I am actually ok with this. If the players are ok with giving him a second chance, then it probably won't hurt there chemistry.
I mean he might be a racist, I don't know much about him. I heard he dropped the N bomb on a dude who was banging his girl. I don't know of many ways to hurt a kid that age worse than to have sex with his girl. His response was trash, as he probably is but I have seen things like that come from people who aren't really racist, but will say or do anything to hurt a person in that moment.
but he's a college kid who just found out a teammate was sleeping with his girl. It is possible he unwisely went right for something that he knew could hurt his teammate right back and/or lost control of his emotions for a moment. Terrible mistake, but we don't need to write off Reschke like he has a lifetime membership to the Klan
April 26th, 2018 at 10:33 AM ^
I don't think that not racist and Klan member are the only two options here. Dude made a mistake by making a racist statement in a moment of stress. Far from lynching people and burning crosses
April 26th, 2018 at 11:02 AM ^
That's what I'm saying. Being a racist doesn't always mean being a klansman. Reschke is a racist, full stop. If someone resorts to using the n-word in a "moment of stress" they definitely have some underlying issues.
There are a lot of people who would never use that word under ANY circumstances.
April 26th, 2018 at 11:02 AM ^
That's what I'm saying. Being a racist doesn't always mean being a klansman. Reschke is a racist, full stop. If someone resorts to using the n-word in a "moment of stress" they definitely have some underlying issues.
April 26th, 2018 at 11:02 AM ^
April 27th, 2018 at 12:06 AM ^
Have you even been in a real fight? Have you ever been so mad at someone that you completely lost your shit? I am going to guess you haven't, if you had you would not think that a person in that situation is showing his true self. (I am not white by the way) I am sure some people think I am standing up for Reshke but im not. I really don't give a shit about that kid, I just think a bunch of people here are way off on this. What he said was racist, that does not mean he is automatically a racist. Some times I do dumb things, that does not mean I am an idiot. Too many people here speak about this in absolute terms, and I get the impression they don't even understand what real racism is.
April 27th, 2018 at 12:08 PM ^
Have I ever been in a real fight? Yeah, several before I realized how pointless it was. I'm not exactly sure how you came to the conclusion that I would be totally ignorant to the emotional impact of a fight based on my comment. What does your race have to do with your argument? I'm a firm believer that what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart. As I've posted elsewhere on this thread, I think there are degrees of racism. In Reschke's case, what he said was racist and the inclination to use the term he did doesn't just come from nowhere. He's probably not a racist in that he attends klan meetings, but that doesn't mean he's entirely free from racist thought.
April 27th, 2018 at 12:41 PM ^
How many people on this planet do you think are completely free from racist thought? I pointed out that I am not white to infer that I have been on the bad side of real racism, the fact that you think that it's not relevant tells me all I really need to know about you and your opinion on this issue. Have you ever even experienced real racism? I deal with it all the time, and I mediate claims of racism and prejudice between my employer and union pretty often. " I'm a firm believer that what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart."
If that quote from you was true than this world would be a lost cause. I think reasonable people will understand that its really just complete bullshit.
April 27th, 2018 at 12:54 PM ^
Judge, jury, executioner. Check, check, check. Indoctrination was clearly successful in your case.
Look, the N-word is awful by any standards. Aside from that, your black-and-white worldview is annoying and all-too-common in the U.S. these days.
April 26th, 2018 at 10:06 AM ^
April 27th, 2018 at 12:42 AM ^
No he isn’t. The use of the word is bad. Racism is bad. The use of the word does not automatically make him racist. It is certainly evidence that he’s racist, but it’s not necessarily open and shut.
That said, its enough for me to believe the kid is racist, and I’m sure that’s true of more people than are willing to admit. But we have to be able to talk about things logically.
All claims are evidentiary; using the word once is evidence, but it’s not as convincing as using it often or doing other horrible shit.
People who aren't racists don't ever use that word. There are actually a lot of people like that.
April 26th, 2018 at 10:09 AM ^
to anyone except his teammates. Riley Cooper came back and played. A year suspension is a lot. oddly if he had raped someone he would've likely gotten a shorter suspension
April 26th, 2018 at 11:57 AM ^
Didn't Delmon Young get charged with (and admitted to) a hate crime when he shouted anit-semetic slurs at people in NYC and assaulted a guy?
He got two games for that, I believe.
