African American Officials in the NCAA Tourney

[tomegun]

First I want to say that I know several officials who post here, to include Brad, personally and I would hope they all know race is not something that keeps me from treating anyone fairly. Now on to my point.

Do the people on this board realize that blacks have historically been kept out of certain positions because it was perceived we weren't smart enough? Management positions, coaches, quarterbacks, etc. At one time black teams weren't supposed to be smart enough to defeat a white team. I say that to ask again, do you really think none of this prejudice impacts officiating?

In addition to the perceived notion that we aren't smart enough, there is the issue of the good old boy network that is D1 assigners. I know there are several D1 assigners who are black, but there are still those who aren't and could have a long history of hatred.

This discussion shouldn't be a lecture, but it shouldn't be so easily blown off either. The race card exists and we need to ask ourselves why. I'm also wondering if those who blow this off would blow it off so easily if we were talking gender.