opinion

Opinion: I'm not so sure we are better than this racist crap

I wish I agreed with Doc. I wish I thought we were “better than this.”

Doc penned a piece about the racist jeering heard at an Elder game. His take? We are “better than this.” I am not so sure.

Let me be very clear up front – I know so many good people at Elder, from Elder, and associated with Elder. I worked side by side with many of them for years in Over-the-Rhine on affordable housing projects.

More: What if just one Elder adult had spoken up as students spewed racism?

I could (and will) say the very same about every single school in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. I also want to be clear that I understand that racist jeering can be heard from every school, in every district, in every area of the country.

Which leads me to my point: We are not better than this.

As long as we continue to gloss over our country’s culture (and acceptance) of racism then things will never change.

As a dean of students, I suspended kids for using racial slurs. Almost every single time those same kids’ parents would get mad at me and defend their child. Apple, meet tree.

Enforcing disciplinary action for racism is not as easy as one would like to think. And that is because of adults, not kids.

My point is that kids emulate what they see from adults. My point is that systemic injustice and bigotry empowers and enables racist jeering at high school athletic events. Our kids see bigotry, close-mindedness, and flat out racism far too often. What’s more (and worse) is that they see racism go unchecked and unpunished.

That said, here’s some good news from your local public school district – we have been working on a student code of conduct for all events, athletic and otherwise (teaser – racist jeering will not be tolerated). I am certain that Archdiocesan schools likely have a similar policy.

I do not claim to have the answers for what Elder should do, but when I was a dean of students, I would have (at the least) suspended those kids for their behavior.

Young people need to see that adults will not stand for bigotry. Sadly, they see us tacitly accept it, shrug it off, and chalk it up to “the way things are” far too often.

I truly do want to agree with Doc so badly, but I am not sure that I can.

Ask yourself – are we better than the racist jeering heard at high school athletic events? Or do we laugh it off and brush it under the rug, saying that’s “just what kids do?” When we see another African-American male murdered on television, do we get angry and moved to action, or do we prefer to think that he should just not have “done that thing” or been “in that place?”

Are we enraged by racial injustice? Because kids need to see adults enraged by racism.

Then, and only then, will racist jeering at athletic events stop. This situation at Elder is a symptom of a much larger disease that will never be fixed by claiming we are “better than this.” Much in the same way that if I have the flu I cannot get well by saying “I am well.”

Most of the people in Cincinnati want to be better than this. But where are we when things like this happen? What is our first response? Likely to defend the institutions we love, to claim “we are better than this,” and to keep it moving.

We are not better than this. And while that is not ok, it is ok to admit. For when we do that, we can begin the difficult process of societal change.

Mike Moroski is the executive director of UpSpring and a member of the Cincinnati Public School Board.