No the fuck they are not. I don't know what world you live in, but that shit is not all black and white. Some people grow up in areas or ways that they become comfortable using the word to where from the outside it looks crazy, but then you will see blacks have no problem with it because they know them and and know they are not like that. I work in a UAW facility and I can tell you with absolute certainty that everything you said is complete bullshit around here.
I feel like if the person used the N word, they already showed it lol. I am kind of surprised by all the negs you got for this comment. At the risk of getting more negs (which I am fine with in order to speak on this topic), If, as a white person, you use the N word, you are racist. Period. This is one area, however, where I believe people do learn and truly change. It is easy to be ignorant when it comes to race as a white person (we simply don't HAVE to think about it most of the time) and once you are forced to think about other peoples experiences, it is pretty powerful. I am totally fine with his teamates deciding if his remorse is genuine and deciding whether or not he can rejoin the team. I also, however, don't believe a white person can use that word in that way and not be racist.
They were the reason he wasn't allowed to remain on the team last season, even after he apologized. They did not forgive him then, as you might have expected for a single comment made when Reschke was understandably hurt.
It's reasonable for them to think he's paid a big enough price, whether they forgive him or not, whether or not they believe he is a racist. Really, I hope that he's not, that his teammates have truly forgiven him and that they have all learned from this experience.
I just think it's unfortunate that Dantonio has chosen to put pressure on the players to vote him back on the team. If there are still hard feelings towards Reshke, it doesn't seem like a good way to resolve them.
April 26th, 2018 at 10:30 AM ^
not just fro him, but his teammates as well. You can't shun everyone you don't like or disagree with. Put them in a locker room together, make them work together and depend on each other, and allow them to build a mutual respect. It's just as important for those who were offended. They need to learn to be able to move past it, because it won't be the last time someone uses that word around them.
April 26th, 2018 at 10:30 AM ^
not just from him, but his teammates as well. You can't shun everyone you don't like or disagree with. Put them in a locker room together, make them work together and depend on each other, and allow them to build a mutual respect. It's just as important for those who were offended. They need to learn to be able to move past it, because it won't be the last time someone uses that word around them.
April 26th, 2018 at 11:28 AM ^
April 26th, 2018 at 12:16 PM ^
if his teammates say no. He was probably hoping to get back on the team he started with. There's also the "where would he go" issue. Knowing why he was booted, what school would risk putting him in the locker room and messing up again.
April 26th, 2018 at 12:44 PM ^
but why try to rejoin the team now? Wouldn't this have made more sense before spring practice? Reschke shouldn't have needed this semester to graduate.
I understand that some teams wouldn't want him. I'd bet many would have though, depending on what Dantonio said. Any interested coach would obviously want to talk to Dantonio about what happened and Reschke's character.
If this idea of "true" racists is real, how do you reconcile that with the idea of structural racism in America? How is having "biases against other races" not racist? Why is the idea of being called racist so offensive?
The key concept is "passive" vs "active." For purposes of this response, define active racism as when you purposefully target hate speech (or actions) at someone of another race because of their race. The creation of structural racism owes a lot to such people. The persistence of structural racism, however, owes more to people passively living their lives in the current system without pushing to change it. That's not active racism, and most of the people going about their lives without actively working to address racial injustice probably don't consider themselves racist. Indeed, many of them may be quite disgusted by active racism, and would bristle being labeled with that same term. I believe this answers your question -- if you use the word "racist" without qualification to refer not only to people who are actively racist, but to anyone who has a bias or does not actively work to end structural racism, you're going to offend a lot of people who don't use that same expansive definition of what racism is. Whether structural racism can be meaningfully addressed without action on the part of those who currently only passive participants in it is a debatable question (my guess is no), but calling the passive folks "racist" is more likely to irritate them than it is to prompt them to do real soul searching.
April 26th, 2018 at 10:18 AM ^
Thanks for the response. My point is that we need to expand the definition of what racism is. If we only save it for people burning crosses in white robes, then we aren't talking about it at all. The truth is that many of those "passive" participants are quite satisfied with the racial hierarchy in this country enough to angrily defend any sort of discourse as "divisive" and "not helpful." I would say it IS useful to call out racism where you see it, even if it makes people irritated. Civil Rights is never popular, even MLK (who is lionized now) had a 66% disapproval rating in 1966 per Gallup.
