Michigan QB keeps getting called a nigger and The University is silent.

by Staff October 23, 2014 4 Comments News Opinion Sports Weekly Columns

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(ThyBlackMan.com) Johari Shuck is an expert on black athletes at the collegiate level. She is also a graduate of The University of Michigan, one of the most storied athletic programs in the country. The school has a strong track record of athletic and academic achievement, but when it comes to the treatment of its athletes, the school’s record is the source of eternal shame.

A full 20 years after the Fab Five earned millions of dollars for the school, the same racial animus from the early 90s is being thrust onto black players who don’t perform to the fan’s expectations. Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner recently revealed to USA Today that he has been called the n-word more times than he can remember, yet the school has remained virtually silent on the issue.

It’s time to start asking the hard questions: If Devin were gay, Jewish or a woman, would the school still allow for this kind of abuse from fans? Also, what does this say about the way college athletes are treated in general? boyc NCAA athletes earn more money for their schools than the NBA, NFL and Major League baseball. In addition to being uncompensated, the athletes are the target of numerous human rights and labors rights violations that would be unheard of in nearly any other industry.

The African American community has been hit the hardest by the borderline criminal behavior of the NCAA over the last 60 years, with nothing short of a full billion dollars per year being extracted from the black community each year by this professional sports league that runs off of unpaid labor. At the very least, these athletes should be able to get a good education without being distracted by too many practices and being called n*gger when they don’t perform up to the expectations of people who won’t even pay their families a living wage.

Even people who are paid on their jobs don’t have to deal with being called out of their name, so why does U. Michigan feel the rules should change for unpaid college athletes? Would they allow a faculty member to be called a n*gger every day at work?

Shuck has a lot of good things to say about all of this. I hope you’ll check out the conversation.

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Staff Writer; Dr. Boyce Watkins

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition. For more information, please visit http://BoyceWatkins.com.

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rwill says:
November 15, 2014 at 12:41 pm
“How Ironic the same school who wants to ban affirmative action ….has students and alumni calling the nigger…”
First, there is no irony here: the University of Michigan spent many MILLIONS of dollars pushing two cases to the supreme court. The thrust of those two cases was that the university wanted to be able to use affirmative action in processing applications. It was the STATE not the school that tried, successfully, to take affirmative action out of the equation. You can blame the state, but not the school.
Second, it is not up to the school to police the internet and they have no control over the abuse heaped on Mr. Gardner.
Third, there is no excuse for the racism being dumped on a kid who is trying his hardest.
Fourth, as reality_check notes, I would never recommend ANY child of ANY race pin their hopes on professional sports…the odds are too steep and there are too many other ways to earn a living. Focusing on sports narrows one’s opportunity set too thoroughly to be a plausible approach to earning a living.
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David says:
October 27, 2014 at 4:13 pm
What? Did you even read the source material?
Horrible that you feel you have to twist what happened into the school’s failing.
“Gardner spoke about the hate email and Twitter posts he received. This year has been just as bad, if not worse, and he estimated he’s received at least 1,000 negative comments via Twitter and Instagram.
“I’ve been called the N-word so many times this year,” Gardner said. “One guy told me I was the N-word, and said I know N-words can’t play quarterback. And I was like, are we not past this? Say what you want about my skill, but come on.”
The entire story was about how tough he is, what helped him be strong in situations like this in his life, how his family and team have made hin stronger.
Are you saying U of M should start policing the internet to stop their players feelings from beeing hurt?
Hate is hate. It’s hardly the Universities job to play nanny to grown adults.
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reality_check says:
October 24, 2014 at 10:22 am
This is exactly why I’m against black men getting into professional sports in the first place. The industry, along with the system it operates off of , is rigged. These college athletes spend their PRIME years contributing their talents for FREE, while the risk of a career-ending injury is high. Knowing what I know about the history of blacks and sports, I would never encourage any black man to play professional sports. They spend all this time and energy into developing their athletic skills, but these skills are TOO EASY to be taken away (from injury). In addition to that, most of these college athletes will not make it to the NBA, NFL, MLB, etc., so it’s a losing proposition for most. Add the fact that most of them really did not learn anything from their courses due to demanding travel and practice schedules and you have a recipe for a walking black brute with all the athletic skills but no education.
Again, I’m against black men focusing on athletics as a career. I say black men need to focus on academics and developing their intellectual talents and not their athletic skills. No one can ever take away your intellectual skills, those are permanent. This is not the case with athletic skills. Black men can least afford to spend their time developing temporary skills. It’s not in our best interest.
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LeVar Smith says:
October 23, 2014 at 9:34 pm
How Ironic the same school who wants to ban affirmative action ….has students and alumni calling the nigger…… Thanks Dr. Boyce….I’m about to write a new piece tonight call the new fab 5 I was sitting around with some partners and we were thinking how can we get the top recruits to go to all black colleges
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