Back in 1983 when the NFL was still awesome, the iconic sportscaster Howard Cosell called Redskin’s black wide receiver Alvin Garret a “little monkey” in praise of his ability to get open on a pass play. Calls for Cosell’s scalp began immediately. “The Rev. Joseph Lowery, then-president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, denounced Cosell’s comment as racist and demanded a public apology. Despite supportive statements by Jesse Jackson, Muhammad Ali, and Alvin Garrett himself, the fallout contributed to Cosell’s decision to leave Monday Night Football following the 1983 season.
“I liked Howard Cosell,” Garrett said. “I didn’t feel that it was a demeaning statement.”
Cosell had always supported black athletes and been an equal rights proponent. “Little monkey” was a term of endearment he used in reference to his own grandchildren, and had previously used to describe white athletes as well, as in this description of the the white Mike Adamle:
But none of that proof mattered and the backlash he received from haunted him the rest of his life. I was reminded of that incident because of what looks to me like a similar non-issue that occurred at a Dallas Texas school.
Dallas Parent Wants School Employee Fired Over ‘Monkey’ Comment
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – A Dallas mom is pushing for a Dallas ISD staff member to be fired.
Brittany Miner said the Edna Rowe Elementary School employee first called her son a monkey then associated the term with his appearance three weeks ago.
A DISD spokesperson said that staff member has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
“He was jumping around, playing, 5-year-old kid behavior,” Miner said. “As she approached us and got closer she was like ‘oh he’s running around, he’s like a little monkey’.”
So what? My dad used to call me and my sister “little monkeys” when we were small and playing in the yard. Does anyone else think that in this age of “everything is racist,” that a school employee would say such a thing with no other intent than it being harmless compliment regarding the child’s spryness?
Then, allegedly, a warning was issued.
Miner said she told the staff member it’s not okay to call him a monkey.
“She then proceeded to say ‘Oh look at his little face,” Miner said.
How DARE she counter that warning by giving the child a compliment!
Miner said she was willing to give the employee the benefit of the doubt after the first comment, but believes commenting on her son’s appearance afterwards was racist.
“That lets me know that she doesn’t have any regard to what she was saying to people of color,” Miner said.
I’m not entirely clear what that semi-coherent sentence means, but I’ll assume it means she was racist. To the rest of world, “Oh, look at his little face,” means, “Look how cute he is!” I don’t know what planet Miner resides on, but here on earth it’s not racist to call a child cute . . . although it seems that we have just arrived at that sad state of affairs.
She now wants to see the staffer fired.
She’s asked an attorney to help her.
“We want to make sure that an employee like that is not around children of color or children in general,” attorney Justin Moore said.
Moore said if the employee is not fired they’re going to explore a civil rights lawsuit.
CBS 11 asked DISD what the staffer had to say about the allegations against her.
The district said it could not comment. The employee could not be found for comment.
What’s the moral to this story? I’m not sure there is one other than if you work at a school, watch what you say if you value your job because everything is racist and triggering now. The school employee will probably lose her job over nothing.
It makes me wonder what happens when two snowflakes go on a date? How would that conversation go? I think it would go something like what’s depicted in the hilarious video in the link below:
