Kalen Nicole

Last Thursday marked the beginning of football season for the UCO Bronchos. #RollChos

I enjoyed the game per the usual: wearing school colors, talking to friends, cheering for the team and taking Snap Chats. I pay less attention to the actual content of most sports than I care to admit, but rather find myself engulfed in social interactions and the philosophical intricacies of what surrounds me.

Bronchos were leading on the scoreboard as the third quarter began. I noticed a coach on the sideline loudly correcting/ speaking to one of the red shirts. The young man seemed young, a freshman or sophomore. From my brief stint in the sports arena, I know how it feels to be loudly corrected in front of a group of people.

When the coach finished his spill, I saw an older red shirt who place his arm around the shoulders of the young man who was just rebuked. And from from my seat in the third row, it seemed to me that the interaction contained understanding and encouragement.

This lead me to think:

Why don’t we encourage and correct each other like this all of the time?

We are bound to make mistakes and be wrong on occasion, especially when it comes to the things we say.

The reason many people are so quiet in situations of injustice, is because they’re afraid of being discriminated against themselves or they’re afraid of saying the wrong thing. We must look past sometimes what is said, but attempt to judge the intent of the speaker.

In the social arena, everyone seems to be in a race, to be perfect, sensitive, understanding and unprejudiced 24/7- which is impossible at most and immensely stressful at the least.

Many times, I’ve unintentionally saying insensitive things, but I have rarely been ridiculed for being insensitive. I am probably saved from public scrutiny because being a Black woman, a visible minority, I am given a pass.

(Theoretically how could I be prejudiced?)

But I see people on Facebook, in class and in passing who are ripped to shreds for having a different opinion or making a vernacular mistake.

I am not condoning hatefulness or ignorance by any means, but as a society we cannot expect perfection to such an extent that we we frighten others from even wanting to speak.

Many prejudiced words stem from ignorance rather than malice, and reveal what an individual has been exposed to or conditioned to think. The person isn’t to blame, but the system of inequality that has created the conditions for these thoughts to flourish.

So in closing I beseech you:

Don’t hate the player, hate the game.

 -society, common values, social inequality, privilege and etc.