Barack Obama, black people & the words we use

Much has been written about the coincidence of Barack Obama & Lewis Hamilton achieving lifelong goals within the last week. Both are black men, both have done great things.

The day before Lewis Hamilton’s victory, something really odd struck us (and we weren’t intended to write a blog post about it - but we have.)

Watching coverage of the Rugby League World Cup currently taking place in Australia was very interesting. For most of the matches not featuring England, television highlights are piped to the UK with the Australian commentary still intact.

Now (apologies to commentators everywhere), but these guys really get into the game and it’s a bit like sitting next to a very enthusiastic friend.

In the recent New Zealand-Papua New Guinea game, one of the commentators said something (half screamed would be fair comment) which most people in the UK would find certainly odd, possibly objectionable.

(If you don’t follow rugby league, the New Zealand national team usually consists solely of players from maori and other non white origin)

“He looks up and sees plenty of blacks to chose from”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the UK, this would be jumped on as overtly racist (even though he was refering to shirt colour not skin). We think that these men were playing for their country in the world cup in probably the most violent sports in the world and the commentators saw it as such.

Bottom line - racism stinks - And we shouldn’t be worried about what we say and risk being called a racist.

Pick the best person for the job. It doesn’t matter if it is the Rugby League World Cup, Formula 1, President of the US or packing widgets at your factory.

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