Sunday, September 13, 2020

Whatever happened to fair play in life, not just in sports?

Whatever happened to fair play? We expect our sports heroes of any color to play by the rules. There are umpires, line judges, referees, to make sure that players do not cheat or break rules, some of which are geared to save players from needless injury. Those who break the rules get penalized by yardage, removed from the game, get a red card, benched, and fined. Some sports fans only believe that fair play applies to a game and it has nothing to do with being fair in their community or lives. This disgraceful performance of white fans in the NFL is an illustration of the lack of fairness in their community and nation, in a sport that is heavily dominated by Black players, but whose white teammates understand that there is such a thing as a team where all are in it together and, like it or not, they must abide by the rules when playing against another team.. That is in sharp contrast by some of their fans who wonder why Black athletes dare object to be treated unfairly outside the stadium by some police who apply their authority differently to those who are minorities than to those who are the racial majority. The athletes understand the difference between fair play and unfair play and know who the dirty players are, whether it is on or off the field. They also see a society that is beginning to understand that the reason Black Lives Matter is that for so long the white majority did not care about the matter of fair treatment of "others". More of the general public do now realize that fairness does not equate to equal treatment by the police, the equivalent referees on the ground in matters of rules and law enforcement. George Floyd's death was not an isolated case. The data is there, that death at the hands of police is three times more frequent when Black people are involved when the proportion of such incidents are measured against the size of the population by race. To call foul and point out the unfairness in society is what those Black athletes did and were joined by their white teammates who understand and support the concept of fairness and teamwork. .Those fans in the stands who booed them should be ashamed. They are the demonstrators, the bearers, and the supporters of unfairness inside and outside the sports fields. What about applying the same rules of fairness you expect in sports to your own lives.


KCUR.ORG
The NFL season started at Arrowhead Stadium in a game where social justice movements played out and a pro football crowd of thousands gathered amid COVID-19 for the first time since the Chiefs won the Super Bowl.

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