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

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esquared

Forum Director & Omnipotent Overlord
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First, a big thank you to members of this forum who have commented on how this particular incident may looked to the majority of African Americans in this country and around the world.

Because so many Blacks found it appalling, disrespectful and disgusting. But as usual, so many others who thought it perfectly okay believe Black people should simply shut up about such things.

"Too many white folks shrug at blatant racial disparities and conclude that the problem is us and about us. We’re the problem for pointing out injustice and intolerance.

"We’re the problem for tying words and thoughts to harmful actions and policies," wrote Deron Snyder, in an opinion piece in The Grio.

Here's the link: https://thegrio.com/2022/08/24/the-problem-with-black-little-leaguer-getting-cotton-put-in-his-hair/

So, again, to those who think this was wrong and should have never been minimized and were brave enough to speak about it - thank you.
Thanks for the link.
To those that thought or insinuated that HomerJS is racist for bringing this up?
You can all kiss my ass.
 

Lezunto

Golden Member
Oct 24, 2020
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ADDENDUM as well as an apology:

This does not mean HomerJS was wrong for pointing out this incident, but here is a fuller and what I hope is a more truthful explanation. And again, thank you to esquared for coming to his defense.

But first, you need to know that I am retired news writer and senior news editor. I wrote news stories, features, columns and edited same for 26 years.

Few online news stories these days answer the basic questions of a hard news, or second day news story: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How.

The reason why this story took off is because of shoddy and incomplete reporting, which you will find all over the Internet. This is due to either crap editors or non-existent editors and some clueless scribes posting their own B.S. to an organization's Website minus oversight.

Now, I think I know the reason why the boy's mother did not complain.

It turns out that the Black child is a fan of New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor, who sports a natural Black hairdo with White highlights. In some photos, Lindor's hair is completely bleached so that it looks light gold.

Apparently, the boy's teammates were trying to help him resemble his idol, Francisco Lindor.


The reason the issue of shoddy and incomplete reporting is so significant is highlighted by news coverage of the Florida teacher who resigned after photos of his Black icons were removed from a wall.

In initial stories, all we learned is that

(1) (1) teacher quit ...

(2) that he was a Special Ed teacher and White

(3) that he had been teaching for 15 years

(4) that the photos were deemed age inappropriate (which sent me on a determines search to learn how old his students are)

Each subsequent story added a detail that most did not know about:

So much for the Who (the teacher) What (controversy over removal of Black icon photos) When (before school started in (Where) Florida (Why) still inconclusive.

School administrators claim they are following Gov. DeSantis anti-CRT directives, while social media adherents are all over the place.

Still to be answered is How.

That controversy would have benefited from someone who would have forced the reporter to answer those questions in their story in the first place.

So, I apologize for adding to the feeding frenzy.
 

HomerJS

Lifer
Feb 6, 2002
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Now, I think I know the reason why the boy's mother did not complain.

It turns out that the Black child is a fan of New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor, who sports a natural Black hairdo with White highlights. In some photos, Lindor's hair is completely bleached so that it looks light gold.

Has the family of the boy confirmed this? I'm aware of Lindor since the Mets just recently beat up on the Phillies. If true then it makes sense.

If the boys were just mimicking Lindor it would have been easy for the team's coach to put out a quick statement to verify. I haven't seen such statement from anyone. The league did apologize about how that looked.
 

Lezunto

Golden Member
Oct 24, 2020
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Has the family of the boy confirmed this? I'm aware of Lindor since the Mets just recently beat up on the Phillies. If true then it makes sense.

I think the family wants to stay silent because they fear attacks from those who do not agree.

As far as the coaches, they do want to be seen interpreting what so many have already decided is a racist act.

This whole thing is just messy. But it does prove that so many online news writers simply jump the gun because of an overwhelming need to be first with news.
 
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HomerJS

Lifer
Feb 6, 2002
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I think the family wants to stay silent because they fear attacks from those who do not agree.

As far as the coaches, they do want to be seen interpreting what so many have already decided is a racist act.

This whole thing is just messy. But it does prove that so many online news writers simply jump the gun because of an overwhelming need to be first with news.
It's lame for his family not to confirm. All they have to say is.

