r/redsox • u/cheese_sdc • Jul 02 '26
IMAGE No reason at all for this.
To those that continue to hide your head in the sand about racist language.
Boy is a term long used by white people to strip the dignity of those we try to other and dehumanize.
To the point where the white power structures will hold bayonets to those that reject it.
Learn better, be better.
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u/BornSalamander8 Jul 02 '26
Boston sports fans speaking out against racism toward POC athletes. This city has really changed.
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u/Past_Isopod_4866 Jul 02 '26
I don't think the city of Boston = the red Sox sub reddit
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u/JoeWatchingTheTown Jul 02 '26
Yeah a lot more Black folks in the city.
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u/TBBuccanneers92 Jul 09 '26
They taxi fares in the city is crazy too idk why they allow them to take rides honestly.
Those guys are the worst. Fare to get home and they couldn’t get out of their own dang way. Went 50 ft and it was like $5.00 lol
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u/TBBuccanneers92 Jul 09 '26
Maybe because they aren’t doing the things that bring uprise back to the community. Wonder whose fault they think that is? I blame RedSox and MBTA failures.
I mean local businesses leaving and lower wages. Higher cost of living. Those are community problems not just a city mayor and state department problem.
Beers shouldn’t ever be more than $10. Tickets in outfield never more than $20-25.
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u/AutoRot Jul 02 '26
Well hopefully. I’d be more impressed with Nats fans calling this out. Or if the Boston player was the one slinging racial slurs, and we called it out.
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u/DCHacker Jul 03 '26
Given the people who live in the Washington Metropolitan area, I should be surprised that the Nationals fans are not too hard on Cavalli for this.
Then, consider how the Capitals fans defend Wilson, King of the Cheap Shots.
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u/MoneyTalks45 Jul 02 '26
I've lived in New England almost my entire life and I can confidently assure you that Eastern MA is the least racist pocket lol.
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u/EngineAltruistic3189 Jul 02 '26
which is not quite the same thing as saying it’s not racist :)
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u/MoneyTalks45 Jul 02 '26
There are shitty people everywhere, unfortunately.
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u/EngineAltruistic3189 Jul 02 '26
oh yes, and you are right, just kind of enjoying the ambiguous language
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u/DCHacker Jul 03 '26
When that Roket Scientist yelled that nonsense at Adam Jones in 2017, people spoke up against it. The fans applauded him the next day at his first at-bat of the game. The Red Sox Security tossed the guy when it was brought to their attention.
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u/WarlordofBritannia Jul 02 '26
The home of abolition has never deserved that rep.
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u/DCHacker Jul 03 '26
In that era, it did deserve that reputation. There were anti-slavery riots in Boston. Massachusetts was one of three states that did something to eliminate slavery even before the end of the War of Independence. In the case of Massachusetts, it was done by judicial review which effectively banned slavery in 1781 and absolutely banned it in the spring of 1783 (The de jure end of the War of Independence was September, 1783). Massachusetts is the only state that banned slavery by judicial review.
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Jul 05 '26
You wouldn’t believe how racist and intolerant some of the younger generation is that is graduating from HS and college now… somehow the left and right are switching again
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u/TBBuccanneers92 Jul 09 '26
Idc tbh. Lol I’m worried about real life city/community problems. That’s not even a single person crisis imo.
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u/New_Seaweed_6554 Jul 02 '26
I saw posts on another thread concerning this incident from people from the south in general and Oka who claim they had no idea that boy was a racist insult……is that even possible?
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u/SeaworthinessOk834 Jul 02 '26
Oklahoma ranks 50th in education. Massachusetts ranks 1st.
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u/Weird-Work-2803 Jul 02 '26
You’re confusing education with intelligence.
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u/SeaworthinessOk834 Jul 02 '26
If the claim is ignorance, the problem is education.
Thinking that "shut up, nerd" is a worthy comeback is an issue of intelligence.
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u/Whats_Opera_Doc Jul 02 '26
I'm from New Hampshire, one of the whitest states in the union, whiter than damn cream cheese, and I vividly remember the conversation we had in second grade English about the racial implications of calling people "boy". Sorry, but I believe that was an absolute deliberate slight from some Oklahoman hick
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u/JakeFC Jul 02 '26
They also refer to the civil war as the “war of northern aggression.” No surprise they still don’t get it because they don’t care.
