Football Play Sparks Racial Riot On Internet

Today, Carolina's Dante Wesley was ejected from a football game for taking a cheap shot at Tampa's Clifton Smith during a punt return. Smith, having signaled for a fair catch, was bulldozed by an airborne Wesley and later determined to have suffered a concussion. The officials ejected Wesley after breaking up the fight that ensued on field between the two teams. But that's not the most interesting part of this story, the racial riot on Yahoo has been far more entertaining. Which leads me to say, once again, GIMME A FREAKING BREAK ALREADY!!!!!!!

What the hell turned a cheap shot on the gridiron into a cyberspace race war? First of all, both players involved in the debacle were black. What gives? For some reason, I could not pull up the initial comments made on the subject, so I do NOT know who threw the first racist punch. Both sides were throwing recriminations to the wind and things were only getting worse when I joined the fray. It's a damn football game, folks, calm down.

Ironically, pouring through the 1200 plus comments, I found both the worst, and the best, of the human spirit represented. One black lady quoted an eloquent remark she'd heard on a TV show: "We ain't what we should be, we ain't what we're going to be, but at least we ain't what we was." I found that remark both poignant and inspirational, not only for black people, but all of humanity.

There were equally discouraging remarks made by people from all walks of life and educational levels, as well. As such, another man pointed out a double-standard that has been forced upon whites. While I normally don't encourage the use of the 'N' word, I have said it myself out of anger and ignorance in the past. I find it perversely despicable that blacks use it as an affectation of solidarity and fellowship. That's why I couldn't understand why the word was suspiciously invisible on the forum while remarks of 'cracker' were everywhere. Is it just me, or did racism become an exclusively white club while I wasn't looking? I know more than my fair share of black bigots, so why are they treated as victims and whites as villains? I find myself being discriminated against daily, not for the color of my skin (I am of mixed heritage), but because I have a criminal record. Clearly, paranoia agents are everywhere, not just in the pigmentation of our flesh.

Wouldn't it be nice to wake up in a world where we had all set aside our petty differences? Sadly, that will never be the case. Mankind has not evolved enough to take the next step. We have proven, again and again, we are, at heart, wild savages capable of the most horrific acts of cruelty over trivial matters like race, sex, religion, politics, and especially, sports.