The point of all of this, there are worst things that could have happened. I seriously doubt this official is going to lose anything because of this accusation.

Peace

Rut...did you actually read my post? I never said I was "bothered" by being called a racist or that I'm too sensitive or too thin-skinned to officiate...couldn't be farther from the truth. I wasn't even addressing the significance of accusations being thrown around on the court.

Instead, if you'll re-read my post you'll see that all I was addressing was your assertion that "Race is never a card; it is a reality of life". I used an experience I had on the floor to demonstrate that it can be and is used in an attempt to influence...it didn't work for the player in question because I'm not intimidated by ignorance and I refused to empower his accusation by overreacting to it and allowing it to become an issue.

All I'm saying is that people use hot-button topics or issues to push agendas and/or try to gain advantages. Race is certainly used in that manner; however, that doesn't detract from or dilute the reality of racism in our society which you have so eloquently described on many occasions in the past. But to say people don't abuse such topics for perceived advantage, influence, or even intimidation, then you're burying your head in the sand to that reality. I suspect you'll disagree with me, but disagreement is okay.

I love officiating...a few bonehead yahoos who try to manipulate me on the floor aren't going to change that.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Corndog89

Rut...did you actually read my post? I never said I was "bothered" by being called a racist or that I'm too sensitive or too thin-skinned to officiate...couldn't be farther from the truth. I wasn't even addressing the significance of accusations being thrown around on the court.

Instead, if you'll re-read my post you'll see that all I was addressing was your assertion that "Race is never a card; it is a reality of life". I used an experience I had on the floor to demonstrate that it can be and is used in an attempt to influence...it didn't work for the player in question because I'm not intimidated by ignorance and I refused to empower his accusation by overreacting to it and allowing it to become an issue.

If you noticed I responded to only one of your statements. I did not respond to everything you said. So you can stop trying to convince me of your feelings.

Originally Posted by Corndog89

All I'm saying is that people use hot-button topics or issues to push agendas and/or try to gain advantages. Race is certainly used in that manner; however, that doesn't detract from or dilute the reality of racism in our society which you have so eloquently described on many occasions in the past. But to say people don't abuse such topics for perceived advantage, influence, or even intimidation, then you're burying your head in the sand to that reality. I suspect you'll disagree with me, but disagreement is okay.

I love officiating...a few bonehead yahoos who try to manipulate me on the floor aren't going to change that.

You are actually surprised that someone might use an issue to their advantage? Is this not the American way?

Even if someone accuses someone of racism, not sure how they get an advantage by doing so? What did this coach get out of this accusation? If anything he lost credibility. If there was any racism involved, it was personal at best. Some of us are much more concerned with institutions and structures than what one guy might think. So I really do not get why someone would be so put off if someone accuses you of something like this and you know in your heart you have done nothing wrong.

Peace

[Corndog89]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

You are actually surprised that someone might use an issue to their advantage? Is this not the American way?

I didn't express surprise; on the contrary my observation is that it happens all the time on levels small, large and everywhere in between.

Originally Posted by JRutledge

Even if someone accuses someone of racism, not sure how they get an advantage by doing so? What did this coach get out of this accusation? If anything he lost credibility. If there was any racism involved, it was personal at best. Some of us are much more concerned with institutions and structures than what one guy might think. So I really do not get why someone would be so put off if someone accuses you of something like this and you know in your heart you have done nothing wrong.

Peace

Advantage is gained when the accusation causes change-of-behavior and that change-of-behavior favors the accuser. Again, happens all the time, but only when the accused allows it to happen.

I agree institutions and structures are more important than ignorant or manipulative actions. I don't think I've empowered the individual accuser in anything I've said.

I'm not offended when accused of something I'm not guilty of...but I still have to address it to keep it from becoming something it is not.

And I'm not addressing racism and only racism, but the actions of anyone who uses any hot-topic issue...race, gender, religion, politics, sexual preference, etc, etc, etc...in an attempt to gain influence or advantage of any type. Not that complicated...

Enjoying the discussion...

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by Corndog89

And I'm not addressing racism and only racism, but the actions of anyone who uses any hot-topic issue...race, gender, religion, politics, sexual preference, etc, etc, etc...in an attempt to gain influence or advantage of any type. Not that complicated...

Good point and I agree. Except for "politics" maybe. That might be a little bit of a stretch; I've never been called a "f***ing Republican" out on the court before.

As an official, I think that you kinda expect the normal attempts by coaches or players to gain an advantage by whining at or trying to work you. That type of behavior almost comes with the territory, like it or not. You can either deal with it or not also, but at least you usually try to control it somewhat through warnings, "T"s etc. When it gets into the topics that you mentioned above though, then the person doing the yapping is making their attempt to influence the official way too personal; it's turned from a means of trying to influence a call into an outright attack. It's kinda like the old rule of thumb- "let 'em attack the uniform but not the man inside the uniform". Iow, it's almost like the difference between a "misdemeanor" and a "felony; different degrees of seriousness carrying different penalties.

One type of behavior is usually just a normal part of the game, even though most of us might wish that it wasn't. The other type of behavior has no place in the game imo.