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u/WarlordofBritannia Jul 02 '26
No one tell them that what Oklahoma was called during the Civil War
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u/DCHacker Jul 03 '26
Despite that, of the eleven states that seceded, nine mentioned slavery in their Aritcles of Secession.
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u/TBBuccanneers92 Jul 09 '26
Wish NH had few acres of land for sale not seeing anything right now. Ughh
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u/pingwing Jul 02 '26
Pure ignorance. The racism is so ingrained they see nothing wrong with it.
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u/Curious-Entry8719 Jul 02 '26
Idk I’m from the same area as Cavalli and people say “sit down boy” all the time as trash talk. As you can imagine, not a lot of black people in Bixby so it’s not shocking that he wouldn’t think of it as a racial statement.
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u/Manwar7 Jul 02 '26
It’s definitely possible. I’m from NC and probably didn’t know about it until late high school. I worked with a white guy at a restaurant who was ~22 and he said something along the lines of “boy you’re crazy” to a black cook and got told off pretty hard. I believe he genuinely had no idea what he was saying.
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u/bex021 Jul 04 '26
I work with a 20 year old Muslim guy who called a 60+ year old Black man "boy" the other day. Management overheard (50s white lady, but super progressive and kind). I asked her privately if management could talk to the young man and let him know "boy" was a racially charged term to refer to a grown Black man as (especially in the south) and she acted surprised. I honestly believe the young man was using "boy" as "hip slang," not racially. But that doesn't matter. No one held him accountable or educated him. Smh. How on earth am I (40s, white, from the North) the only one besides the 60 yo Black man aware of how wrong this is?
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u/EngineAltruistic3189 Jul 02 '26
nope.
It IS used widely in the south to whites as well in a way “kid” is sometimes used here.
But everyone knows it’s racist when used on a person of color.
So that dog won’t hunt.
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u/Scoobydewdoo Jul 02 '26
I'm from NH and didn't know it was an insult. I think this might just be a case of people not understanding context, it's the way the word was used that made it offensive, not the word itself.
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u/--beaster-- Jul 02 '26
It's particularly wild to see the defenders in this subreddit. Being blinded by fandom/dislike or Contreras to justify it makes a miniscule shred of sense to me (read: barely any sense at all and still ignorant as hell) but to have that removed and still be like "idk Contreras overreacted Cavalli clearly didn't mean it like that" with David Ortiz flair next to your name is truly braindead. Fix your hearts you fucks.
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u/WarlordofBritannia Jul 02 '26
Cavalli didn't even apologize. All he said was that he felt "torn up," ie he felt bad because of all the criticism being thrown his way. Never said "I apologize" or "I'm sorry."
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u/eaglescout67 Jul 02 '26
At some point the Washington PR will put out a Cavalli quote that includes “that does not represent who I am or the person I want to be. I will strive to be better.” Meanwhile he is blaming the liberals and wondering why there is such backlash when everyone at home uses this terminology or worse.
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u/solariam Jul 02 '26
They've already put out a statement that is not an apology to Willson but acknowledges the history and why what he said was wrong. Likely not coincidentally, he's on a team that likely has the highest concentration of homegrown Black talent in baseball, has a youth academy that primarily serves black children in DC, and is located in a city that had the nickname "Chocolate City".
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u/DCHacker Jul 03 '26
I will strive to be better.”
One of the statements that he issued does contain words similar.
Meanwhile he is blaming the liberals
The Nationals fans are defending him. He is blaming his own fans, then, if he is doing this. If you want to find giulty white liberals, D.C. is the place to look. Check out r/washingtondc . Post one "wrong" word there and the Banhammer Bennys and Bettys will be tripping over each other to drop that Banhammer on you.
It is curious, given the politics of the average resident, here.
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u/EngineAltruistic3189 Jul 02 '26
and seemed most concerned about being labeled that way vs the hurt the words caused. Even the PR influenced “black kid who used to look up to me”was about his reputation.
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u/Informal-Potato-9890 Jul 03 '26
Until I see the words from that statement come out of his mouth I don’t even believe he said that he was torn up etc…. It’s PR spin all over it. I mean they are in DC aren’t they?
