Richie Incognito, a white man, said the word "nigger." That's bad. Shannon Sharpe gave an impassioned, emotive performance about why the notion of Richie Incognito, a white man, saying the word "nigger" was so offensive. He said: "[Y]ou allow this, in an open locker room to take place, is unacceptable. I'm so disappointed. I just hope that someone was misquoted. I hope I'm wrong and they didn't allow Incognito to say this racially charged word in a locker room and go unchecked. I'm embarrassed. If he said that to Jonathan Martin, he didn't only say it to him, he's talking to you too. Because if you're black, you know what that word means." Yet last year, the Washington Redskins brought in Shannon Sharpe to give a motivational talk to the Redskins players. That's cool, although the strategy hasn't seemed to really work that well on the field for the Redskins. Still, it's odd that neither Shannon Sharpe, or really any of the NFL folks that decry Incognito's racial slurs, have bothered to point that Sharpe and every other NFL announcer speaks a racial slur every single week -- Redskins. So the argument goes, Richie Incognito saying (and texting) the word "nigger" shouldn't bother Sharpe. After all, Richie Incognito, according to teammates, was an "honorary black man." That gave him permission to use the word as he saw fit, or that's the way he saw it. Obviously these black men in the Miami Dolphins locker room weren't offended by his use, and so that made it OK, right?Get the Story:
Gyasi Ross: Richie Incognito, Redskins and Racism in the NFL (The Huffington Post 11/21)
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