Preview of Sweet 16 for women
With the Sweet 16 upon us, USA Today Sports' Tony Anderson previews some of the top matchups we're most looking forward to.
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It's true, of course, that what happened to the Utah State women's basketball team was horrific. Team members told KSL.com that they were subjected to racist insults on multiple occasions as they entered and left a restaurant in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. It is also true that whoever decided to put the team in a hotel in that city lacked historical understanding, or simply did not care about the ugly. The History of White Supremacy in Idaho And that city in particular.
It's true that Brad Little, the state's clownish governor, She recently signed the anti-DEI law This is a giant dog whistle (horn?) for the extremists. Only a few posts later, after he proudly announced this anti-black legislation, did he He condemned the attacks At Utah, he seems unaware of the irony that laws like the one he signed fuel racism.
It is true that people with beating hearts who are capable of love, care, and decency can relate to what happened to the black athletes and others on that team who called them the “N” word on multiple occasions while they were just living their lives. Just trying to have fun Madness.
“We were all in shock, and we looked at each other, 'Did we just hear that?' Utah State's deputy athletics director, Sharmel Green, who is black, told KSL.com. “Everyone was in shock – our fans and students who were in that area and heard it clearly were frozen. We kept walking, just shaking our heads, like I couldn’t believe it.”
It's all true. It's all true. But you're making a mistake if you focus on the fact that this happened in Idaho and that state, or parts of it, are somehow more racist than other states. Don't be one of those people who looks at their nose and says, yeah, look at those terrible people in Idaho. At least we're not theirs.
This is because racism is bad everywhere and all the time.
Let me repeat: it's bad everywhere and all the time.
There are places where hatred is more visible, more overt, but there is no place in this country where hatred does not exist, and it exists in large quantities. Hate is a virus more contagious than anything known to humanity. It infects every corner of the Earth and every inch of the United States. It is ingrained in countless millions of Americans. It was not relegated to Idaho or the South. It's all around us.
What happened to the Utah team happens every day. It's just that in this case there was a high-level team during the highlight of the tournament. This happens, and worse, to people who are not college athletes, and it is not reported or even known.
This is in no way meant to mitigate the pain Utahns are experiencing, which is real and stinging, but what happened to them is very American.
The evidence of this is everywhere. in pittsburgh, White supremacist Killing Jewish worshipers. In Buffalo, a white supremacist Black grocery shoppers killed. In South Carolina, it's a white supremacist Killing black worshipers. In Texas, it's a white supremacist Latino shoppers killed at Walmart. These places are not remote outposts in Idaho. Those are many corners of the country.
Large swaths of America are Westernizing. The NAACP issued a Travel warning For the state of Florida. The whole damned country.
Utah coach Lynn Roberts said Monday that the incident was upsetting.
“It's very upsetting for all of us,” she said. “You think that's a shocking thing in our world, in athletics and in college settings. There's a lot of diversity on campus, so you're not exposed to that as much. And so when you are, it's like you have people who say, 'Man, I can't I can't believe this happened. But racism is real and it happens, and it's terrible.
“So for our players, whether they were white, black, green, or whatever, no one knew how to handle it and it was really upsetting. And for our players and our staff, not feeling safe in an NCAA Tournament environment, it's messy.” “
Roberts' words are thoughtful and important, but Black students face racism at PWIs and elsewhere all the time. No place is excluded. In fact, in 2021, the Department of Justice rebuked an entire school district in Utah after years of ignoring hundreds of Black students who said they were being called… Slaves, the N-word and those threatened with death.
There are lessons here and they are not happy lessons but they are clear lessons. There are places in this country where racism seems more intense, places like this part of Idaho and others. But what Utah faced could have happened anywhere. Because it may. Because he does. All the time.
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