When’s the last time you changed your mind after reconsidering a controversial issue, re-examining unintended consequences and recalibrating the pros and cons? It happened to me this week regarding transgender athletes, and being on the other side of the debate feels weird.
But thanks to a conversation with my editor and the action of some sore-loser parents in Utah, I now see the blind spot of my previous stance. I understand the danger of banning transgender girls from competing in girls’ sports. The critics were right: Such measures will be weaponized and do more harm than good, especially against Black and brown girls.
In case you missed it, parents of girls in a state-level competition lodged a complaint with the Utah High School Activities Association. They questioned the winner’s gender after she “outclassed” the field. The UHSAA investigated her enrollment records and learned she’s been a girl in every grade since kindergarten. Neither the girl nor her family knew about the inquiry, sparing them unnecessary angst. But it shouldn’t be that easy to start some mess.
A UHSAA representative said the association has received other complaints, including the simplistic “that female athlete doesn’t look feminine enough.” We took “every one of those complaints seriously,” David Spatafore told state legislators. “We followed up on all of those complaints with the school and the school system.”
And that’s the problem right there, launching investigations whenever girls fall outside the preconceived notion of what they should look like. Black girls and women historically are treated cruelly under those standards.
Look at his face. That young Black
Little League player, suffering aggressions large and micro from white peers, was
all of us Sunday night. As his hair was littered
with cotton puffs (technically fake cotton, but whatever), his facial
expression varied, morphing between the pain of abuse and the numbness of acceptance.
That’s the emotional daily double
we must endure – attempting to fit in and play nice – while America continues
to mess us over and act like it’s not.
“That’s just Little Leaguers being
Little Leaguers right there,” ESPN announcer
Karl Ravech said as the incident unfolded in the stands during Sunday’s Orioles-Red
Sox game. A fellow announcer was equally clueless. “Right on, right?” he said.
“When in Rome.”
Christians were fed to lions in
Rome, so who’s who in this scenario? But don’t worry. Those little white boys didn’t
mean anything by sticking cotton in that black boy’s hair!
“We have spoken with the player’s
mother and the coaches, who have assured us that there was no ill-intent behind
the action shown during the broadcast,” Little League International said
Monday in a statement. LLI, hosting the Little League Series where the scene
occurred, said multiple members of the Midwest Region team (mostly from around
Davenport, Iowa) took part in the activity “while enjoying the game. As only
one player appeared on the broadcast, (we) understand that the actions shown
could be perceived as racially insensitive.”
Perceived as? My ass.
Everyone involved – including parents and coaches who should know better – is guilty of massive insensitivity and gross offense. Whether it’s done out of ignorance or hate, playing with cotton and Black hair is like lighting dynamite along racial fault lines; major fissures grow deeper and spread.
Rajah Caruth’s devotion to world-class athletic pursuits started with multiple sports. He shot hoops, played soccer, and ran track growing up. He explored a common childhood interest in transportation with his father, visiting airports and rail yards to watch planes and trains come and go.
Caruth’s normal veered sharply and accelerated into a narrower lane of sports and interests several years ago. And he’s speeding through it.
The junior at Winston-Salem State University has quickly become a standout in auto racing, not just for his uncharacteristic success but also for his limited experience and unprecedented path from a Washington high school to racetracks around the country.
His next step toward establishing himself will be this weekend at Richmond Raceway in Virginia when he competes for the second time in NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series (kind of like Double-A baseball).
Caruth races full time with Rev Racing in the ARCA Menards Series (a feeder circuit for NASCAR’s three national series), leading that circuit virtually all season until Aug. 8, when he dropped to second in the standings. In April at Richmond – where he attended his first NASCAR race at age 12 – Caruth debuted in the Xfinity Series (considered the second-highest level of competition in NASCAR). He started 22nd and finished 24th, perfectly respectable and arguably excellent for a driver’s first spin in those cars.
His initial foray in the Truck Series in June was outright impressive, finishing 11th after starting 19th in the lineup. Following that race, Spire Motorsports signed Caruth to drive more this season. By year’s end, 20 ARCA races, four Truck races, and seven Xfinity races should be in his rearview mirror.
Lining up a bunch and smashing
each one until they’re flattened into dust, whack-a-mole style, is better.
Serena Williams is like that. So
is her older sister, Venus. Half of every tribute to either applies to both. But
we’re here to sing praises for the little sister, who on Tuesday announced
she’s retiring from tennis following the U.S. Open. Just as her father predicted
and loudly told anyone who’d listen, Serena goes
down as the greatest.
Take away the 23 Grand Slam singles
championships, a feat that leaves her one shy of Margaret Court’s all-time record.
Volumes can be written on Williams’ tennis accomplishments alone. But for a
moment, simply consider all the boxes that she didn’t fit. The narratives she
shattered could fill a shelf of self-help books.
She was the wrong color and
the wrong size. She was from the wrong neighborhood and the wrong background.
She had the wrong type of father who followed his
own wrong path.
Williams didn’t just play with a chip on her shoulder; she became a chip on the establishment. The more it tried to brush her off, the bigger she grew.
The majority of folks in any field
and in their daily lives settle comfortably, somewhere around the middle. Far
from inadequate and short of incredible, most of us are solidly common. Nothing
unusual and perfectly fine.
Others develop and mature over
time until brushing the outskirts of extraordinary and perhaps breaking through.
Maybe they spoke and performed and understood as a child for longer than
desirable, but ultimately grew and put away childish things.
Right from the jump, he took his life
and his livelihood to a whole other level, atop a peak that no one has matched.
Reasonable minds can disagree and
some conclude that Russell is the true GOAT, not any of the three players typically
above him in rankings like ESPN’s
Top 100 or The
Athletic’s Top 100. Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar all
have sound cases for their respective positions. But there’s a strong defense (fitting
considering the center’s revolutionary shot-blocking) for listing Russell second
to none.
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