Football and race: a child's question.

[Jeff1220]

My 7 year old daughter was sitting here with me as I perused espn.com's list of the top 50 free agents. She wanted to see a guy that had Bills next to his name so I found Sam Adams and explained to her the difference between a FA and a released player. As I scrolled through the names and pictures, she says something like, "Dad, why are there so many black guys in football?" I couldn't really think of any answer for it so I just told her "I don't know. It's just that way because it is." or something like that. There is certainly a much higher percentage of black players in the NFL and most sports leagues than in the general population. How would you respond to this query from the innocent mind of a 7 year old?

[Tatonka]

black players are apparently better at football... :idunno:

[L.A. Playa]

ask this guy


http://www.nndb.com/people/914/000047773/jimmy-the-greek.jpg

[chernobylwraiths]

Tell her she probably just doesn't realize that there are a lot of different people in sports and in the world. It's just that she doesn't get exposed to too many different people where you live. (I assume that she doesn't see a lot of black people in her life except on TV.

[tat2dmike77]

ask this guy


http://www.nndb.com/people/914/000047773/jimmy-the-greek.jpg

:lmao: i would like to hear him explain that to

[ajsdx]

you could tell her the truth, although i'm not sure she'd understand. i don't think i would have understood genetics and fast twitch muscle fibers at that age.

[Meathead]

tell her that colored people build muscles either chasing monkeys throught the jungle with spears or away from cops with a couple of keys in their pocket

that should make for an interesting parent teacher conference

[Meathead]

all kidding aside, i would tell her the truth

it is a fact that on average they are physically superior due to their ancestors living in harsh environments as well as the breeding done by slave owners here in this country

of course you need to put it much more gentle than that but in my experience kids have a lot more capacity to understand things that we give them credit for

i'd also include that some people dont like talking about that stuff so she should be very careful when the subject comes up but i'll bet she could handle some version of that

[Stewie]

Tell her it's about the white man keeping the black man down, then do Chris Rock's bit about rich vs. wealthy. It kills everytime.

[MikeInRoch]

it is a fact that on average they are physically superior due to their ancestors living in harsh environments as well as the breeding done by slave owners here in this country


And to think - Jimmy was fired because of saying basically this.

[casdhf]

All the white people play hockey, golf and race cars.

[Meathead]

that was a different era. if you recall, that was a time when if a black person got in trouble they simply uttered the magic r word and every white person dropped the soap and walked away

my favorite story on that is when i was living in dc and a famous black columnist there named carl rowan was a huge promoter of harsh sentences for illegal guns. one night a few drunk white kids took a midnight dip in his pool and he came out with an illegal unregistered gun and shot one of them in the hand or something. when the heat started getting too intense he just uttered the magic word and incredibly everything stopped. he was obviously profoundly hypocritical yet he used the magic get out of jail free card and got off scott free

i recall because it sort of represented a watershed moment of sorts for both blacks and whites. everyone could clearly see this wasnt right and intrinsically knew that it needed to change, and so it started to. jimmy the greek is also a great example because what he was saying was true and everyone knows that now. he was clearly not a racist man and yet he was vilified for something that made people uncomfortable with acknowledging. too bad for him he never rehabilitated his image. if you remember, howard cosell also got in trouble for describing that giants rb (what was his name again?) “a little monkey” because he was so quick and nimble. fortunate for howard his work with ali made it impossible to pin the race label on him and he survived, jimmy wasnt so lucky

as a final example consider the democratic political activist (dont remember his name) who used the word “ni@@ardly” in a press conference one time back in that era. note that the word has absolutely nothing to do with race, it is mere coincidence that it contains the same letters as the offensive epithet. this gentleman was very active in promoting civil liberties, especially for minorities. any research into the roots of that word shows it is reflective of a person with a wide vocabulary, not racial prejudice. and yet the outcry was so fierce that he was forced to resign - even when we all learned the proper source and meaning of the word. crazy

racism is a terrible thing but we make it worse if we dont acknowledge the truth and find problems where there arent any. thank god it appears weve turned that important corner. i have to say, however, that im quite concerned about the black community, because racism there has grown to the point where its nearly as bad as whites were when i was growing up, at least as i see it here in buffalo

but thats a topic for another day

[DaBillzAhDaShiznit]

Well, I don't think it has been scientifically proven that there is some insurmountable difference between one race and another as far as physical prowess. African american males do, on average acheive greater average heights, and develop more lean muscle mass at a younger age. For that reason, they are more likely to be encouraged to play sports at a young age, take an interest in those things, and therefore establish a base of talent and skill which
is invaluable in their development and training.

That being said....I think it says something about what is being tought to a seven year old if at that age they already are showing a prejudice (don't mistake that with anything like racism---if you don't know what prejudice means, look it up) toward other ethnic groups than their own.

We should all be showing our kids (not just telling them) that a person's skin tone has absolutely no bearing on who they are, or what they will become.

[MikeInRoch]

That being said....I think it says something about what is being tought to a seven year old if at that age they already are showing a prejudice (don't mistake that with anything like racism---if you don't know what prejudice means, look it up) toward other ethnic groups than their own.

Huh? I didn't see anything prejudice in what the seven year old said. They made an observation based on factual evidence, and simply wondered why that was the case. Having a prejudice involves making some judgement, which doesn't seem to be the case here.

[MikeInRoch]

that was a different era. if you recall, that was a time when if a black person got in trouble they simply uttered the magic r word and every white person dropped the soap and walked away

As far as I'm concerned, this is still the case. Actually, let me clarify that. Not everyone who gets in trouble does that, but if they do, then the reaction is still the same.

[Pride]

I think you need to account for the fact that for a lot of black children/teens, sports is their only way out of the ghetto. You don't hear about many middle to upper class black athletes making it to the pros. Usually they come from lower income families/neighborhoods.

[DaBillzAhDaShiznit]

Huh? I didn't see anything prejudice in what the seven year old said. They made an observation based on factual evidence, and simply wondered why that was the case. Having a prejudice involves making some judgement, which doesn't seem to be the case here.

I guess you are right.
There probably wasn't a judgement made there.

My bad.

[Jeff1220]

Huh? I didn't see anything prejudice in what the seven year old said. They made an observation based on factual evidence, and simply wondered why that was the case. Having a prejudice involves making some judgement, which doesn't seem to be the case here.


There was nothing prejudice at all about Julia's question and that was my point in starting this thread. I didn't want to give her an answer that would seem that way either. I know that there are different factors that lead to a particular race being prominently involved in just about anything. But how can you explain something that complex to a seven year old without fearing that they might misunderstand or even twist the answer. She simply made an observation and wondered why it is that way.
I also noticed some of you assume that we have no contact with people of other races and, while I do live in suburbia that is predominantly white, there is plenty of diversity here (we live in the Baltimore area). My wife is hispanic as it is. My daughter has many girls in her class of various races/ethnicities that she hangs out with. We have friends that are close to us as adults (as well as teenagers from my wife's church youth group) that are black, hispanic, and Asian, among other ethnicities(I don't exactly ask everyone what they are). My kids are certainly exposed to diversity and understand that our heritage makes us unique. But she will notice if a team or other group of people looks mostly like a certain ethnicity just as quick as she'd notice that a group is mostly men or women or blonde or brunette. Her question was certainly not out of ignorance, it was out of innocence.

[Bill Brasky]

she thinks the nfl is overloaded with blacks?

don't ever show her an NBA roster.

[LtBillsFan66]

Tell her that slave owners bread blacks to be athletic.