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White Is Oh So Wrong

BLee-ve It!

Oh, that crazy Reggie White. If you were not paying attention during Spring Break, you might have missed Reggie White's little speech in front of the Wisconsin Legislature last Wednesday.

You missed a doozie.

White went on for an hour, starting by offending homosexuals then proceeding to insult basically every known race. You have to give him credit for being thorough.

I'm going to focus on what he said about each race, though, because I think stereotypes are good. White's message is an important one--different races are good at different things, and since you're a member of a race, there's a limit to what you can do.

Reggie made it very simple for us. To start, blacks are good at worship--when "you go to a black church, you see people jumping up and down because they really get into it."

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Whites are good at organization: "You know how to tap into money."

Asians are creative and "can turn a television into a watch."

Indians--I think he means Native Americans--have the gift of "spirituality." They also avoided slavery because they were familiar with the territory and "knew how to sneak up on people."

My favorite, though, was Hispanics' gift from God. They are "gifted in family structure, and you can see a Hispanic person, and they can put 20, 30 people in one home."

He left out some other ones, though, which I might as well point out here.

Blacks are good at sports. But they aren't smart enough to play quarterback.

White people lack rhythm. Asians are only good at math. Native Americans are alcoholics. Hispanics are all illegal immigrants.

Why limit yourself to race? Football players are stupid, and men are more rational than women.

A couple days after his appearance, White went on ESPN's SportsCenter to defend himself. He declined to put his remarks in context.

White may indeed believe that his remarks would foster better racial understanding, and he might truly believe that what he said is right. But listen to what he said and how he said it.

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