Racism on a high-school basketball team with a twist

By Ben Chew

When most people think of when someone plays the “race card,” it usually is deals with someone being defined by the color of their skin. This might be the first time that someone has used the “Reverse Race Card.”

In Danville, Illinois, some parents and students are currently accusing head basketball coach of Danville High School boys basketball team of “racial profiling.” The Danville head coach Gary Tidwell, who is white, is denying that he used racial profiling against of the kids who were cut from the basketball team.

Most of time, I would bypass stories like this because of the racial implications or the constant use of the “race card.” However, this story might possibly take the cake of stupid arguments against the use of racial profiling. Why do I say this? Well, the kids who were cut from the team were black, but there is only one issue with their argument: the team is all-black.

Huh? Yes, you heard right. The rest of Danville High School boys basketball team is black. There are no white members on the team or any other race. So then, why do these players felt they were discriminated against? Some players said they were left off preseason rosters due to braids or other characteristics that were described as “too black.”

Whoever said that our public school system breeds brilliant student-athletes was wrong in this case. Albeit, the race card is a defining part of our society and still exists, which can be seen during this year’s presidential election. This is just pure stupidity of parents and well kids who probably couldn’t play ball.

However, in our society, we can sue for getting hit in the balls in a batting cage and win a hefty sum. This wouldn’t surprise me if this goes to any level of law-making but it really shouldn’t, why? There is no racism, it’s just people not happy with the decision made to get their kid onto a basketball team. It’s sad that these individuals are wanting a coach to be fired because he was thought to be racially profiling on an all-black team.

Maybe I should ask to be removed from my job as morning show host on AM Mayhem on SportsTalkNetwork.com because the rest of my co-hosts aren’t Asians. However, stories like this will always get published because of stupidity of the individuals and, well, because people love to talk about race.

Maybe one day, racial profiling will go away but if stupid people exist somewhere in the world, it won’t.