I cannot believe a man of Eddie’s age does not understand that comparing a black person to King Kong is hurtful. I can’t believe he is totally unaware of the history, of the time when black peoples were not considered human. I’m not positive, but I understand black peoples are the only ethnicities to have been considered non-human over the years. I don’t recall reading anywhere that the Japanese (for example) were considered non-human. Please feel free to correct me with appropriate references as I am not an anthropologist or a history student.
Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1984 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
There is no similar situation with Caucasians. While I suggest we MIGHT suggest that perhaps Arnold Schwarzenegger could promote King Kong because of his physique, somehow that sort of thing just doesn’t happen, does it?
I have written before about Equality does not equal sameness and suggested we can tend to become so politically correct in order to avoid offence that we actually miss out on celebrating cultural and ethnic differences. That said, I think we are a long way yet from finding the King Kong comparison even remotely humorous BECAUSE of the history and the implications of the comparison. Mabo was not that long ago, nor the time slaves were not allowed to keep their names. It is only recently, in my lifetime, that the last of the USA’s anti-miscegenation (prohibition of marriage between “white” and “coloured” people) laws were overturned.
Alabama kept the same laws, but did not enforce them, until the year…………. wait for it…………. 2000.
https://teamoyeniyi.com/2011/04/17/loving-versus-virginia/ (the videos are really very good – check them out)
That any person in Eddie’s position would not be aware of all of this history is unbelievable.
I would like to leave you with the words of Harry O’Brien:
It doesn’t matter if you are a school teacher, a doctor or even the president of my football club I will not tolerate racism, nor should we as a society.
If you are a Facebook user, you might like to visit Harry’s Facebook page. Some of the comments there are DISGUSTING!
Spell us Harry… Maybe you should fuck off back to your shit West Indian country or wherever the fuck you are from if you think your so “Unlucky” in this great country.
Interestingly, many years ago I stopped following Collingwood over a racism scandal. Seems not much has changed, when the President of the club has not evolved above making such statements.
I remember not too long ago there was a social media furore over a few white people seeming to believe it was appropriate for them to educate black people about what could and could not be considered racist. The reasons should be obvious why we of the paler ethnicities have no right to make that determination. There is a very recent history, history that only now are we really correcting. It isn’t corrected yet.
Eddie, my sons will never play for Collingwood, no matter how damn good they end up being.
EDIT: I feel it only fair to provide a link to Eddie’s apology. http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/news/2013-05-29/mcguire-apologises-to-members.workstation You will notice I did not say I think Eddie is racist according to the dictionary definition of the word (a person who believes in racism , the doctrine that a certain human race is superior to any or all others), however the ABC report he has conceded his comment amounted to racial vilification: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-29/eddie-mcguire-concedes-adam-goodes-gaffe-was-racial-vilification/4721642
MINDFULNESS is critical in order to eradicate the past. Eradicate the past? No, that can never be done, despite what some may think. We can’t eradicate the past, but we CAN heal and move forward to a brighter future together if we work at it. I expect leaders, especially, to show mindfulness at all times.
Related articles
- Coach ‘staggered’, by Eddie’s gorilla gaffe (theage.com.au)
- ‘I’m not a racist’: McGuire sorry for ‘slip of the tongue’ (smh.com.au)
Random Observations of Life 
[…] Eddie, Eddie, Eddie […]
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When you use other people as the butt of your humour then you are bound to hit troubled waters sooner or later and this is why i have never liked Eddie or his cronies and i’m not at all surprised by what he said, just disappointed.
What are your thoughts on casual racism that they are all talking about today? I try hard not to be. l call out racisim whenever I see it as I do humour that is at the expense of someone’s feelings. I prefer to judge someone by the content of their character, not by the colour of their skin or their country of birth or any other stereotype. It’s a pity that there are so many uneducated people out there because it really seems that that we haven’t come that far at all!
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I saw the article http://www.smh.com.au/national/are-you-a-casual-racist-20130530-2ndyy.html about casual racism and shared it every which where. I never did like all the Irish jokes. I was surprised at the survey results at the bottom of the article. Overwhelmingly the vote “Yes, but I’m not going to change”. Very disappointing.
I think Eddie definitely fits the definition of “casual racist” as given in that article. I don’t think he really fits the dictionary definition of believing any ethnicity to be inferior, however he’ll laugh off stuff or make jokes that are hurtful to others. In his position he should know better. As I said, I expect leaders to lead by example.
It was actually worse than I first thought, as I read the full transcript today and he had plenty of opportunity to back away from it, but he kept pushing the “joke”. Not funny.
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Thank you Robyn for providing some historical context for McGuire’s racist slur. Honestly, it is a head banging moment of frustration for me. There can be no excuses.
Best wishes to you all
Joan.
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Thank you Joan. I deliberately took a global approach, rather than Australia centric, to highlight oppression has been a consistent problem across the world.
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