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u/TransformersGuru Jul 02 '26
I'm a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, so I know Contreras better than most fans, he's a hothead and he goes from 0 to 100 at the drop of a hat, and while him going to Suck Louis is indefensible, there is not justification for anyone to call him or another player of Color "boy".
Whether it was mean to be offensive or not, the optics are that of being offensive. This is one of the few times that Contreras being a hot head is defendable
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u/eaglescout67 Jul 02 '26
Please give me an example of how a pitcher would bark this at a hitter and it was not intended to be offensive?
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u/ElephantCares Jul 02 '26
Exactly. Please give me an example of Caveli barking that at a hitter who is white.
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u/damfu Jul 02 '26
Offensive and racist are not the same thing.
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u/eaglescout67 Jul 02 '26
But racist is offensive and what he said was offensive because it was racist.
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u/TransformersGuru Jul 02 '26
I was playing devil's advocate here, we all know it was meant to be offensive
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u/Youbannedmebutimhere Jul 02 '26
He did more than suck in St. Louis. He sucked major donkey balls.
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u/Androidfon Jul 02 '26
He has been fantastic on the Red Sox, our only offense really.
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u/Youbannedmebutimhere Jul 02 '26
I don’t know what St. Louis is think signing players off the cubs. He and Dexter Fowler were both huge washes.
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u/AntiPlagueRats Jul 02 '26
it's rather funny to see how many people are surprised by the negative reactions. Boston is not nearly as progressive as you want to think. look up the percentage of votes that the rapist got. Look up the school busing issues. Look up Jaylen Browns comments on his experiences. Those of us that are black and brown in Boston are not surprised.
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u/WarlordofBritannia Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
Too many think being progressive makes them immune from being racist, when in truth you can't live in America and NOT be at least a little racist.
Is Massachusetts generally better on racial issues? Yes. But this state, like this nation, is founded on an original sin that still has not been redeemed; just as being an abolitionist did not automatically mean one was a egalitarian, being better is not the same as being perfect.
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u/SilentRanger42 Jul 02 '26
Boston and the city around it is quite progressive, the region as a whole is only slightly left of the rest of the country.
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u/MomsAgainstMarijuana Jul 02 '26
Yeah entirely, the city has changed but it's not changed as much as some people would like to pretend.
fwiw, Suffolk county went 74-22 for Kamala while Mass overall was 61-36 (fourth best Dem performance in the country after DC, Vermont and Maryland). I just don't think that's the best indicator for racism is the thing, plenty of people will vote Kamala one minute and then say "is Boy really that bad?" the next.
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u/sadistic-squid Jul 02 '26
I’ve traveled and lived in many states, basically lived in all regions of America. The Midwest (Great Lakes region) and the north east (mostly Massachusetts and New England in general) were some of the most racist places I’ve been. Believe it or not the south didn’t feel racist at all when I lived there. I disagree wholeheartedly with their politics but they knew that that’s something you never talk about. They also knew to treat me and my family well at least in front of us. But in Boston and the areas I mentioned before, people would look at us sideways and wouldn’t want to talk to us or serve us in public or at stores. I just never felt that great in those places.
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u/Own_Proposal3827 Jul 02 '26
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u/cheese_sdc Jul 02 '26
Baseball just exists outside of the context of society? Wierd.
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u/MrPewps Jul 02 '26
They have “I block dummies” in their profile. You’re unfortunately arguing with a dense brick wall
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u/fliffcounter Jul 02 '26
This is the kind of content we get when the team is 11 games under .500.
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u/zara2355 Jul 02 '26
Sigh....some of the responses here do absolutely nothing to improve our reputation as some of the most racist fans in baseball. Tori Hunter wasnt wrong, sadly
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u/Illustrious-Poem-211 Jul 02 '26
+ Adam Jones
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u/Go_Cart_Mozart Jul 02 '26
+Betts, which is why he wanted out of here.
I'm gonna go put on my helmet for all the down votes
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u/Corn1989 Jul 02 '26
No he wanted out because of money. Plain and simple. He was going to test free agency no matter what
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u/Alternative-Farmer98 Jul 03 '26
Not just racist but just generally bigoted as we learn from people defending Duran.
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Jul 02 '26
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u/zara2355 Jul 02 '26
His homophobia doesnt negate the racism that Sox fans exhibited. He can be a bigot while still experiencing racism himself. Not that hard to understand. But yeah, your tactic is fairly common to deflect using "whataboutism" to attempt to denegrate the original issue. So..... perhaps some introspection might help you? Do better man. Talk to some folks outside your circle. Read books.
