Black Player Covered In Cotton By White Teammates At Little League World Series

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Greenman

Lifer
Oct 15, 1999
20,936
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Sorry, but YES there still is an issue.
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Do you have kids? If so, you know they do a lot of stupid things. The entire issue here is malice. If there was none, it's a none issue, though the kids need to be instructed on why they shouldn't have done it. If they did it because of the link between cotton and slavery and wanted to demean the young fellow, then they need punishment.

You don't punish kids for being kids, you don't punish them for not understanding the the significance of the things they do, you teach them.
 

NWRMidnight

Diamond Member
Jun 18, 2001
3,038
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Do you have kids? If so, you know they do a lot of stupid things. The entire issue here is malice. If there was none, it's a none issue, though the kids need to be instructed on why they shouldn't have done it. If they did it because of the link between cotton and slavery and wanted to demean the young fellow, then they need punishment.

You don't punish kids for being kids, you don't punish them for not understanding the the significance of the things they do, you teach them.

Kids should be instructed on why they shouldn't have done it.. they should be taught? That way of thinking is one of the main reasons racism continues to strive in our society. We have innocent kids who where being kids.. kids that for the most part, see the world thru innocent eyes, that do not see color of a person's skin. To them, they are just another kid and they are oblivious to skin color. So, rather than letting them grow up to never consider a person's color of their skin in how they behave or treat others, the answer is to condition them to start looking at the color of a person's skin, so when they are adults they can start topics, write articles, like this (No offense HomerJS), making a innocent kids being kids moment, where skin color is not even a thought, into a racist action. Or teach them to start seeing the color of the skin so they can see differences that they would never see unless conditioned to do so. Racism won't stop until we stop teaching our kids that the color of a person's skin is a determining factor of how we should act or treat one another.
Such teaching, in itself is a racist action, and the seed that causes racism to grow. Racism is not natural, it is taught.

Maybe rather than claiming that we need to teach these boys something, we as adults need to learn from them and learn to use innocent eyes that do not see color of a person's skin.

edit: spelling
 
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brycejones

Lifer
Oct 18, 2005
27,648
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Has anyone stated what the point of that was? If the goal was to humiliate a kid because of his race then beat everyone of the little shits with a yard stick. If it was just a prank played on a friend there is no issue.
Da fuk?
 

ivwshane

Lifer
May 15, 2000
32,548
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This is a non story imo. Apparently other kids were also covered in cotton. Just kids being kids.
 

Moonbeam

Elite Member
Nov 24, 1999
73,286
6,351
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This is a non story imo. Apparently other kids were also covered in cotton. Just kids being kids.
Heresy! Love you. I have no idea but something in me wants to lean that way. Looking forward to a world when a pinkish-skin kid can wear a white wizard robe to a mix-colored Halloween party and everybody would just see a person wearing a wizard costume.
 
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Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
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I mean, do these kids know what they’re doing? An adult put em up to it? I mean some planning goes into that right?
Kids do dumb things on their own all the time. Could simply have started with a kid pulling some fuzz out of a cheap stuffy. Then when he noticed it stuck on the other kids hair kept going and others joined.

Maybe it was more than that, but kids are fully capable of being dumb on their own and likely are completely ignorant of the optics.

I had a black friend in early elementary school, I loved rubbing his hair. I had absolutely no idea that was racist and no one put me up to it. It just felt cool. And quite frankly, I love it when people mess with my hair (which nowadays is just my wife and daughter).

If a coach noticed, they should've told them to knock it off, but they may not have noticed since they were likely watching the field not the TV.
 
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Lanyap

Elite Member
Dec 23, 2000
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For what it’s worth. Another photo has come out that shows a white kid next to the black kid that got the same white stuffing ball hair treatment. It’s supposedly related to one of the popular Hawaii little leaguers who has a “awesome” white Mohawk.

 

HomerJS

Lifer
Feb 6, 2002
36,730
28,907
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If the kids didn't understand the implications of the act, it's OK. You simply explain to them why they shouldn't have done it and move on.

