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What is "racist"?

Motokid

Motokid

New Member
The Chicago Cubs (American Baseball Team) just won the World Series by beating the Houston Astro's in 4 straight games (best of 7 series). I heard on conservative talk radio yesterday that the Houston Astro's organization are coming under fire because they have not one black person on their team. Supposedly this is the first team since some time in the mid 1950's to make it to the World Series without at least one black person on the team.

Now I gotta question a few things. First....who gives a rats ass? But I guess more importantly, why is it important to make this an issue? So what? Would it have become a bigger issue if Houston had won the series? Is this racism on the part of the black community?

Any franchise, sports or otherwise, will be more successful with the best people available in their employ. Having some kind of requirement for the number of black people, or any color, is not in the best interest of anybody is it? I don't see many baseball teams with Japanese players, or Chinese players. Hockey has very few, if any Mexican's on professional teams.

To me, when people spend time looking for racial discrepancies they are creating problems not solving them.

Are the Houston Astro's a racist organization for not having one black player on their roster, or are the people complaining about it racist?
 
I think South Park satirised this well when the only black classmate was called Token.

It's a ridiculous claim. The better players are more important over the players' heritage.

The problem happens over here when football (that's soccer ;) teams in Scotland and England field eleven players that are not Scottish, or the Scots (and Anglos) have minimal representation.

Of course, the racism card is pulled out every two minutes these days, for stupid reasons mostly. Political correctness is a tiny bit mad!
 
I remember Miss South Africa (white girl) and Miss Africa South (black girl) both being representative for South Africa in the Miss World contest.
 
novella said:
So, you're saying you think this is a coincidence?
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Yep.

I don't believe for a second that there's a group of owners in Houston plotting to have a team with no black players. I believe those owners are way more concerned with winning no matter what color the players are than anything else. (I know nothing about the Astros roster or their general make-up)

But winning equals money, and money is way more important to squabble over the color of the players skin.

It seems silly to think that some owner or manager would have to keep track of skin color to make sure they are not "appearing" racist. Should every player have a code on their stat sheet listing the color of their skin and ethnic origin?

"Sorry Mr. Mantle we can't have you on our team. We already have our quota of white players....what we need now is some black folk, and at least one Mexican."

I'm not buying that.
 
Stewart said:
I remember Miss South Africa (white girl) and Miss Africa South (black girl) both being representative for South Africa in the Miss World contest.
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You mean they had two representatives at the same contest, one for each ethnic grouping? That's pretty f&#ked up.
 
Kenny Shovel said:
If you think that's a controversial subject in America, then imagine the ramifications in South Africa:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FQP/is_4726_134/ai_n13503057
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Well i'm pretty sure South Africa is going over the top in a attempt to integrate a population that for a long time was completely separated. I think the quota is more of a tool to learn people in South Africa to live together.

It's a ridiculous claim. The better players are more important over the players' heritage.
Click to expand...
Yep the racism present in football is coming from a few of the fans, not the clubs.
 
Reminds me of an old classmate of mine. Sometimes the teacher would reprimand him for not having done his homework - that, according to my dear classmate, was racism. Nevermind that everyone else had to do their homework too and behave decently, but when Shahrouz was told to sit down and shut up or whatever it was apparently terribly unfair to him.

Suffice to say I think he was an idiot.

I've got lots of respect for real issue of racism, and I find it absolutely horrid that petty folks like my classmate and those who complain about baseball teams can turn people's focus away from the real issues that are still there and instead make it look like a farce.

Sad.

Besides, a baseball team! Is it correct of me to assume that baseball teams are privately owned? 'Cause if it is the government can't really make any demands as to who they hire or not.

In DK the government can make quotas and whatnot for the public work sector, but all things private are in the hands of private people. The only thing that can protect people in the private sector are the unions, and then usually only in case of an unfair dismissal. Not being hired in the first place is not legally unfair to anyone. In the private sector the boss has the freedom to hire the person he prefers to work with - regardless of skills, resumé and other qualifications.
 