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u/WarlordofBritannia Jul 02 '26
As my post yesterday (now pulled down) tried to teach people the language people use to describe this incident can be racist too. The coverage has been largely subtly racist, depicting Contreras as wildly emotional or shifting the conversation to whether "boy" is racist (and it absolutely is).
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u/arrjay52 Jul 02 '26
How in any way is "Sit down boy" not offensive to ANY man, let alone the implication of 'boy' as racist. He could have yelled Ya, like most pitchers do..or even 'Gotcha ya'. Or even turned away and yelled out to his teammates. NO, this is bullshit, and Cavelli should pay. MLB needs to be better. Think back to #42
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u/WarlordofBritannia Jul 02 '26
We all know which side Cavelli would have been on in 1947...and 1861 for that matter
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u/Corn1989 Jul 02 '26
Why are we still talking about this?!
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u/Dihydrogenmonoxide-_ Jul 02 '26
Reddit makes literally everything about racism, meanwhile no one on real life cares.
Reddit has totally lost its grip on reality and the sooner everyone realizes that, the better.
Internet anonymity was a mistake
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Jul 02 '26
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u/cheese_sdc Jul 02 '26
It's a chance to learn to be better. Try it, you might like it.
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u/Quarrels_Barkley Jul 02 '26
Maybe they shouldn’t! Maybe calling out racism is a good thing actually idk
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u/bobcollum Jul 03 '26
Honestly even without the racial connotations, a guy calling another guy "boy" is intending to demean or belittle him. He's an asshole any way you slice it.
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Jul 02 '26
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u/WarlordofBritannia Jul 02 '26
I have never meant some one who actually has a "racial guilt complex" and I'm fairly left-wing.
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Jul 02 '26
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u/WarlordofBritannia Jul 03 '26
I look at OP's post and I think the message is to not be on the wrong side of history. I have no idea how you got "White people should feel bad" when there is literally a white guy participating in the protest.
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u/BoSox92 Jul 02 '26
Yeah me and my guys talk like this all the time , i think we’re digging deep here.
Contreras has a permanent victim mentality anyways
Most people I know use Boy as in “I’m your daddy” this is just a wild reach
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u/Dry_Flatworm8304 Jul 02 '26
Agreed. I don’t think it was cool, and I think Contreras had every right to get hot but I really don’t think this is a civil rights issue. Just my opinion.
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u/yeti8102 Jul 03 '26
Agreed. “Tough guys” use this term to demean someone they think is weaker or lesser than them, not racists, and definitely not towards a Venezuelan in that aspect. Jesus, here goes the internet with another racism grab…it’s favorite topic.
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u/Alternative-Farmer98 Jul 03 '26
Most people you know...
Yeah well you didn't grow up in the same culture where you know there was cattle slavery as the basis for the economy for several centuries.
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u/DCHacker Jul 03 '26
I do not know how sensitive the local moderators are on the Nationals sub-Reddit. For this reason, I put up the equivalent of a "Let him who has eyes......." post simply listing the suspensions and their equivalents for the pitchers. On the surface, it is simply a listing of known facts.
The idea was to demonstrate that MLB's action was lacking. Cavalli got a seven game suspension. He misses two starts. Consider that when Gurriel made that gesture, in the dugout (READ: out of the public view) during the 2017 World Series, he got a five game suspension, the full five days of which he served at the beginning of the 2018 season. What Cavalli did was close to that. He should miss more than two starts.
I somewhat get Contreras' suspension. He did throw the helmet which could cause injury. Still, consider that Bryce Harper (at the time with Washington), in the same 2017, got only a four game suspension for the same thing (which was reduced to three on appeal). The results were similar. Why does Contreras get seven while Harper got only four?
Mikolas misses two appearances (Washington usually uses an opener for him when it is his turn in the rotation, which did not happen at Fenway), Eaton is a bench guy so his three games is about equivalent.
As others have mentioned, the Nationals fans are defending their guy. This is no surprise; you should see how Washington hockey fans defend Wilson. I get it that Cavalli was pumped after a strike-out. Contreras even admitted that it was a good pitch. The "siddown" part is understandable. The "boy" ain't. Cavalli should have known better. As one Oklahoman here has indicated, even the farm guys down there do not throw around "boy".
Cavalli and Contreras should miss the same number of games,
FULL DISCLOSURE: i have been a Red Sox fan since I was a child. When my fatherr started to take me to Fenway, Yastrzemski's career was just beginning and Williams' was winding down. I live in Washington now. Girlfriend is a Nationals fan. We go to the games, so I use this sub-Reddit and the Nationals.
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u/Silly-Drummer-1493 Jul 04 '26
It's so weird to me. Even if it wasn't racist, and it was, no grown man should be calling another grown man boy as an insult. Everyone on that field is a man, no questions. Just call him a loser or whatever if you need to trash talk. But boy between two grown men should always be too far.
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u/Tonyracs Jul 04 '26
Im 43, white guy raised with a black step-dad. From jersey. I had no idea calling a poc boy was racist. Genuinely dont know if im ignorant about it or people just want to be outraged, And at this point im too afraid to ask.
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u/spugliano1 Jul 05 '26
Haha. That is NOT what is happening in this picture. This is a military parade where the bayonets were out because of the parade and had nothing to do with the protesters. Typical lies of these days. Twisting reality
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u/TBBuccanneers92 Jul 09 '26
Just idiots everywhere. Loooking for attention.
Just stfu and go to work pay the bills and move on.
Not that hard.
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u/Boring-Manager-9339 Jul 02 '26
do you feel better after posting this? how many high fives did you get?
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u/Weird-Work-2803 Jul 02 '26
Wow, this sub is horrendous. All the talk about people from a certain place being ignorant. You are all asses for that.
Having a predetermined assumption about a group of people isn’t good guys. You’re doing the same thing you’re arguing against.
There’s a reason everyone thinks Sox fans are insufferable. Grow up.
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u/peeja Jul 02 '26
Who's saying he's ignorant? He's saying he was ignorant. I'm sure he knew exactly what he was saying.
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Jul 02 '26
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u/Alternative-Farmer98 Jul 03 '26
You're just doing the opposite You're doing vice signaling.
You're acting like it's wrong to be mad about racism and it's awesome and based to be racist. Are you forgetting that you're not on the asmongold/quartering subreddit.
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u/Alternative-Farmer98 Jul 03 '26
This is the only post this person is ever made and it's just to be racist
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u/eljefe38theboss Jul 02 '26
Cavalli is a racist asshole, dude is scum and did not receive proper discipline. Crazy that people think what he said was ok.
Whats also crazy is how quickly this sub was to generalize and condemn everyone from Oklahoma, immediately calling them all uneducated bigots... meanwhile our next two starting pitchers were born and raised in Oklahoma. I'm sure Tolle and Bennett felt great getting to see what this fan base thinks of them and their family based off some other asshole's actions.
The hypocrisy continued when all the reasons given for why Oklahoma is a "shithole" and why all the residents are "shity", i.e., poor education, high crime, low wages, bigotry, are all chronic issues of other states and foreign countries that some of our players are from. Are we now generalizing all of them the same way? Wonder how they feel about that assumption.
The final straw in this barrage of ignorant self righteousness was when people decided to make a joke of the Tulsa Race Riots and OKC bombing, calling it "a bombed out shithole of a state." Crazy that after 2013 people would think making a bomb joke is funny or good taste.
This is in no way defending Cavalli, dude is scum, or trying to say everyone in Oklahoma or the world is a saint, but this fanbase needs to be better and think before they speak.
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u/PCM97 Jul 02 '26
Holy shit this is so dramatic. Stop virtue signaling
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u/cheese_sdc Jul 02 '26
Holy shit, this is so dramatic - recognize racism when it is in your face!
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u/Worried-Vegetable-55 Jul 03 '26
You’re clearly searching for racism that isn’t even there, go touch grass.
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u/PCM97 Jul 02 '26
You reach for racism. This whole thing is a micro-aggression spun by media and hypersensitive “fans”
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u/cheese_sdc Jul 02 '26
Learn better, be better.
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u/PCM97 Jul 02 '26
Save the meaningless platitudes bro
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u/cheese_sdc Jul 02 '26
You enjoy that feeling of your own virtue signaling? I bet you do.
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Jul 02 '26
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u/-R3DF0X Jul 02 '26
What a total overreaction.