That was my question. Why was there no adult in the room to explain it to them?

Why are we allowing this ignorance of history to perpetrate the classrooms. Kids themselves were old enough to realized how wrong this was

I knew how wrong it was at their age. Why? I was taught it in school
 
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Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
15,244
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That was my question. Why was there no adult in the room to explain it to them?

Why are we allowing this ignorance of history to perpetrate the classrooms. Kids themselves were old enough to realized how wrong this was

I knew how wrong it was at their age. Why? I was taught it in school
Is there a historical racist action of covering blacks in cotton? Or is this just that you can't associate anything to do with cotton/white fuzz with a black person?

At some point you are just driving a wedge between white and black kids if there is this large set of unspoken rules that controls how they are allowed to interact with each other.
 
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Homerboy

Lifer
Mar 1, 2000
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Eh - I've coached lots of youth sports and those kids do LOTS of dumb things like this. There's never ill-will or intent.

I don't think this is intentional racist, planned or racially motivated. The closet thing I can maybe connect the dots to is that it was "funny" that the cotton easily stuck to his hair. But even that being said, it wasn't premeditated or done with bigoted intent. It was kids in a moment of excitement and trying to be "silly" (especially with cameras in their faces) goofing around and inadvertently overlapping some racist dog whistles.

His face is pretty standard for kids too - it's not humiliated or embarrassed its "ok, you got me. have your fun. My only recourse is to show no emotion"

Definitely a moment to explain to those kids why it might be construed as racist though.
 

Juiblex

Banned
Sep 26, 2016
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I had a black friend in early elementary school, I loved rubbing his hair.

I don't know if that is a racist act or not because I'm a white dude. But it probably is!!!

How dare you!
 

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HomerJS

Lifer
Feb 6, 2002
36,730
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No he doesn't, at all.

I agree this is a total non story and just people trying to make something out of nothing.

A teachable moment for the kids? Sure, maybe. But nothing more than that.
We can have interpretations of his facial expression, but he definitely does not look happy.

I said up front this likely isn't an intentional racist moment but the adults in the room are there to educate kids.

If kids start calling the black kid monkey I expect an adult to step in and put a stop to it.
 

Juiblex

Banned
Sep 26, 2016
500
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He's taken over that racist mantle from spidey07 since he was banned.
So?

50% of America are like me. But are unwilling to have the hard discussions about race. If that makes me a racist, then so be it.

Yes. White people can be discriminated against. White kids putting cotton balls on a black baseball player is not racism. It may be insensitive... But it's not racism. To say its racism is racism itself. That means white people ONLY think with a racist mind and that is racism. Not that this will 'click' in your mind. So I don't expect you to understand this. You'll just call me names instead. :)

In other news. More racism:

First on CNN: USDA to allocate an additional $550 million to help poor farmers and increase diversity in agriculture careers - CNNPolitics
 
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HomerJS

Lifer
Feb 6, 2002
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Is there a historical racist action of covering blacks in cotton? Or is this just that you can't associate anything to do with cotton/white fuzz with a black person?

At some point you are just driving a wedge between white and black kids if there is this large set of unspoken rules that controls how they are allowed to interact with each other.
I'm assuming you don't need me to explain the historical context of blacks and cotton in the the United States.

Why is it so extreme to ask adults to school these kids on what is appropriate and not. There are a lot of things kids might do where you would correct them. So my question would you let these slide?

Dumping fortune cookies on Asian kids head?
Some of the kids calling the black kid monkey?
 

quikah

Diamond Member
Apr 7, 2003
4,104
672
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For what it’s worth. Another photo has come out that shows a white kid next to the black kid that got the same white stuffing ball hair treatment. It’s supposedly related to one of the popular Hawaii little leaguers who has a “awesome” white Mohawk.


Ay, makes more sense now.

Anyway, it has been tough to find any pictures of this Lancaster kid without his hat on, but you can sort of see his hair under the hat. Not a baseball fan, but this kid looks like a very good pitcher.

