Showing again that racism is alive and flourishing, a New England Patriots’ fan took the opportunity on the announcement of the team becoming the first NFL franchise to reach 1 million followers to express his contempt for Black people by superimposing on the back of a Patriots’ jersey, “I Hate Ni**ers.”
Except he didn’t use the asterisks.
Not cool. Worse, the Patriots sent an automated response thanking the racist for his support. Once the vile photo with the tweet was discovered, the team quickly removed it and issued and apology:
“We apologize for the regrettable tweet that went out from our account. Our filtering system failed & we will be more vigilant in the future.”
This kind of coward behavior speaks to the down side of social media. Cowards hide behind made up names to spew their vile. Earlier this season, Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner said he has been bombarded with racist tweets, no doubt from Michigan fans.
“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 idiocy of all this is that the Patriots have many Black players on their team and that racist who supports the team, in essence, supports the Black players. Same with Gardner. As soon as he makes a play or beats Michigan State, the same clowns calling him racist names will be the same cheering wildly for him.
It’s a bad time when sports cannot be the galvanizer. One of the unique aspects of the games is that, at least for a little while, people come together to support a common cause. Your race or religion or political affiliation does not matter. . . you’re rooting for the same team.
And for the most part, that beauty of sport remains. All it takes is one idiot to remind of of the ills of society as a whole.
