After ignoring our plight for decades, suddenly white people are tripping over themselves to prove that they actually give a shit about black folks. We’ve seen NFL quarterbacks exposed as either blatantly racist or denounced for racial insensitivity, companies like CrossFit have turned into dumpster fires and plenty of other instances where white folks seem hell-bent on devouring their own.
But while The Awakening is long overdue. We still have Get Out cast members like Denver Broncos coach Vic Fangio—who “doesn’t see racism” in the same league that has a whole-ass policy in place just so that black folks can even get hired—and Bob Myers, who took a break from running the Golden State Warriors into the ground to utter some foolishness on Monday.
During a conference call with reporters, Mark Medina of USA Today reports that Myers provided the following statement in response to the death of George Floyd: “I hope sports can heal. One of my favorite parts of sports is it’s color blind and a meritocracy of sorts. You don’t get judged by how you look. You get judged by how you perform.”
The only thing white people love more than the word “meritocracy” is either gentrification or Seinfeld reruns. But the irony in Myers’ statement is that it completely invalidates the experiences of the same black players who just won his ass three championships. As well as people like Jackie Robinson, who most notably broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball; Bill Russell, who endured all kinds of racist bullshit throughout his career; and Brescia striker Mario Balotelli, who was pummeled with monkey chants back in November.
So understandably, Twitter was less than pleased with this “color-blind” bullshit.
Ummm, yeah. This ain’t it, Bob.
Though sadly, it’s a foregone conclusion that the emotional labor required to properly resolve this issue will most likely fall on a black person. Because last I checked, we’ve been cleaning up messes we didn’t even create for over 400 years now.
So if this is what “allyship” will look like in our brand spanking new post-racial society, please keep this bullshit to yourselves. “Not seeing color” doesn’t make you an ally, it makes you a coward.