My son was voluntarily doing an ohmage to Fransisco Lindor (include picture). We realize how bad the initial photos look but want to ensure everyone there was no racist intent by the players or coaching staff.

That way an answer is given and that closes the issue. That isn't hard
 
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Lezunto

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I completely disagree for the reasons I stated. Did you read any of the accompanying comments, such as the one from Holly Robinson Peete?

Peete's comment is in a short sidebar to this story: https://thegrio.com/2022/08/24/the-problem-with-black-little-leaguer-getting-cotton-put-in-his-hair/

Some folks were fully prepared to do violence over the incident. It probably looked worse on TV than it did for anyone reading about it.

The mother of the Black Little Leaguer owes us nothing and is probably hoping people calm down. She has her son to worry about. We need to just let this fade.

If folks wanna get angry, get angry over the invasion of Ukraine.
 

NWRMidnight

Diamond Member
Jun 18, 2001
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You claimed I said cotton is automatically racist. I didn’t

Pasting an unhappy black kids head with cotton balls or looks like is racially insensitive if you have any sense of history. Don’t act like the material is the issue just to avoid the larger point. The league acknowledged this and did what I agree is an acceptable solution.

Educate the kids. Just that simple

I remember when a bunch of white kids in a middle school cafeteria were shouting at the Hispanic kids “build that wall”. Not equating the two but you would just claim harmless hijinks while ignoring the larger context.

Kids might find tar and feathering someone funny because the results look like a chicken. We don’t allow that because it is degrading

If slavery had never existed there is no context and no issue

I can’t understand reasonably intelligent people have no clue about context. Remember when we had to explain to college kids why Antebellum parties are not acceptable. Those people are old enough to to know the historical context yet chose not to

Well first of all, stop cherry picking and only using Part of what I said in my response, which was cotton & black kids/people not just cotton. The fact that you purposely left out the black kid/people part shows you know damn good and well your position and argument is radicicolous. If it wasn't you wouldn't cherry pick, manipulate, and change what was said.

However, You posting this thread made the claim indirectly that cotton and black people is automatically racism.. Every one of your arguments and responses made that claim.. Again, go read my previous posts.. There is NOTHING to educate them on because they did NOTHING wrong! YOU are the one who has done something wrong by making something that has NO ties to racism or slavery out to be something racist, as you disregard the white kid that the exact same thing happened to, in which you said "fuck the white kid" and completely ignored the reason for both kids having cotton (fake hair) put on their heads. You keep throwing out examples that are directly tired to racism in an attempt to support your made up racism claim, examples that have no connection or correlation to what these kids where doing. All you are doing is strengthening the fact that you really have no valid argument other then your own racist conditioning. You are the problem in this situation.. Until you realize that, you are just feeding to the racism that exist in this country..


If cotton and black kids/people is not automatically racist in your eyes, then why did you start this topic and are frothing at the mouth trying to defend your position that it's a racist act, since cotton and black kids is the only possible connection you have to tie it into slavery and racism? A connection that is just as ridiculous as expecting black people to boycott all things cotton because of the history of slavery. It's time you put your own embedded hatred (conditioning) aside and stop letting it blind you, and recognize when articles are feeding that conditioning and hatred.
 
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HomerJS

Lifer
Feb 6, 2002
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However, You posting this thread made the claim indirectly that cotton and black people is automatically racism..
No it isn't and I never said it was. If your reading comprehension was up to par I said in the OP I don't think the kids had racist intent.

Example: Yelling "build that wall" in itself isn't racist. A bunch of white kids yelling it at a bunch of Hispanic kids is. (true story)

I stand by everything I said unless the family verifies it was an ohmage to Fransico Lindor which to date we don't have verification.
 

