Racism survives in everyday comments

I attended the home opening football game at Bragg Stadium.

As usual, people who had absolutely no interest in the game surrounded me. They sang love songs, quoted scenes from “Coming to America,” and screamed for the band to play “S.O.S.”

Although I disregarded most of what they were saying, there was one thing that I couldn’t ignore.

Every time Charlie Allen, a talented senior wide receiver, caught a pass, this guy behind me would shout, “Why is that white boy in the starting line-up” or “I didn’t know the Timberlake from N’SYNC played for us.”

Everyone thought that he was so funny. I, however, did not find it amusing.

His comments were racist and they had no place at a football game or anywhere else.

If a white man screamed similar comments to a black player at Florida State, he would be automatically kicked out of the stadium.

Earlier this year three men of Middle Eastern descent were arrested in Naples for suspicion of a terrorist attack.

Eunice Stone, the woman who called the authorities on the men, said she overheard the men saying that if people thought 9/11 was bad, wait until they see 9/13.

I know in the wake of Sept. 11 most people are still worried about another attack, but you must put people’s comments into perspective.

For example, I have overheard many FAMU students say that if they don’t get their net checks, they will blow up Foote-Hilyer.

Even if these three men were joking about 9/11, it was probably an empty threat. The fact they were arrested for an act that someone thought they would commit is not only racist, but yet another example of racial profiling.

If you believe that racism is over, then you are totally oblivious to your surroundings.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become reality…I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”

Things have come a long way since King passed, but this country still has a long way to go.

Jabari Bodrick, 20, is a junior public relations student from Charlotte, N.C. He can be reached at jbodrick@yahoo.com.