The n-word : DG

Submitted by qbyrd on

I came across this article earlier in the day and it shocked me.  I have not seen it posted anywhere on the board and thought this would be a good first post. 

It simply is an article about our quarterback Devin Gardner has been called the n-word by the same people who call themselves fans of Michigan football. 

This is just sad.  How could a kid who has given his young life to the great University of Michigan and the fans deserve something so pathetic from some of the fans regardless of how he has played.  He has given everything he has, and has done everything asked of him as well.  I know its not all of them, but man it still is sad that he would have to deal with this.

 

 

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaafb/michigan-qb-ive-been-called-the-…

MBloGlue

October 21st, 2014 at 8:37 PM ^

FYI -- michgoblue already started a thread below about the Angelique Chengelis article on DG where the FoxSports quote is taken from.  But, to your broader point, yeah it is heartbreaking.

Maize and Blue…

October 22nd, 2014 at 8:30 AM ^

I can't stand that word, but all I have to do is teach one day in the inner city and I've heard it enough times to last a year.  Listen to most rappers and you get the same thing.  Have a white person say it and become outraged.  

What other race goes around calling themselves a word that they hate? The thing I get told is they pronounce it with an "a" instead of an "er".  Does it make a difference? Ignorant people hear the word being used regularly and repeat it.  Are they all racist?

DG definitely doesn't deserve this as he seems to be an outstanding young man who gives back to the community.  He has shown his toughness on the field and I hate to think where this team would be without him.

GoWings2008

October 22nd, 2014 at 8:43 AM ^

but the familiarity of the person makes a difference.  Lets use another word in its place as an example....I call plenty of my friends a$$ holes when they're being difficult or if I'm just flipping them shit.  But if I say that to a stranger, someone I don't know AT ALL, then well...I've probably just started a fight. 

I know I'm comparing apples to oranges here, but context is my biggest message. 

notTHATbrian

October 22nd, 2014 at 9:05 AM ^

This specific issue is more about context than person. Let a person of any race or ethnicity yell out to the starting QB as he's running off the field after a terrible performance "Hey n-word you suck!" it's going to come from a place of hate, and it's something no college athlete should have to endure.

Your larger point comes when there are acceptable times for one group of people versus others. That's a debate for another time. In this case it's unacceptable because of the message not the sender.

ak47

October 22nd, 2014 at 10:15 AM ^

People who are gay call each other faggot a lot, still not ok for you to do it to someone.  How a word is used matters.  In the black community it is used a lot in an attempt to ake power from the word. When a white person uses it it goes back to the when it was used as a demeaning racial slur. You better also never call someone who is black "boy" if you are white but that doesn't mean that black people can't use the word boy. Contect matters in language, that is just the reality of the situation anything use of that as an excuse for using the n-word is just that, an excuse, doesn't make it ok even if you mean it as a friend.

Maize and Blue…

October 22nd, 2014 at 10:39 AM ^

Just as they blame violence on TV and video games for people becoming desensitized to violence constantly hearing a word is bound to have the same effect eventually.  There are plenty of white kids buying rap albums that are filled with the use of the word.  They are also plenty of ignorant people who hear the word repeated regularly and may use just because they are just so use to hearing it.  Some of those may be racist some not and I'm not saying it is right.  I have even been called it by some of my friends that are black.  

As to your assertion that gay people people call each other faggot a lot, I have never heard it unless they were talking about someone they considered a flamer.

atom evolootion

October 22nd, 2014 at 12:26 PM ^

In the black community, we don't use the word to take the power from it. Nobody's thinking about the power of the word when it's said as a colloquialism. We use the word--those of us who still do--because it was used on our ancestors, who then used it on their peers until it became rooted deep in our culture. Now we're too stupid to put that damned word aside forever and call each other by our names, where the real power is...

GoBlueGladstone

October 22nd, 2014 at 2:32 PM ^

Unrelated content above. Pretty sure the intent, as it is related to a football player at a position where that word was used to demean and marginalize them historically (predating evil rap and the use of the word in popular culture), is not borne of casual lingual familiarity. This story is older than any semantical discussion. Off point. By about a mile. Sounds like there is another cultural ax to grind unrelated to DG.

AlaskanYeti

October 21st, 2014 at 8:45 PM ^

This was referenced in the earlier Devin thread about the Detroit News article. I'm ashamed I share the same interest as those who are so ignorant. It's not the first time I've heard this come from our fan base. It was also brought to like by the Fab Five documentary and those comments came in the form of mailed letters to players and to even the Athletic Department!

UM2k1

October 21st, 2014 at 9:39 PM ^

I think you buried 3 very important distinctions in there. 1) They are high paid professionals who should expect criticism for underperforming at their high-profile jobs; 2) they are adults who should be able to handle said criticism; and 3) IT ISN'T RACISM! That last point by itself completely distinguishes the two situations.

JamieH

October 22nd, 2014 at 1:00 AM ^

So now saying someone is a crappy football coach is the equivalent of calling someone a n***er? Are you f'ing serious?

 

Look, some of the Hoke & Brandon hate goes over the top here, but they are highly HIGHLY paid professionals and if people are criticizing their job performance, well, public figures, especially those that make millions a year, are certainly open to criticism when they aren't performing.



