drfitzgerald
Newbie
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2005
- Messages
- 1
As a white professor of English specializing in African-American
literature, and a proud member of what's been labeled on this board as
the "Cultural Marxist" brigade, I'm probably not the first guy most of you
would invite to your Super Bowl parties. I disagree with much of what's
said here. I welcome America getting a little less white, a little less male,
a little less heterosexual, a little less churchy, and a little more tolerant.
However, I would like to destroy the myth of the superior black body, a
holdover from slavery, just as much as many of you. Our reasons may be
different, but we're on the same side for this particular battle.
Race is a social construction, but racism is very real. I'm pleased that
black NFL quarterbacks like McNabb have been given the chance to dispel
the persistent myth that African-Americans don't have the intelligence to
play the position. For many decades at my university, as elsewhere,
teenage black quarterbacks were steered towards "speed" positions like
running back, wide receiver, and defensive back.
Over the last few years, though, I'd been wondering if one form of
institutional racism had led to another -- a question I guess led me to
find this board today. As you might expect. language is pretty important
to me, and things I'd been hearing during football broadcasts started
sticking. White lineman and linebackers had "motors" instead of speed
and skill -- overachievers all. When Drew Bennett ran up and down the
field torching corners on MNF Al Michaels called it, anachronistically, "the
return of Don Hutson." Whites were deemed "possession receivers" (as
opposed to dropping the ball?). Rush was right that the media wanted to
see a dominant black QB. I wanted to see it too. What seemed to me
unexplored in every article on the subject of the rise of the African-
American quarterback, however, was the fact that on the college and pro
levels the positions of wide receiver, cornerback, and halfback had
become almost exclusively black, creating a system no fairer than the one
which created it. You are right that high school halfbacks and wide outs
and cornerbacks who are white must bulk up and play fullback and tight
end and linebacker if they want a shot at playing at Division I colleges or
in the pros. I saw it happen to one of my favorite students who wound up
on my favorite pro team, a fast tailback who was told to gain thirty
pounds -- only to be released. Behind this phenomenon is the dangerous
assumption that blacks are better natural athletes than whites, a form of
racial primitivism that does a disservice to both groups.
literature, and a proud member of what's been labeled on this board as
the "Cultural Marxist" brigade, I'm probably not the first guy most of you
would invite to your Super Bowl parties. I disagree with much of what's
said here. I welcome America getting a little less white, a little less male,
a little less heterosexual, a little less churchy, and a little more tolerant.
However, I would like to destroy the myth of the superior black body, a
holdover from slavery, just as much as many of you. Our reasons may be
different, but we're on the same side for this particular battle.
Race is a social construction, but racism is very real. I'm pleased that
black NFL quarterbacks like McNabb have been given the chance to dispel
the persistent myth that African-Americans don't have the intelligence to
play the position. For many decades at my university, as elsewhere,
teenage black quarterbacks were steered towards "speed" positions like
running back, wide receiver, and defensive back.
Over the last few years, though, I'd been wondering if one form of
institutional racism had led to another -- a question I guess led me to
find this board today. As you might expect. language is pretty important
to me, and things I'd been hearing during football broadcasts started
sticking. White lineman and linebackers had "motors" instead of speed
and skill -- overachievers all. When Drew Bennett ran up and down the
field torching corners on MNF Al Michaels called it, anachronistically, "the
return of Don Hutson." Whites were deemed "possession receivers" (as
opposed to dropping the ball?). Rush was right that the media wanted to
see a dominant black QB. I wanted to see it too. What seemed to me
unexplored in every article on the subject of the rise of the African-
American quarterback, however, was the fact that on the college and pro
levels the positions of wide receiver, cornerback, and halfback had
become almost exclusively black, creating a system no fairer than the one
which created it. You are right that high school halfbacks and wide outs
and cornerbacks who are white must bulk up and play fullback and tight
end and linebacker if they want a shot at playing at Division I colleges or
in the pros. I saw it happen to one of my favorite students who wound up
on my favorite pro team, a fast tailback who was told to gain thirty
pounds -- only to be released. Behind this phenomenon is the dangerous
assumption that blacks are better natural athletes than whites, a form of
racial primitivism that does a disservice to both groups.