Stewart said:
The problem happens over here when football (that's soccer ;) teams in Scotland and England field eleven players that are not Scottish, or the Scots (and Anglos) have minimal representation.
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When i see the scottish national team play i can understand why some scottish club have a majority of foreign players. :)
 
Motokid said:
But winning equals money, and money is way more important to squabble over the color of the players skin.

.
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Actually, in baseball fans equal money. Attendance and selling team-related shirts and stuff equal money. Winning only affects the equation to the extent that it affects attendance. If the Astros management sees racial composition as affecting fan numbers and attendance, then it is directly relevant to the bottom line.

There's a new book out called Sundown Towns about the thousands of US towns that intentionally were all-white, all-Christian, many of which still are, intentionally and illegally. The author himself thought he might find ten or twenty such towns presently operating like that, but he found thousands. Most of those are viewed as 'coincidence' by the general public, but they are intentionally and overtly discriminatory. BTW, hardly any of them are in the Deep South. Most are in the West, Midwest, and Northeast.

Sundown Towns link

I realize this is a side issue, but I think it points to the intentionality likely in the case of the Astros.
 
Wow... I wanted to say that I thought Moto was right...

Now, after having read Novella's I am not so sure...

Though I would have liked my original impression to be the right one.
 
novella said:
Actually, in baseball fans equal money. Attendance and selling team-related shirts and stuff equal money. Winning only affects the equation to the extent that it affects attendance. If the Astros management sees racial composition as affecting fan numbers and attendance, then it is directly relevant to the bottom line.

I realize this is a side issue, but I think it points to the intentionality likely in the case of the Astros.
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Great post novella, and very interesting link....might have to check that out.

I might believe a part of this arguement if it were not for the fact that black people are fans of baseball and consumers of clothing and team related merchandise just as white people are. By purposefully cutting off a large segament of the population you are potentially cutting into the very same merchandising generator. All one has to do is look at basketball to see what spending potential the black community has. Can you say AIR Jordan?
Would you say that most business men would argue that Tiger Woods has not been good for the game of golf?

I still find it hard to believe a major league sports team would have a driven purpose to descriminate. When you are talking sports you can not deny that blacks has raised the level of skill and the overall level of the game. Baseball is no exception.

Winning brings fans. Play-offs and World Series victories keeps fans and makes lifetime fans. It also brings in higher television revenues and increases sales outside the "local" market. Having the best players on the field that money can buy is going to be far more important than having all white players on the field.

"It's nothing personal - it's just business"
 
Motokid said:
I might believe a part of this argument if it were not for the fact that black people are fans of baseball and consumers of clothing and team related merchandise just as white people are. By purposefully cutting off a large segament of the population you are potentially cutting into the very same merchandising generator.
Click to expand...

Er, what's that got to do with what has gone before? It doesn't matter if the fans are black or white (or other) just as it shouldn't matter whether the "sportsmen" are black or white (or other).
 
This is interesting because a couple of days ago I was thinking about this topic. I've read that in Africa, there is discrimination because of tribal heritage, darkness of skin and even certain physical features. I'm sure there is a similar discrimination amongst Asian people. I think that even if every human being was green, there would be discrimination based on shade of green or something else. I think people have to have something to make them feel superior, no matter how idiotic that thing is.
 
"If the Astros management sees racial composition as affecting fan numbers and attendance, then it is directly relevant to the bottom line."

Based on this statement, if Astros management were thinking that fielding an all white team would bring them more money through merchandising, the flip side of that arguement would be that you would be cutting off the black segment by not having a black player on the field. Which is a silly arguement. As you pointed out.

The bottom line is always money. Winning in sports equates to money. I don't see how a business group, that owns and operates a major league sports franchise that is capable of generating millions and millions of dollars, is going to risk having less than the best players money can buy based on skin color.
 
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