Judge athletes by abilities, not race
By Andrew Walston
Like most students, I would imagine, I read the Daily Bruin
Viewpoint section with the intention of being entertained and
possibly informed. Also like most students, I believe, I sometimes
find viewpoints expressed that are different from mine, which is
fine. After all, that’s what makes life interesting.
However, the tone and content of some of the statements in J.
Jioni Palmer’s April 4 viewpoint "’March Madness’ raises
student-athlete issues" compelled me to respond.
While Palmer raises some valid points, I find many of the
viewpoint’s assertions about "white America" and the campus
community to be illogical, stereotypical and prejudicial. And if
both sides of the affirmative action debate are going to continue
in this manner, can’t we leave the basketball team out of this?
For example, Palmer states that it is inherently racist to
support an "all-African" basketball team while opposing affirmative
action. First of all, when I cheered for the Bruins Monday night, I
thought I was supporting an American basketball team. From the
article, however, one might wonder if Palmer thinks some of the
team member’s ethnicity transcends their nationality and university
affiliation, as far as NCAA tournament basketball is concerned. I
do not.
Secondly, I do not support the members of the Bruin basketball
team merely because they are of African descent (because not all of
them are). Nor do I support the team merely because they are gifted
athletes (though all of them are). I support the team because they
are our team. Like most members of the UCLA community, I feel the
only relevant colors are the blue and gold on their uniforms.
Palmer goes on to decry the "dire consequences" of the
"stereotype created by white America," as if all people of any
color share one opinion. And then, in the very next sentence,
Palmer implies that white people feel "terror upon recognizing the
intellectual, academic and political potential of these obviously
physically talented people."
Hardly! Most people, I would imagine, feel nothing but
admiration for the physical and intellectual abilities of our team
members and respect them for the hard work and dedication that
carried them to the championship. To view their victory solely
through the distorting lens of racial polarization is to miss one
of the most important aspects of sports, academia and the real
world outside: Competition is part of all of these institutions and
a meritocracy is often (but not always) the result. Rather than
assigning racial motives to everything, isn’t it better to assume
that successful people of all colors deserve to be where they are?
(Our team does!) Yes, stereotypes can indeed have dire
consequences.
Also, Palmer implies that people who oppose race-based
affirmative action do so because they are racist. (Isn’t that
another stereotype?) For some people, that’s probably true. And yet
I know many people of many colors who share my discomfort with both
race-based affirmative action and racial discrimination, and I, for
one, am troubled by both for the same reason: I believe it is
unwise to support policies that grant or withhold hardship or
privilege on the basis of race. I wish a better solution could be
found. It is as simple as that.
The problems facing our society are complex. A myriad of social,
racial and economic forces perpetuate the inequities which are the
scars of so many centuries of racism in America.
Even if the existing racism in this nation could be magically
removed, it would still take complex social and economic policies
working over a period of years to help erase this legacy. To cast
all things into the oversimplifying mold of racial divisiveness is
to abandon the intellectual flexibility necessary to solve these
problems and to rob life’s victories of much of their well-earned
sweetness.
Walston is a graduate student of electrical engineering.