NWRMidnight

Diamond Member
Jun 18, 2001
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Thanks for the link.
To those that thought or insinuated that HomerJS is racist for bringing this up?
You can all kiss my ass.
I am not going to kiss your ass over an article that is purposely written and the narrative of the article is to feed the racism in this country, and is the same position HomerJS is taking. It is all part of the conditioning that has been taking place in this country to, where people are being conditioned to look at skin color and try and tie it into racism and slavery. As I said, we do have a problem with racism in this country, and a lot of out right racism or racial acts, this is not one of them at all. If this is a racial act, purposely or not, then racism is happening every day to every person on the planet no matter the color of their skin from white to dark, be it a kid, child, man, or women because every action, feelings, reactions, and perception can be tied to our bad and dark history in some form, no matter who the person is or the color of their skin.

I don't see color of people, to me, everyone is the same.. step back and look at this situation with these kids and what they did, without seeing color.. When you do that, the racist argument in non-existent. To make it a racial act, you first have to bring the color of the kids skin into it, then the cotton for it to even have any remote connection to racism, which is slavery that happened 150 years ago. People might as well claim slavery is on the comeback because of what these kids did.
 

Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
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They just won a game in the LLWS. They should all be happy. If you think the expression on that kids face is happiness you never had kids

I don’t give a fuck what the white kids put on their heads. It was out of line for the black kid

If you can’t understand context I won’t try to explain it to you. Once again not intentional by the kids. The adults should have stepped in

If the black kids family posts a response indicating it was cool I will retract what I said about the kid. Still say coach should have stepped in
So just to be clear, you want the coach to say "Exclude the black kid from your games [he is different and must be treated differently]"

I'm sure it would've been fine if every white kid had a fuzz hat, and the black kid was excluded.

All the kids learned is it's easier to not be friends with black kids, seems pretty counter productive to decreasing racism in the US.
 
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Lezunto

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I had forgotten that I promised a photo of Francisco Lindor ...
 

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Zorba

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Captante

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I wouldn't expect kids that age to plan a racist prank with a symbolic message. It's possible, just not that likely.

In any event, there is a link that shows a white kid got the same hair treatment, so it wasn't racist. Just as I thought it likely wasn't.


I agree that despite appearances the KIDS actions were not intentionally racist now that we have the full story. Still NOT okay though.

As I already said however that DOES NOT excuse the adults that stood around and watched it happen in any way. (or the adults that apparently allowed this ignorant behavior to become a trend!)
 
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NWRMidnight

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No it isn't and I never said it was. If your reading comprehension was up to par I said in the OP I don't think the kids had racist intent.

Example: Yelling "build that wall" in itself isn't racist. A bunch of white kids yelling it at a bunch of Hispanic kids is. (true story)

I stand by everything I said unless the family verifies it was an ohmage to Fransico Lindor which to date we don't have verification.

You are talking out both sides of your mouth because your responses after your OP show otherwise. If you don't think the kids had racist intent, then why did you post it, other than to create racist intent? The racial intent came from you and the article pieces, to force a narrative brought on by conditioning, not from the actions of these kids. Why are you trying to connect their actions to slavery over 150 years ago because it involves a black child and cotton balls on his head, all while you are saying fuck the white kid and the cotton balls on his head?

Where did these kids yell to the black boy, and the white boy for that matter, "go work in the fields, and pick cotton"? Which would be racist. But that isn't what took place, now is it? If that did happen, then it would be comparable to your example of white kids yelling "build that wall" to Hispanic kids.
 
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woolfe9998

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I agree that despite appearances the KIDS actions were not intentionally racist now that we have the full story. Still NOT okay though.

As I already said however that DOES NOT excuse the adults that stood around and watched it happen in any way. (or the adults that apparently allowed this ignorant behavior to become a trend!)

I suppose. Though I would point out that what the adults saw was that a bunch of kids were getting this, including white kids. So it actually may not have occurred to them that anyone would see it as racist. Remember, they had a wider view of what was happening than what we got in those photos.

Their responsibility was to protect the kids, but the kids were having a good time. I suppose they should have foreseen that an isolated couple of photos of only the black kid would be picked up by HuffPo then gone viral. In this day and age, maybe they should have protected them from this controversy of adults, by adults, and for adults.
 
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Captante

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perception of racism


I'm not sure how you figure the PERCEPTION of racism never existed here?

The act most likely WAS innocent but it ABSOLUTELY appeared to be a racist hazing act at first glance to nearly everyone.

See that?

