I don't anybody on this board had said they don't want a black coach. This dialogue we are having is about the media and some on this board recognizing the fact that we will have African-American coaches in the Super Bowl for the first time ever. For some it is an event worth recognizing as an accomplishment not just by Dungy and Lovie Smith, but as a society as a whole for a number of reasons. For more detail on this discussion please read some of the posts through out this thread. For others, it is simply two more coaches going to the Super Bowl. And what they are arguing is that we shouldn't make a big deal out of it because they say they believe it doesn't matter what a person's skin color is, only his character and quality as a coach.
While the latter's argument is a pretty straight forward one, it is however, a bit shortsighted and devoid of any kind of historical context. Even if we were to pretend that 'racism' is over (which it is not), and we are now without any biases (which we are not), we still can not ignore the cumulitative, both cultural and psycological, effect of hundereds of years of abuse, exploitation, and inhuman treatment that we, as a society, have inflicted on some groups.
All you have to do is go see some statistics on homelessness, crime, poverty, education, job security/advancement, etc... broken down by race/ethnicity and/or gender. This will show you why what we are talking about is a big deal to some of us. If nothing else, it provides a sign of hope to members of those disadvantage groups that our society is slowly but surely making progress toward a place where skin color and/or gender, indeed, isn't an indicator of intellegence, work ethic, etc....
No. I'm the 17th. 10/17/69
