By Scotty Reid – No sooner do I finish writing about the Black soccer player Mario Balotelli’s inappropriate response to racist taunts from racist fans in Italy does another report about another Black athlete responding to racist taunts surface. Oklahoma State Point Guard Marcus Smart shoved a white male spectator at a recent away game against Texas Tech. The reason for the shouting and shove that would follow? Jeff Orr, a white male Texas Tech fan called student/athlete Marcus Smart a “nigger” after the basketball player landed in the crowd of spectators during play.
Now I am sure some will say that Marcus Smart should not have responded the way he did in the heat of moment but I would say that his response was entirely appropriate and if I were his father, I would commend him for his actions. What is it with some African-Americans who believe that Black people should suffer in quiet dignity in response to such racist hatred when Black men and boys are being hunted down and murdered by racist suspects in America?
This was not a 1960s era planned march or protest where non-violence was explicitly used as a tactic by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his followers to expose the brutality of racist men and women during that time. No, this was an instant reaction by a proud Black male who could not stand to be verbally humiliated and assaulted by a racist white male in Texas in front of thousands.
When Kanye West hunted down and attacked a racist white male who called his girlfriend Kim Kardashian a “nigger-lover”, that was an overreaction because Kanye West who was not present at the time, had time to think about the situation before arriving on the scene. That overreaction reportedly cost West tens of thousands of dollars. Marcus Smart had a moment of temporary insanity and merely shouted and shoved the admitted racist Robert Orr after being similarly terrorized in public.
For his actions, Marcus Smart was given a technical foul but was not thrown out the game and as far as we know at this time, neither was Robert Orr who admitted to calling Smart a “nigger”. Therefore, I have to conclude that any further punishment of Smart would be to further victimize him and would represent an attempt to make another docile African-American out of a young Black man.
Update: “Oklahoma State G Marcus Smart to be suspended for 3 games following altercation with fan Saturday night.” – Sports Center via Jeff Goodman
It is also being reported that Orr called Smart a piece of “sh#*” and not a nigger.
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There is a time to keep still and then there is a time to fight. There are several ways to fight. I am not surprise by that young man and his family reactions. He is possibly going to school on a scholarship and he would like to finish college. I bear him no ill will. But they are wrong, for not protecting their players seeing they make millions off their hard labor. They should have escorted that man out of the stadium and ban him off the campus. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Thank you for the update.
That’s the point. You are correct. Docile black men is the aim. We have been told as much, but people are not playing attention.
While I agree that Smart shouldn’t be punished for shoving the Racist Monster we both know that won’t be the case. The problem is as Blacks too many of us have bought into the myth and as such will point the finger at Smart as opposed to the Racism and White Supremacy designed specifically to keep Blacks from the equality that we should be demanding.
TKCAL