I resisted the urge to highlight every other word just to piss you off! (not that it takes much!)


:p
 
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Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
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I agree that despite appearances the KIDS actions were not intentionally racist now that we have the full story. Still NOT okay though.

As I already said however that DOES NOT excuse the adults that stood around and watched it happen in any way. (or the adults that apparently allowed this ignorant behavior to become a trend!)
No one has answered why it isn't okay yet. Where is the line between black people and cotton and when is it okay to racial exclude a kid from team hijinx?

Since Homer is dodge any question or statement that would depend my understanding of his position, I'll ask you what I asked him on the previous page.

Where is the line? Are teachers allowed to give black kids assignments that involve using cotton balls/pum pums, or are they supposed to exclude them from the activities? My daughter had multiple black teachers in daycare that used cotton/poms for craft projects, was the daycare being racist for making the black teachers use cotton? How about build-a-bear employees, can the manager ask a black employee to refill the stuffing bin or to stuff the animals, or should that be reserved for whites and Asians?

How about rice at a wedding? Okay to throw on whites and blacks, but not on Asians?

Is there are old racist tradition of covering blacks in cotton that I am not aware of? I'd agree with you if they had seen a cotton field along the road and made him go out in the field to pick some. But they were literally just putting fuzz on each other's heads (and not just his!).

At the end of the day, when full context came out (more videos) it is clear this kid was happy with what happened. Its adults that want to tell him it was wrong and he should be excluded because he is different. The look on his face was the same look I have when getting a haircut it's just a neutral stay still look.

I normally fully agree with Homer's threads, I just honestly don't see the point here and it seems that the proposed solution is racially based exclusion.
 

Captante

Lifer
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If I had been the coach I would have asked the boys to stop and then later explained to them why it was a bad idea to do anything like that because many people will take it the wrong way.

Hazing in general is a weak, low thing to do.... toss in the APPEARANCE of condoning racism and it sprouts a life of its own. (and for good reason)

If the public reaction to this incident isn't enough by itself to convince you I'm right about this then I'm not sure what to say..... just being "allowed" to do something DOES NOT mean it's a wise decision!


Why no bitching about the adults who decided to put young kids on national TV to be judged by millions of strangers?


This WAS "bitched about" already.... and the same argument could be made about ALL very popular kids sports.
 

ivwshane

Lifer
May 15, 2000
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This is still a non story.

I think intent matters and I would love to live in a world where kids put cotton on each other’s face and head because they think it’s fun or funny with no thoughts about racism crossing their minds. A world in which we let kids be kids and not one where we destroy their innocents because of societal failings that happened before the children were even born.
 

Moonbeam

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Nov 24, 1999
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If I had been the coach I would have asked the boys to stop and then later explained to them why it was a bad idea to do anything like that because many people will take it the wrong way.

Hazing in general is a weak, low thing to do.... toss in the APPEARANCE of condoning racism and it sprouts a life of its own. (and for good reason)

If the public reaction to this incident isn't enough by itself to convince you I'm right about this then I'm not sure what to say..... just being "allowed" to do something DOES NOT mean it's a wise decision!





This WAS "bitched about" already.... and the same argument could be made about ALL very popular kids sports.
So true. Boys even hugging each other should be banned because it just encourages the gay. We must always be aware of what people full of prejudice might read into appearances so we can perpetuate those prejudices from one generation to the next. And that white kid with the cotton in his hair should be vilified on social media for racial appropriation of the Black little league star they were emulating.

Just shouting about how something that is allowed doesn't mean it is wise is is true but only in those cases where what you call wise and unwise actually are what you say they are. In think we have seen that in your case what is what is what comes down only to whatever you happen to feel it is.
 

cytg111

Lifer
Mar 17, 2008
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I will try to emphasize with the kids every time.
Suppose there was no racial motivation to it.
I'd still have to explain it to the kids afterwards, especially how its blown up in the fucking media.
How do I explain this to a bunch of kids, pure of heart, that leaves the black kid without a sense or thought of "Am I a victim?" and the other kids "Is he different from us?". I mean I can see its doable, but it'll take an angle and some teacher-talent.

edit: and would it even be legal under DeSantis rule?
 
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