Wow censorship
I suppose banning people for racist taunts is censorship, sure.
you don't think it's a slippery slope when the word boy is considered a racial slur?
If a black women called westbrook "boy," would she have also been banned?
Or was it determined the fan was racist because he was a straight white male with a southern accent?
I’m going to assume you don’t know the history. There is a long, long history of white people, both men and women, calling grown black men “boy” to demean them and them down to size.
But even if you don’t know the history, you have to consider all of what happened here. The man was calling Westbrook “boy”, Westbrook told him to stop, the man continued.
He was deliberately provoking Westbrook. This wasn’t accidental or a fan who got surprised. He was trying to get under W’s skin.
To be honest, I’m pretty sure this fan knew what he was doing, what it expresses. But even if you took race out of it, it would be pretty provocative. If you’re a man, I assume somebody doing that to you would make your blood rise. Add race to it, and at some point the teams have to draw a line.
What if he said son instead of boy eith the same tone?
Does that get handled the same?
And if you are paying hundreds of dollars to support your team is it not ok to get engaged? To try and be a part of the win? Or should the fans act like golf fans.
And I wonder what would happen if someone in NYK called Hayward privileged? Or if they called him a cracker?
What about boogie cousins. Boogie is an south african racist slur for for black people? Should that be stopped?
Again, you are speculating that this man does not know the history of the word boy. I submit it’s pretty likely he does. I grew up in Worcester, and I knew from tv not to call a black man “boy”. You certainly don’t know he’s innocent of that fact. I hope you at least agree if he did know that it’s very much not ok.
Beyond that – it was clearly meant to be insulting and provoking. The fan got right in the player’s face and ignored a warning to stop. He was baiting him.
I don’t care if he paid thousands for that seat. If he’s injecting himself into the game like that he can be told to leave. I don’t want that when I come to the game and there’s a long line of people behind him who know how to behave like grownups who can take the seat from him.
no, I am not speculating the history of how that word had been used in some instances in the past.
But what we know for certain is that:
1) the man was trying to incite Westbrook to get him off his game
2) Yeah, calling a man a boy is always going to get under an Alpha types skin, no matter the color
3) fans wanting to be a part of the action has ALWAYS been a integral part of being a fan, it what makes a fan a fan.
we do not know for certainty that this was meant as a racial slur, as this term hasn't been used racially for a long time in relation to everyday vernacular, and instead has become an insult on ones manhood as opposed to ones race.
And I am only showing concern over the precedent that it sets, because in this day and age of sensitivity and political correctness (which to a certain sense I 100% agree with) it can very quickly get out of hand.
And I would argue that tone has as much to do with how something is interpreted than anything. If I called Westbrook "darlin" or "Princess" or "Little Lady" would I be banned as well?
If I offered him a banana Popsicle;e would I be banned?
What if I ate Fried Chicken courtside pregame and offered him some out of complete sincerity, would that be racist?
again I want it know that I am not trying to come off as a racist, merely trying to make a point that I think if the league teams are starting down this road that they are going to have to come up with a more strict set of rules/guidelines that govern both player and fan acions during the game....and perhaps stop serving booze, or put bustops around the player benches with music piped into them so that the interactions between player and fan are limited, because as long as you have 19000 people cheering for the home team the opposing team will always be villainized....its a mob mentality.