 

Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
15,244
10,817
136
I'm assuming you don't need me to explain the historical context of blacks and cotton in the the United States.

Why is it so extreme to ask adults to school these kids on what is appropriate and not. There are a lot of things kids might do where you would correct them. So my question would you let these slide?

Dumping fortune cookies on Asian kids head?
Some of the kids calling the black kid monkey?
I understand the association with calling a black person a cotton picker or similar insult. I did not realize that extended to messing around in any way with white fuzz.

Again, I'd prefer white and black kids to feel free to interact with each other, and impossible unspoken abstract rules on that won't help. Even worse would be if the coach said "Hey, you can't do that to him! Yes, it's okay to keep doing it to Noah and Jimmy, but you can't goof around with him!"

Racism is a big enough problem in the US that we don't need to make something racist that very likely wasn't. I think the much bigger issue is putting little league on national TV and then all the attention dumped on these kids by people pushing a narrative.
 

ch33zw1z

Lifer
Nov 4, 2004
38,198
18,669
146
I'm not. How old are these kids? Little League World series is for 10-12 year olds. At that age, I had heard of slavery but did not know the details. Details are not usually learned until high school.

its America, casual racism is our jam.
 
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NWRMidnight

Diamond Member
Jun 18, 2001
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We can have interpretations of his facial expression, but he definitely does not look happy.

I said up front this likely isn't an intentional racist moment but the adults in the room are there to educate kids.

If kids start calling the black kid monkey I expect an adult to step in and put a stop to it.
No, you and other's are making it into a racist moment.. Plain and simple.. There is nothing to educate them on, as it's a far stretch to sit here and try to spin it as a slam against black people because our history shows they where slaves picking cotton in the fields generations ago, rather than what it is, where kids are messing around putting "fake" hair on a student, having NOTHING to do with history or the past. And it is no where even close to calling a black kid a monkey as you are trying to compare it to (not even in the same multiverse). If that white "cotton" (filling from stuffed animals that you can bet your ass isn't even cotton at all, but most likely polyester) was pink or some other color other than white, and/or it wasn't placed on a black kids head, you wouldn't be here trying to make a non racial moment into a racial moment, and you sure as hell wouldn't be trying to tie it into the same multiverse as calling him a monkey. You would be thinking clowns because of the colors.. but no.. it's white, possibly cotton, on a black kids head, so it can't be done cuz it can be considered racism. Hell everything can be twisted into racism with that logic.

YOU are the product of what I said in my previous post.. It's time You un-condition yourself from looking at every action from a racial prospective looking for anything to claim racism. And don't say you aren't, because you wouldn't have posted this here for us to discuss if you did not think it was racism, you would have seen it for what it was, kids having fun horsing around.. And no, that kid is not humiliated.. Don't get me wrong, we have a serious issue with racism in this country... What these kids are doing isn't one of them. What you are doing, what the article is doing, is actually the racist action. It's taking an innocent action and trying to bring color of the skin into it to turn it into a racial moment when non exists..

Maybe we need to ban kids from being allowed to use cotton or anything resembling cotton. Or better yet, lets ban cotton and cotton balls all together (maybe anything white also) because kids are not being taught how to properly use them when they are having fun, horsing around, being kids and using their imaginations because you know, it may be taken as a racial act by the racist adults looking for ways to claim racism because it's white and possible cotton.

I am curious, since you brought this here to argue about racism, because it's trying to be spun into blacks picking cotton in correlation to when blacks where slaves forced to work in the cotton fields, even though it has NOTHING to do with that; do you consider it racism for any black person to work for a cotton company, picking cotton (driving/running the machinery that harvests it) doing honest work, making an honest wage, racism? you know, cuz when their ancestors where slave's and made to pick cotton in the cotton fields.. Do you consider that racism? Because you know a black person is picking cotton.. Should all blacks be banned from working for cotton companies because of their ancestors? (I know, kind of a stupid and radicicolous right... just as this is about these kids)


In all seriousness, how about we actually start going after the real racial acts rather than the made up ones.
 
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