I have a question.
If a black player says he doesn’t want to play in Green Bay because there are too many white people there, doesn’t that make HIM a racist???
Think about it.
If I said I didn’t want to work in a certain city because there were too many black people there and not enough white people, what would you call me???
Yup, you’d say I was a racist, wouldn’t you.
Originally Posted by: Cheesey
The problem with this mentality is that it ignores the last 200 years of history. Black people feeling less than welcome in predominately white communities is not without reason or cause. Slavery was soon followed with segregation and Jim crow, and that wasn't all that long ago. The wounds from slavery are still fresh, and will not go away with wishful thinking. Racism doesn't go away if we pretend everyone is equal and ignore reality. It doesn't go away when we stop thinking about it or stop talking about it. If anything, it only gets worse when we do that.
While things have gotten better since the civil rights moment, black people are not treated with the same respect as white people today, nor do they have the same opportunities. Certainly, there are plenty of decent people of all colors that treat black people with respect, but society as a whole, is stacked against them to this day.
Black people often come from families with low incomes, and many cities are segregated to the point that the poorest schools tend to be predominately black. These schools tend to be underfunded, so the poorest, most at need students in our country do not have a solid support network and are often under educated. This makes it harder for them to get good jobs, harder for them to get a college degree, harder to get loans to start a business or buy a house and it makes it harder for them to do well economically to lift the next generation out of poverty. It's difficult to pull yourself up by your bootstraps if you can't afford boots, or food, or electricity.
The distinct disadvantage that black people (and people of color in general) face in this country is backed by decades of research. Just look at the wage gap.
In 2015 , black men averaged $15/hour vs $21/hour for white men. Black women averaged $13/hour vs $15/hour. This is a wage gap that has been essentially unchanged since 1980. Look at the
poverty gap , where 9% of white people live in poverty vs a shocking 22% of black people. We do not have race nor gender equality in this country. Economic opportunity disparity leads to a higher risk of being involved in crime or going to prison, which is evident if you look at
incarceration rates among different races (another huge issue in itself).
What this means when moving to a new city is that it's more difficult for black people to integrate into a mostly white culture. It's hard for them to feel welcome, to feel safe, to feel like they belong or are respected or have a meaningful sense of community. That's not to say black people are incapable of being racist, or exempt from being criticized for being racist, but we (as white people) need to recognize our role, which has historically been that of the oppressor.
Additionally, as white people, we enjoy various levels of privilege that we simply take for granted. We don't have to worry about getting shot if we get pulled over for a traffic violation. We don't have to worry about not getting an interview because we have a black (or ethnic) sounding name. We generally have access to good schools. On and on this goes, if you're not taking the effort to see the story from the other side it's easy to miss it, but there are real injustices happening every day.
At the end of the day, if a black football player is apprehensive about moving to a mostly white city, it probably has less to do with racial prejudice against white people (though it could, again this varies depending on the individual), and more to do with a concern that they will be treated as less than. A concern that is entirely founded if we study history, or even current events.
Additionally, there are positive reasons black football players may be more interested in living in areas with higher rates of black people. Again, some of them come from lower income areas, and understand that to give back and help lift black communities out of poverty, they need to live in those areas, pay tax so schools get better funding, put money into black credit unions (something that is necessary due to banking inequality in this country) so other black people can get loans. For an athlete or any black person who has "made it", giving back to the community is a worthwhile endeavor. It's more common to hear about the big shot athlete who managed his money poorly than the success stories, but they're out there. From millionaire athletes to regular people.