I got your back, Ashton

"How much guts it must take for a girl to decide to take the first step inside football's closed society? How much strength of character must it take for a girl to approach a football coach and say, "I want to play on your team"?
How intimidating must it be to step on that practice field the first time and know every eye is on you, waiting for you to fail, wondering if you going to cry?"

This was Charlie Vincent of the Detroit Free Press in a September 8, 1992 column about a female football player from Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest and me, a junior on the Bridgeport High School football team.  This column came about after I reached out to offer her my support and understanding when the superintendent of her school did not allow her to remain on her team.  My experience was much different as I was welcomed with open arms and enjoyed what turned out to be a difficult and incredibly empowering experience.

Fast Forward 23 years

Ashton Brooks is a senior placekicker on the Midland Dow High School football team in Midland, Michigan.  She's a leading kicker on a team in a league, the Saginaw Valley League, with pretty big schools.  A league that has, over the years, produced countless college stars as well as NFL players. Her achievements are not a small deal.  Last night I came across the story of Ashton not just playing the game, but excelling at it.  How was that excellence received by a cross town rival's fan?  She was compared to a gorilla on Instagram.  Click here for the: USA Today article 

It is insane to me that someone like Ashton, who has done nothing but excel in many areas of her life, would face this type of situation in the year 2016.  It's ludicrous to me that she would be the target of a bully and a racial bully at that.  As a white female I am offended and embarrassed.  I am outraged at the insensitivity.  I am disgusted that this is our climate.  

You out there, who think we've gotten past this.... You, who watches the scene in Remember the Titans where an opposing coach refers to Denzel Washington's character, Coach Boone, as a monkey 

with disgust and thinks, thank goodness we've come so far....To you I remind you that you are wrong and here's Ashton Brooks to prove it.  

Maybe those kids in the Instagram picture didn't fully understand how deep this hurt really goes.  Perhaps they thought it to just be a funny and harmless prodding of their cross town rival.  Well, it is not.  Moreover, this type of comparison is as potentially dangerous as it is hurtful.  In two studies by Phillip Atiba Goff, a UCLA psychologist, disturbing correlations were found by this comparison.  Quoting from a  blog about this topic by Jene`e Desmond-Harris from TheRoot.com:

"Take two studies that Goff worked on: In one, students who were primed with words associated with cats before seeing a video of police officers beating a man considered the beating unjustified. So did those who were primed with words associated with apes but were told the victim was white. But those who were primed with the ape words and told the victim was black weren’t as sure. The association between ‘black’ and ‘ape’ left our white respondents more open to the possibility that police violence might, in fact, be justified,” Goff said.

"In another study—examining 183 criminal cases in which a defendant was eligible for the death penalty, as well as the language used in Philadelphia Enquirer articles about those cases—“it turned out African Americans had significantly more ape-related images ascribed to them than did whites,” said Goff. Worse: “Among African Americans, the more ape-related images you had in your press coverage, the more likely you were to be put to death.” 

Still thinking it's just harmless, 'politically incorrect banter'?  It might be politically incorrect, but it is NOT harmless.

Speaking of political correctness...For those that claim political correctness has gone too far..it's killing our country...blah blah blah, I say this:  demeaning, degrading, sexist and racist language is not merely being political incorrect, it's hurtful and damaging to the very fabric that makes up our nation of immigrants.  

There are many that came before this young woman that worked hard to leave a legacy of a more tolerant society, from both a feminist and racial equality standpoint.  Ashton's story should have been one of only triumph.  Instead I feel like many have been taken 30 years back in just a few shorts months.  This is not okay.  We are a society of changing demographics with evolving expectations for men and women alike.  The white knuckled hold onto the past by the loud minority who longs for old times simply because they weren't part of the demographic that felt the pain of discrimination must come to an end at some point.  Right?  For this great nation's sake I hope so.  

So now I will look to send this young lady the same message I sent to Susan Stanley, of the Detroit Lutheran Northwest team, when we met all those years ago after she watched me play the Charlotte Orioles.  You're not alone and you're awesome and we will, together, keep working each day to change the hearts and minds of those small people who, out of their fear of change, look to dim some of our brightest stars.  If I get a chance to meet her and cheer her on, I'll simply remind her to keep serving the game with dignity.  I look to do this simply to help heal the wound I can only partially understand.  After all, when in doubt, love (not hate) is always the answer. 

Charlie Vincent's Column: