From the Colorado Springs Gazette’s Kate Crandell :
The recent suspension of four Colorado College hockey players was a penalty for wearing blackface and costumes of characters in a TV show about a black family.
The players were senior captain Scott Thauwald (above), sophomores Andreas Vlassopoulos and Brian Connelly, and freshman Brett Wysopal.
The punishment included two weeks without hockey team activities and disciplinary probation for the rest of the school year. The players were required to meet with members of the local branches of the NAACP and the Urban League, and participate in a campus forum at the school™s multicultural residence, Glass House, with members of the Black Student Union.
The four must take an extra course on œdiverse cultures, and the entire team will meet with speakers and members of the school™s Diversity Task Force.
The incident occurred at the team™s annual preseason golf outing on Sept. 8 at Valley Hi Golf Course.
The players divided themselves into groups and, in conjunction with this year™s theme of TV shows, picked a show to represent. Groups chose œBaywatch, œEntourage, œWWE, œScrubs and œThe Office. The four players in question chose œFamily Matters and wore wigs and makeup.
œThe intent was to have good costumes, Thauwald said. œWe realize now, even though there was no racial intent, that what we did was wrong.”
Rosemary Harris of the Colorado Springs NAACP said she expects the players to attend the organization’s Freedom Fund Dinner on Saturday at 7 p.m., the same time as CC™s game against Minnesota.
œThe president of the NAACP invited us, Thauwald said. œThen, we received an e-mail from Rochelle Mason. That was about a week ago. We all responded back saying we™re not going to be able to attend, but we would be interested in future things.
On the bright side, at least Thauwald didn’t have the Critical Sports Blog in his browser history.
For God’s sake, the kids wore blackface for a costume in order to be more authentic! What, a white Urkel? Come on.
As a black person, I’m sick and tired of sensitive self-hating whites who feel obligated to be offended on my behalf because I’m apparently too stupid to know when I’m supposed to be offended. I used to live near my county’s KKK headquaters when I was in high school and had many interesting experiences (one involving the near loss of my life) that can safely be termed “racist”.
I don’t need the help, thank you. And I could certainly do without the complicity of groups such as the Urban League and the NAACP, who have already proven and continue to prove how out-of-touch they are when it comes to the everyday lives and experiences of “minorities” in this country.
The only thing these kids did wrong was to offend the sensitivities of people who wouldn’t know actual racism if it stood up and gave them a handjob.