Much has been made of the ESPN survey that found that black and white fans have very different opinions on Barry Bonds chase of the homerun record. Black fans are more than twice as likely to want Bonds to break Hammerin' Hank Aaron's mark (74 percent to 28 percent); and 37 percent of black fans think Bonds used steroids, compared to 76 percent of white fans.
By my math, only about 10 percent of black fans thought racism explained this discrepency. (Technically, 46 percent said Bonds was being treated unfairly, and--of this group--25 percent believed race was the reason.)
That number has been overhyped by the media, but it is high enough to raise a fairly important question. Forget for a moment what white fans and black fans think of Barry Bonds. What do we think of each other?
Do black fans realize that there are white fans who are rooting for Ken Griffey, Jr. to blow by Mark McGwire's homerun total because they regard Big Mac as a big cheater?
Do white fans ever wonder what it would be like to question every time they got passed over for a promotion if that only happened because of the color of their skin? Do they ever shudder at the pictures of police dogs attacking peaceful protesters in Selma because that was only 42 years ago?
When Bonds does inevitably pass Aaron, we'll be watching the same historic moment, but will we be seeing the same thing?
Tori Praver
Melissa Haro
Best Players 6-5 and Under
Did You See That?
Comments (0) Add A Comment
Comment
Remember to keep your posts clean. Profanity will get filtered, and offensive comments will be removed.