It is just a word used in trash talking.
What noun would you use when trash talking someone and saying "Sit down, ___"?
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u/thatshowyougetantsok Jul 02 '26
lol people of all races say boy all the time not everything is a dog whistle. I’m a white guy and I’ve been called boy by white and black opponents playing football in high school and college. This is totally blown out of proportion.
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u/Illustrious-Poem-211 Jul 02 '26
“I’m a white person who isn’t offended by this, therefore it doesn’t matter.”
Might as well say racism doesn’t exist because you don’t experience it.
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u/thatshowyougetantsok Jul 02 '26
Nah I just don’t get offended on the behalf of others over nothing then post it to reddit for internet points. Do you honestly believe Cade hates black people based off some shit talk? Grow up.
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u/cheese_sdc Jul 02 '26
Wrong.
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u/Worried-Vegetable-55 Jul 03 '26
You probably have very little life experience outside of your cushy bubble.
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u/ThreePuttBogey5 Jul 02 '26
Haha, Boston is one of the most racist cities in the US. Racial slurs are thrown out from the stands to the players and sometimes Redsox players have even homophoblic slurs to fans.
Contreras is also a thin skinned pos that likes to dish it out but then loses his mind when it gets thrown back to him. That has been the story in Stl, Chi, and with the Sox.
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u/ZestycloseSquirrel55 Jul 02 '26
Serious question:
Was there a recent racist incident concerning the Red Sox? I live in Mass and had no idea.
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u/peeja Jul 02 '26
Yes. Cavalli struck out Contreras and barked, "Sit down, boy!"
Contreras charged the mound, the benches and bullpens cleared, and there was a pretty serious fight (or an attempt at one, with players holding others back).
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u/rexeditrex Jul 02 '26
The real issue is that while Contreras was rightly ejected, there were no consequences for Cavalli. Maybe he can use the n-word next.
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u/ChuntStevens ballslapper Jul 02 '26
Shit, I’ve been out of the loop, which one of our starters called Contreras “boy”?
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u/timd1967 Jul 02 '26
So Pat this has to be explained, AGAIN. Next we’ll have to have an explanation why whites can’t say the N-word, AGAIN.
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u/MunsterSetter Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
I am of an age and from a region where I must check myself and call myself a recovering bigot. What changed me, hopefully for the better, was that in my time, I have seen love & kindness from every representative race & creed on this Earth. Surely that must mean something. I decided that I could never stand before our creator some day and attempt to defend unthinking & unthinkable hate. It maybe apocryphal, but Pee Wee Reese once said, "Maybe tomorrow we'll all wear number 42." Live by the Golden Rule.
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u/Alternative-Farmer98 Jul 03 '26
Yeah I agree but accordingly this is why I think Duran doesn't get enough criticism in here.
Like his slur was even more overt like nobody would argue that that's not a slur. He got a two-day suspension and that's it and now people bite your head off if you even mention it
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u/cookiesNcreme89 Jul 02 '26
Fuck anyone that soft. And fuck contreras. If there's a curse word in the rulebook nobody can say, fine. If not, grow up!
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u/IAmTheSchnozz95 Jul 02 '26
FWIW, it’s used pretty commonly in non-racist contexts as just a generally insulting term. You hear it all the time in pretty much any NFL mic’d up video. If Cavalli wasn’t white it wouldn’t be a story at all. Contreras himself didn’t even identify it as being racially motivated, just insulting.
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u/Traditional_Half842 Jul 02 '26
I think lumping a light-skinned Venezuelan (who moved to the US when he was 18) in with black Americans from the Civil Rights movement is in and of itself a form a ignorance/racism. I'm not saying it's impossible for there to be some overlap, and I'm not defending Cavalli because I dunno anything about him and maybe he is really a bigot. But Willson Contreras is not the same as the men this photograph. Lots of "I'm an ally!" white people treating racism like its binary - and that anyone darker than them is the same / a victim in this context - is ironically a form of racism on its own.
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u/PinkynotClyde Jul 02 '26
He didn’t know that and apologized. Not sure what the continued dramatics are about as he was treating Contreras the same as his family.
These things are good learning experiences about context. Not everyone knows all the history and that you have to treat people different based on that history.
As a youth we called each other kid, as in a young kid, which was half insult half endearing. If there was some ancient context to that which offended people it would be ridiculous to carry on like we were heathens… well, other than to front righteousness.
