The ugly comment threads that developed following the Brandon Phillips-Jared Hughes posts yesterday were made ugly when a number of people decided -- based on nothing other than their own preconceptions and prejudices, it seemed -- that no, there’s no way Jared Hughes could have said something racist to Brandon Phillips. That it must be Phillips who is the racist, and he must by lying! Oh, and white folks are the real victims of racism these days.
You think that’s an exaggeration? Go back and read the comments if you have the stomach for it. I assure you, it’s not an exaggeration. People actually said that stuff.
However, Brandon Phillips went on NBC SportsTalk last night, and was interviewed by Erik Kuselias. The video is below. There are two takeaways from it:
(1) The issue is in the past, as he and Hughes talked it out, they came away with it with newfound respect for each other, and it’s over; BUT
(2) When asked point blank if something racist was said, he said yes, something racist was said (go to 1:50):
Obviously this is over now. Phillips was surprised and understandably agitated about it on Monday night, as he noted it was the first time he had ever heard such a thing on the diamond. Despite this, Phillips is putting it in the past, made it clear that he’s not going to make a federal case out of it and wants to move on. Good for him for being so levelheaded. We should move on too.
But all of you guys who jumped to immediately scoff at the notion that something racist was said -- the people who, it always seems, want to offer any remotely possible explanation for an event, however ridiculous, before acknowledging that racism still exists in this country -- should take note.
It does exist, it does happen, and your desire to pretend otherwise -- or, to go even further and actually claim that white people are the real victims of racism -- is pretty frickin’ astounding.