Pardon Me, But Isn’t That Racist?

This AP story is fairly widely distributed, showing up at Yahoo!, ABC News as well as the Boston Herald.  In a nutshell, the story is about how with two black coaches in the Superbowl, black football fans won't know who to root for.  That is pretty much the most racist thing I've ever seen in a modern newspaper.

Granted, it isn't the traditional "back of the bus" racism, but it is racism nonetheless.  Any serious football fan has his or her favorite teams. I'm certain that many people welcome the fact that both coaches are black, and that makes it somewhat historic — I am even sure some people feel exactly how the article assumes, but it's downright racist to assume any plurality of black football fans pick their teams based on the color of the coach's skin.

Obviously we've come a long way, although there is still a fair amount of the "really bad" racism if you know where to look, so this isn't an enormous issue but since it's in a widely distributed AP article I just thought I'd point out that eliminating racism doesn't mean being super-sensitive to minority issues and trying to kiss their ass.  It means treating everyone like they were your brother, cousin, neighbor or drinking buddy. 

If you're white and you saw an article about how happy white people are because both Hockey coaches in the Stanley Cup were white, in fact you were so happy that you didn't know which team to root for — how would that make you feel?

I hope I've made my point.  Oh, and just one more thing: if you're ever having a conversation with anyone who's gay, there's no need to start an uncomfortable conversation about how much you like Ian McKellan.  None.  Stop trying to be sensitive and just be.

- one