Air Force Academy Football Coach Criticized For Frank Comments on Race
The voracious guardians of political-correctness crucified another harmless bystander this week when Air Force Academy Football Coach Fisher DeBerry was reprimanded by the school's Athletic Director on Wednesday in response to remarks he made regarding minority recruitment at the school. It seems that the tension over Coach DeBerry's comments have less to do with their content and more to do with the politically correct, hair-trigger hypersensitivity towards any mention of issues of race in this country. Given this hostility, can anyone discuss matters of race in the public sphere without being thrown under the bus? [SportsCenter Video]
The AP reports:
[Coach Fisher DeBerry] said Air Force needed to recruit faster players. "We were looking at things, like you don't see many minority athletes in our program," DeBerry told The Gazette of Colorado Springs.
When questioned about the remarks during his weekly luncheon Tuesday, the coach didn't hesitate to elaborate.
"It just seems to be that way, that Afro-American kids can run very, very well. That doesn't mean that Caucasian kids and other descents can't run, but it's very obvious to me they run extremely well," DeBerry said in remarks first broadcast Tuesday night by KWGN-TV in Denver.
Dan Wolken at The Gazette in Colorado Springs, continues:
"It just seems to be that way, that Afro-American kids can run very, very well. That doesn’t mean that Caucasian kids and other descents can’t run, but it’s very obvious to me they run extremely well."
Asked if he believed it was wrong to make such comments, DeBerry said:
“Do I believe it’s wrong? I just want to recruit speed. We need to find speed as much as anything. The black athlete seems to have, statistically, program to program to program, seems to have an edge as far as the speed is concerned. That’s got nothing to do with anything except ability.”
There are many voices rising up in criticism against Coach Fisher DeBerry. Some, like Pat Forde at ESPN, are suggesting that he step down from coaching and retire. Others, like Milo Bryant at the Gazette have made the seemingly more restrained retort that "He shouldn’t have said what he said." While these comments are incendiary, I'm not really sure why they are so angry. What is it about what he said that was so hurtful, wrong or offensive? (Michael Wilbon's column in the Washington Post basically asks the same question)
Was it DeBerry stating the obvious fact that it is quick black athletes that dominate college and professional basketball, college and professional football, and many track and field disciplines? When was the last time a runner who wasn't black won the Boston Marathon? Are we all racists for noticing this? If not, why all the uproar when a well-respected, veteran coach makes the same observation and states it publicly? The guys at ESPN's Pardon The Interruption weigh in on the issue in the two video clips below.
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It is important to note that all this started in reaction to questions about recruiting at the Air Force Academy. He openly made the observation that his school has very few top black athletes and described the difficulty in recruiting them. He noted that it was difficult to draw top talent to the Air Force Academy with other non-military schools making more attractive pitches to young players. With big name schools offering the possibility of future professional careers and big money, the Air Force Academy, with its required military service, is a tough sell to many young talented athletes interested only in football.
In discussing his comments with the press, Coach DeBerry was not reading a prepared statement, just talking and thinking out loud in public. A coach who is known very well by those who cover him. He is a man with a great reputation and 22 years of coaching experience at the Air Force Academy (his record is 164-99-1). Why is it that we question his racial attitudes now? Why is our knee jerk reaction to forgo any reasonable examination of the content and context of his statements and instead proclaim them 'a mistake,' 'racist' or 'offensive'.
Where can we talk about racial issues in this culture? If we cannot discuss these things rationally, with neither pride nor prejudice, within the world of ideas found in academic university life, where can we? What will be the effects of a culture that prizes equality over freedom? A culture that is so stigmatized by the possibility of personal offense is one where the hallmarks of the liberal society, freedom and responsibility, will undoubtedly be subjected to the tyranny of the minority.
The crux of the outrage at DeBerry seems to be his equivocation of black athletes and high athletic achievement. Clearly he never said that all blacks are fast but to deny the obvious correlation between black athletes and athletic speed is ludicrous. Even the most casual of sports fan would not hesitate to deny this fact. The nuanced difference between this natural observation and promoting a racial bias is found in the distinction between correlation and equivocation. Few rational souls would deny the correlation between black athletes speed dominance over whites. However, in the politically charged climate where the media and minority groups have a vested interest in keeping their racial guilt first and foremost in the public spotlight, straight talk about real differences between the races is anathama.
Realize, no value or meaning was intended or even suggested by Coach DeBerry or the local media which first brought forth this story. He did not imply anything beyond these simple facts: Fact #1) it seems that many of the fastest athletes in collegiate sports are black, Fact #2) the Air Force Academy has had a tough time in recruiting black athletes. What is the problem here?
It seems clear that that any investigation into fact #2, that the AFA does indeed have some problem in attracting black athletes to its program, will not be investigated because of the stigma and negative attention by stating the obvious fact #1
Outside the Beltway has a fitting final thought...
Are black people actually offended by the view that a higher percentage of them are possessed of speed and leaping ability than their white counterparts? Or is this just something that liberal white journalists feel the need to express outrage over?
See also: Black Kids Can Run
Others weigh in on the issue: Trophy Husband, Latina Advocate, Tim Ellsworth, Incongruent-affect, Mobygunner, The Political Teen, Don Surber, Stop The ACLU, My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, bRight&Early, PointFive, MacStansbury,
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