That is in a completely different ballpark from calling some college kid a n***er because you don't like how he plays QB.  Like, in a different galaxy.  I can't believe we are even having this discussion.

JamieH

October 22nd, 2014 at 5:18 AM ^

I'd like to point out that I think Tom Goss was an abomination of an AD.  Far FAR worse than Dave Brandon honestly, and I don't think it is even a contest.   Easily the worst AD Michigan has had in my lifetime.  And I think that, as Michigan's AD, he was open to criticism.

 

But if people had been calling him a n***er?  That would have been sickening, disgusting, and beyond the pale.  Racist insults are garbage. PERIOD.   There is a BIG difference between calling someone an incompetent boob and making a racist insult.  I can't believe there is really anyone who doesn't get that.  



Insult someone's performance.  Insult the job they have done, or are doing.  You might be right, you might be wrong.  But ss soon as you throw their skin color into the mix, you're just a racist a-hole.



 

TruBluWolv55

October 21st, 2014 at 8:40 PM ^

I really feel for him. He seems like a very classy individual and has given his best. I'm sure he wishes the results would have been better at this point in his career, but it's not all on him.

TheFugitive

October 21st, 2014 at 8:44 PM ^

that's sad.  He's an infinately better dude than just about anyone with all the volunteering and help he gives to local schools..plus his attitude for the team...I dont get why don't people think about that instead of calling him names because sometimes he isn't great at playing quarterback.  Keep your head up DG

Frito Bandito

October 21st, 2014 at 8:46 PM ^

I think it's rival fan bases pretending to be Michigan fans. I refuse to believe our fans are that awful.

a2_electricboogaloo

October 21st, 2014 at 8:57 PM ^

Just because a person chose to wear a block-M doesn't mean they are not racist.  We like to put Michigan fans on a pedestal here, but it's simply not true that every michigan fan fits the "ideals" that we like to place upon the university and fan base.  There are simply too many Michigan fans for there not to be many bad people within the group.  Chosing a school to root for doesn't prevent people from being racists or homophobic or sexist or whatever, it just means that they decided they like one team of players over another for whatever reason they had.

In reply to by arigoldforpresident

HarBooYa

October 21st, 2014 at 9:10 PM ^

But I tend to think, on par, we have less loons in our base....and those racist amongst us are not typically alums although I do recall a confederate flag in south quad story every year and we do tout the Unabomber and Ann coulter amongst our "finest". Guess when we go bad, we go fer realz bad.

arigoldforpresident

October 21st, 2014 at 9:12 PM ^

Yes, I think we have less idiots than Alabama or OSU, but that doesn't mean we won't have any. As a student, racism definitely persists and I don't think attending the University of Michigan screens out racists from non-racists. It's just another prestigious school that you can get into if you have the grades. Racist people don't come with a racist tag on their application.

arigoldforpresident

October 21st, 2014 at 8:59 PM ^

While this is terrible and very insulting, it's not very surprising. A leader of one of the biggest teams in the country is going to get a lot of hate when he loses games. A lot of this hate will obviously come from twitter and other social media outlets. It's naive to think that all Michigan fans are classy people, even the alumni. When people get mad, they don't think and if they're the least bit prejudiced, they will use racial slurs. If I were a black qb I wouldn't pay much attention to the racial hate I get online. 

aplatypus

October 22nd, 2014 at 11:54 AM ^

but your post basically says, "If I was black and got called racial slurs all the time I'd learn to just ignore it." which is nonsense. Even if you call it terrible, basically justifies racism as something to 'live with' because it doesn't surprise you. We need to work on getting passed the point where people diminish the effects of racism because it still happens too often, and that's what you and lots of other people are doing. 

 

Your post needs to be more like, "this is terrible and very insulting and it should not still be happening." You don't need to implicitly justify it because it's too common or tell people that deal with it daily they just somehow "not."

mgowill

October 21st, 2014 at 8:52 PM ^

My wedding in 2001 featured my Grandmother scoffing at the pastor, a great man with compassion for everything he did in life, who happened to be black.  

My best friend came to the wedding in his best suit, and was looked down upon by people in my extended family, simply because of his color.

I hate racism.  I have disowned people in my family for such, and will never tolerate people who are intolerable.

TheBoLineage--

October 21st, 2014 at 9:01 PM ^

--  you can tell.  I spose its even WORSE with the SEC-teams, given Southern Man and their uhhh--  Cultural History.

 

QB-Navarre was Routinely Villified--  and he even QB-ed TWO Rose Bowl teams.  Of course--  Navarre had The Luxury of being--  W H I T E.

 

Schembechler started the 1st Black QB at MICHIGAN--  as a SOPHOMORE--  in the early 1970s.   Dennis Franklin was My Great Hero for that period. And even to this very day--  in some ways.

 

Once again--  Schembechler was One Helluva MAN  . . . 

 

 

TheBoLineage--

October 21st, 2014 at 9:13 PM ^

I think it was--  Im actually starting to forget some of this stuff.

 

Dennis Franklin of course never DID QB in a Rose Bowl.  It is somethig like The Dennis Franklin Experience which allows me to have Great Patience with MICHIGAN.

 

UNLIKE--  many on this board.  Who just Whine, and Cry.  And then go do some more Twitter Whining-Crying  . . .

 

. . .  Goddamn Effin Gutless Cowards  . . .