Open MIC: Come To Think of It: Racism in Sports Is Alive and Well

There are other problems in our world that involve sports, including Donte Stallworth getting only 30 days for killing someone.

Yet to think that real racism doesn’t exist is to live in a fantasy world.  

You don’t often see famous athletes tackling this subject.

Perhaps that’s because the only color mattering to many of them is the color of money.

                                   ************

So why does a white kid from Chicago feel so passionately about this subject?

Well, I grew up in a Southside neighborhood called Marquette Park, a very segregated area. As blacks and Arabs began to move into that neighborhood, real estate agencies started telling all the homeowners to get out while they can. Panic selling ensued.

The term "there goes the neighborhood" applies here because the neighborhood literally did go. Many called it the "white flight", as homeowners (we rented), afraid of living with people of color and the effect that would have on the worth of their homes, began to move to surrounding suburbs.

But that's not all. As a young boy, my friend Tom and I sat in hushed silence in nearby bushes as race riots broke out around the park during the marches by Dr. King and others.

It was gruesome; there were cars being overturned and burned. There were blacks being pulled from their cars by thugs in "White Power" tee-shirts and beaten.

In short, it had an appalling affect on me personally. That is simply something you cannot forget.

And I think back to walking by the headquarters of Frank Collin, who served as the leader of the National Socialist Party of America.

When I think of his office less than a mile form my apartment, with riflemen stationed in the cieling, I cringe. I cringe at the memory of this hateful man.

You know what's ironic? It eventually came to light that he was of Jewish ancestry.

You know what else? Collin was later arrested by Michigan police for engaging in sex acts with a pair of 10-year-old boys.

Nice fellow, huh?

You know, it was Ralph W. Sockman who once said, “The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority.”

We could all learn much from this statement, come to think of it.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?