By: Daniel Nardini
This is as divisive as the American flag flap a year ago, but this time the shoe is on the other foot. The whole thing began innocently as a “friendly” game between two Texas high schools—Alamo Heights High School and Edison High School. The Alamo Heights team is mostly non-Hispanic white and the Edison team is mostly Latino. This in of itself should have meant nothing, and at first it did not. The Alamo Heights team won the basketball game. Then the crowd from the Alamo Heights school as well as the team began to shout “USA, USA!” The coach of the Alamo Heights team yelled at them to shut up, and later the principal of Alamo Heights sincerely apologized for this. I am glad that the Alamo Heights principal, the coach and the school staff handled the whole affair very, very appropriately. This way, there will be no violent confrontations, and with any luck both schools will get over this whole ugly incident.
Many commentators, and especially right wing ones, have said that the Alamo Heights crowd should have been able to express “pride” in their country and that no apologies should have been made. In this case I will add my opinion. There is no question that the whole thing was indeed a serious show of racism. Think about this. It would have been appropriate for the winning team to yell, “Go Alamo Heights!” This is common, and there can be no offense in that. But they yelled “USA, USA!” The meaning on this was clear. The chant (or as I see it, taunt) expressed the view that the other team is not “American.” Since the other team is primarily Latino then they are not “true American” even though most if not all of the young Latinos were born and raised in this country. This implied all too clearly that the other team is made up of “illegal aliens.” Nothing could be more insulting. It is one thing to shout, USA, USA!” when playing against a national team from another country, but a totally different thing when playing against a rival team in your own country.
This incident tells me that there is more than just school rivalry playing here. Unlike 40 years ago, when many people did express their racial views quite openly, it seems that it has taken on a more “indirect” and hidden speech. It is rare, from my own experience, to find people who will openly and unabashedly express their racist views if they have any. Legal racism is largely a thing of the past, but it seems that social and political racism are still among us in one form or another.
Three Cheers for Racism!
By: Daniel Nardini
Many commentators, and especially right wing ones, have said that the Alamo Heights crowd should have been able to express “pride” in their country and that no apologies should have been made. In this case I will add my opinion. There is no question that the whole thing was indeed a serious show of racism. Think about this. It would have been appropriate for the winning team to yell, “Go Alamo Heights!” This is common, and there can be no offense in that. But they yelled “USA, USA!” The meaning on this was clear. The chant (or as I see it, taunt) expressed the view that the other team is not “American.” Since the other team is primarily Latino then they are not “true American” even though most if not all of the young Latinos were born and raised in this country. This implied all too clearly that the other team is made up of “illegal aliens.” Nothing could be more insulting. It is one thing to shout, USA, USA!” when playing against a national team from another country, but a totally different thing when playing against a rival team in your own country.
This incident tells me that there is more than just school rivalry playing here. Unlike 40 years ago, when many people did express their racial views quite openly, it seems that it has taken on a more “indirect” and hidden speech. It is rare, from my own experience, to find people who will openly and unabashedly express their racist views if they have any. Legal racism is largely a thing of the past, but it seems that social and political racism are still among us in one form or another.