April 26th, 2018 at 11:11 AM ^
April 26th, 2018 at 11:51 AM ^
You don't think it's possible to overuse the term and inure people to the idea? For one thing, I consider it wrong to treat racism as an evil, vile, and insidious thing, and then brand the whole world with it. The reason people label that kind of thing "divisive and not helpful" is not because they're satisfied with a "racial hierarchy." It's because if you define a particular term as vile and evil and worthy of complete eradication, and then indiscriminately lump everything into that term, that really is not helpful.
The more power you desire to attach to a word, the more careful you have to be in using it. Because the more indiscriminate you are in using it, the less power you attach to the word.
April 26th, 2018 at 12:05 PM ^
Ya this.
A perfect example of this is "slavery" or "being a slave"
I recall some pro athletes saying they are just slaves to the team owners and league. I couldn't help but think how offended an actual slave would be today knowing that said athlete(s) makes tens of millions of dollars a year and lives better than 95% of people in this country but lumps themself in with the slaves that lived their lives chained, beaten, and raped daily.
April 26th, 2018 at 12:36 PM ^
I see your point, but even consider some of the other responses in this thread. It's not like we're accusing of Reschke of being racist because he flipped someone off in traffic;he used the word that no one should even write down. We reflexively justify what he did as a"one-time thing" and give the benefit of the doubt that he's not REALLY like this. If we can't even agree that this guy is racist, then we've lost the word completely. Apply it to only neo-nazis and Klansmen and people will stop believing it's a real thing. Then when the videos of police abuse or stories of racism come out like they do every week, people will shrug and say there's probably a good reason for it all that doesn't involve racism. We won't get anywhere tip-toeing around white people's objections to being called out for their poor behavior
"If we can't even agree that this guy is racist, then we've lost the word completely."
To take it a step further, even if he was racist last year when it happened, does that necessarily make him racist now? What if he went thru conseling? What if he sees things differently? I don't think racism is definitely irreversible. And to be clear, we don't know if any of those steps were taken, but I would bet those voting on the matter would know what was done and how the guy has changed if he has.
April 26th, 2018 at 10:02 AM ^
is systemic and structural racism, sexism, classism, etc., that is real, but everybody within a certain culture is a product of that system or structure, and most had no say in how or why that structure was created. Most people are just trying to get by in their reality, whatever it may, and literally don't have the time or platform to really even consider the source and operation of structural discrimination, let alone do anything to correct it, individually.
Does that make that person a "racist?" I don't have the answer to that question. I don't think so. I believe that an individual "racist" is different than a person who operates pragmatically within a pre-defined societal structure that posits them somewhat helpless to correct such defects without sacrificing self-interest. A racist hates people of other races irrationally and due to the specific traits and characteristics of that race, and often arrives there because of deep-seeded insecurity over their own identity.
I don't think those are the same thing.
This discussion really has nothing to do with Reschke now. As to that, I just have no idea why Dantonio would open this box back up and have this discussion surounding that program right now for a 6th year linebacker who didn't play a snap last year. That makes no sense to me.
April 26th, 2018 at 11:01 AM ^
Why is the idea of being called racist so offensive?
Because, apparently, being racist is enough to cost you your football career. Which in turn makes it worse than being a felon, at least in East Lansing.
April 26th, 2018 at 10:18 AM ^
April 26th, 2018 at 10:34 AM ^
April 26th, 2018 at 11:01 AM ^
I don't disagree with your premise, that lumping the entire spectrum of prejudice/racist together seems wrong in some ways. I don't want to take this too far into politics, but the problem is prejudice and true incidious racism are not really all that different when it come to the impact they have on people of color in terms of making decisions to uphold racist systems that do damage to those people.
in how they regard people of other races and ethnicities. But it's how you speak and act towards them that matters.
but I know a lot of black guys who might drop an N bomb on a guy who was banging their gal.
However, Mr. Reschke should realize the rules are different for him and there are many other words he could have used instead.
It's offensive for a white person to say it because it calls back to a time when black people were treated as property. Black people use it to reclaim ownership of the word.
and meaning among whites and blacks. It is invariably used as a pejorative among whites but has as many meanings as the word "fuck" among blacks. It's tough for whites to understand the nuances and its historical usage has such a negative connotation it's better not to use it at all.
I used to play basketball with a bunch of nice black kids who were in the 18-20 age range. I was easily twice their age and they threw the word around playfully among themselves. I asked them not to use it for the reasons you outlined. They politely looked at me like I was from Mars; at that point I realized it was none of my business.