It’s fine to teach context, but the dramatics are overboard based on something that didn’t have the intent you’re showing.
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u/poguemahone32 Jul 02 '26
you mentioned "ancient context" and i think it's important to note that people who experienced jim crow segregation are still alive. it is not ancient, it is still within living memory.
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u/ThicDikDaddy Jul 02 '26
The people that protested Ruby Bridges are now creating laws to prevent us from learning that they protested Ruby Bridges.
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u/argonautico Jul 02 '26
Cavalli intended it as a slur and knows its meaning. Otherwise, he wouldn't have denied saying before he got caught.
As a youth and into my young adulthood I was called the n-word, boy, and even the s-word by some bigot who couldn't place my ethnicity. After my reactions, I doubt any of them said it to someone's face again, but I wouldn't doubt they muttered it in places where they were confident they wouldn't get the shit beaten out of them.
Just like Cavalli the other day. This is still a part of life in America as a person of color.
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u/PinkynotClyde Jul 02 '26
I didn’t know the context. I even gave an example of something we said to each other as youths, especially during sports. If I had been playing in a game and said:
“Sit down kid,” there would have been no ill intent. I wouldn’t have known the historical context just been treating the person the same as everyone else.
In your circumstance there’s someone targeting you specifically. I doubt they apologized and stopped doing it after the first instance. Better to give people the benefit of the doubt and use it as a learning experience.
Not everyone is that dude. The same people who don’t know the context, might be the same people that put that guy in his place when he’s being a dumb prick. I get that living it makes the act itself carry weight.
I didn’t learn about a lot of stuff until I was older, when black friends or co-workers would joke around about stereotypes just messing around. Like I had no clue about food stereotypes. My grandmother always had watermelon in the fridge growing up, offered some to my buddy and he was like “Cause I’m black?” messing around. Didn’t even know that was a thing.
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u/argonautico Jul 02 '26
The context was not "youth sports". It was an MLB gane, and Willson Contreras is a full-grown (34-year-old) man, like the men in OP's photo, who had been denigrated throughout their lives as "boys", even if they were in their nineties.
And while those bigots may have directed their slurs at me, they were really targeting everyone who looks like me in an attempt to mask their insecurities and fear of losing their cultural dominance. They were bully-bigots, who likely got away with doing it until they did to someone who was good-sized and knew how to fight. When I punched them out, I was defending others who, for a numbe of reasons, weren't able to respond as I was.
That's where Contreras was coming from, on top of the emotional anxiety he's going through in thinking about his family, friends, and compatriots dealing with the horrendous Venezuelan earthquake aftermath.
You may be an adult, but you still have a lot to learn. Read "The Sum of Us" by Heather McGee if you want to gain some broader perspective.
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u/PinkynotClyde Jul 02 '26
I’m older than him and didn’t know the context. I thought it was a thing southern people said not tied to race. I’ve heard it used that way by country guys in what seemed an endearing way. Now in hindsight though, it kinda clicks.
I might check that out. Thanks. My issue isn’t with calling things out it’s the approach. I’m looking at like Daryl Davis as a role model, and the courage he had fighting ignorance.
This main post it’s presented like a person should feel shame for not knowing. We have to shame people during a teaching moment? What I see, is a lot of people are afraid to be labeled, and them being extra careful to not offend out of self interest.
Especially in some job settings I’ve been in. Big phony smile, kid gloves, using the right PR words. I know people that do all that stuff, but they ain’t driving through a black neighborhood in the middle of the day. I don’t like phony. I may not know as much as I could, but I was raised to treat people with respect— and part of that to me is not treating someone like they’re different/fragile because status quo tells me I might get labeled. If there’s an issue I try to talk it out. Same with everyone.
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u/Illustrious-Poem-211 Jul 02 '26
Nats subreddit is like “way to stereotype everyone in Oklahoma” or “why would he use an anti-black word against a Venezuelan?”
I’m a Syrian-American Sox fan originally from Arkansas. Yes, half of white people here are like this. And no, they don’t really distinguish between different kinds of brown. I got “go back to Mexico” and a Sikh kid I knew in HS got more Islamophobic hate than me, a Muslim, because of his turban.
But I earned the hate from Cardinals fans in 2004! Worth it.