The then-Vice President and General manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, Al Campanis, was questioned by Ted Koppel on his late-night news and public interest program Nightline in 1987. Al Campanis was a third-generation baseball man whose father and grandfather were players. In 1947 the Dodgers (nee Brooklyn Dodgers) integrated baseball by hiring Jackie Robinson months before the Cleveland Indians put the second black player, Larry Doby, on their roster.
Koppel’s subject matter turned to the subject of race and upward mobility in the sports hierarchy.
KOPPEL: Yeah, but you know in your heart of hearts -- and we’re going to take a break for a commercial -- you know that that’s a lot of baloney. I mean, there are a lot of black players, there are a lot of great black baseball men who would dearly love to be in managerial positions, and I guess what I’m really asking you is to, you know, peel it away a little bit. Just tell me, why you think it is. Is there still that much prejudice in baseball today?
The Campanis ship sunk that night:
CAMPANIS: No, I don’t believe it’s prejudice. I truly believe that they may not have some of the necessities to be, let’s say, a field manager, or perhaps a general manager.
The conversation devolved from there, and so did Mr. Campanis’ career. The irony, and not lost on me, was he was the GM of the team that integrated modern baseball 40 years prior, but I was still flabbergasted. Al Campanis was appalling because he controlled young black men’s lives, futures, and fortunes, and his belief system placed an obvious ceiling on upward mobility.
When the former owner of the Los Angeles Clippers [Donald Sterling] basketball team was revealed to have disparaged former Lakers star Ervin “Magic” Johnson in a 2014 private conversation, he was summarily drummed out of basketball. After a protracted legal battle, his team ownership was revoked, and he was forced to sell.
History Repeats Itself
Sterling’s remarks were in private, and Campanis’ remarks were broadcast across the nation. Both were egregious, both equally damaging, but I can see the case against making one’s private statements public. At least I felt that way until the issue of Lafayette City, Louisiana; Judge Michelle Odinet crossed my plate. Judge Odinet was the recent victim of a home burglary attempt. Unfortunately, for both the criminal and the judge, she either forgot her video/audio security system was recording or felt comfortable enough using the N-word and describing the perpetrator as being “like a roach” while laughing.
I have never had my home broken into, but I have had my car on a few occasions. Was I mad? “Hell yes. Did I use some stronger expletives? You had better believe it. I can honestly say I did not resort to racial epithets, nor would I. I am a Black man and have heard the N-word used in my circle many times. I have jokingly used it myself among my peers for effect. I did not have the impact of degrading, dehumanizing or exercising some feelings of inherent power I thought I might wield over another group. I mentioned earlier that Campanis and Sterling held people’s lives, futures, and fortunes in their hands: Judge Odinet not only has those powers, but she literally controls black men and women’s freedom within the grasp of her gavel. She maintains her right to privacy but not a right to unfettered prejudice.
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