Smart suspended three games, still not enough for racist suspects in sports media

By Scotty Reid

Racist suspects in sports media are calling for Oklahoma St. basketball player Marcus Smarts suspension for the rest of the season and portraying the racist suspect he pushed, Robert Orr as an innocent bystander. Marcus Smart has been suspended for three games for the sideline confrontation with Robert Orr, a Texas Tech fan and reported booster. This overreaction by the media, which is dominated by white males, is to be expected in a racist society and there are many indicators in sports and outside of sports that attest to this fact. With that said, Smart has to be made known that as a black male, when you go up against white male privilege in the United States, the outcome is most likely not going to be on your side and even African-Americans will come out against you no matter what abuse you suffer to further their careers on the corporate media plantation.

Marcus Smart alleged that he was called a racial slur by Texas Tech fan 67-yr-old Robert Orr who has a history of being abusive and vulgar on the sideline warranting warnings to visiting coaches about his behavior. Texas Tech, the university for which Orr is a fan and alleged booster, did an “investigation” and determined that Orr did not use a racial slur in his abusive language towards Smart in effect calling Smart a liar. It is possible that Smart attributed the racial slur to the wrong person but to suggest that the young man did not hear a racial slur directed at him is disingenuous.

I believe that Marcus Smart heard what he heard but perhaps mistakenly attributed the racial slur to the wrong person, Robert Orr who has admitted to calling Smart a “piece of crap” or “a piece of s-h-i-t” depending on which report you believe. If Marcus Smart heard what he heard despite attributing it to the wrong person, as a black male in the United States who has been called racial slurs repeatedly and knowing how those words can produce temporary insanity, I am willing to believe Marcus Smart was called a racial slur by a Texas Tech fan if not by Orr. Certain words directed at black people by white people can cause the most composed of us to lose it in the heat of the moment.

Marcus Smart is a 19-year-old kid whose brain is still developing and maturing but is expected to act like an emotionally mature adult. Because of the high profile stage Smart is on and what he has to lose, I would have preferred a different reaction from him after giving this more thought. Let us chalk it up to a learning experience for a still developing young man. However, what legitimate excuse is there for a 67-year-old man who sits on the sidelines of games calling kids and opposing coaches out of their names not to mention the two old birds seen sitting with Orr who were also taunting this kid. Orr obviously thought his comments crossed the line or he would not have reportedly banned himself from the rest of Texas Tech’s games.

Smart did not act very smart in the heat of the moment but if he heard what he said he heard, a racial slur, his reaction is understandable however wrong society wants to judge him in taking the side of an old ass suspected racist fool.