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Black girl at centre of Irish gymnastics race row ‘badly let down’, says ministry [video] (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
36 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Video of the event in March 2022 shows a judge handing out medals for participation to a line of young gymnasts, but ignoring the only black girl. A photographer, coach and other officials fail to intervene. A mediation settlement reached with the family involved the judge taking anti-racism training.

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[–] [email protected] 64 points 11 months ago (5 children)

I don't understand it, seriously. I can understand that some people are racist. What I don't understand is how he can't pretend he's not racist when cameras are pointed at him. Seriously, it's not that hard - there are a few clients I hate to get on a call with but they all love me because I'm always polite and helpful, because that's part of my fucking job.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 11 months ago

"Racism is bad. I'm a good person. Therefore what I did wasn't racism."

But yeah, it's infuriating when bigots can be absolutely unequivocally bigoted, and then casually say "not bigoted tho" like it's a spell that absolves them of guilt.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 11 months ago (1 children)

That's systemic racism. The judge probably didn't get up and thought "let's not give a medal to the black kid". She just passively didn't perceive her as someone that would be worthy to get a medal or that should be noted.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

"Probably" 🙄

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago

Must... Contain.... Racism.... Aaaaah. Oh shit failed again.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

I don't understand how people are racist and obviously proud amongst their friends, but in public they hide it, often pathetically. How can you believe in something you have to hide from the public. Say what you think then, i'm not giving the n-word girl a medal, that's what you think.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

To pretend one is not racist, one must first understand that they are being racist.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I mean, how can you not notice that you've given a medal to everyone except the one black kid?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

You'd be surprised. I was raised by people like this and they would emotionally explode if you ever even so much as suggest that they are being racist.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Because, in their head, they have a perfectly good, totally not racist at all reason that their behavior is justified.

[–] [email protected] 62 points 11 months ago (1 children)

None of these organisations made any public comment on the girl’s treatment at the time and it would be another year before the family got an apology from Gymnastics Ireland, after the video went viral internationally.

Holy shit. A fucking year? And obviously only after this thing went viral. They just hoped that nobody paid enough attention and that it would all blow over. And no comment during this happening. Disgraceful behaviour.

[–] [email protected] 62 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Video is damning. Feel so bad for this kid. :(

[–] [email protected] 44 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

What the fuck - that double double take - but then moves on

[–] [email protected] 32 points 11 months ago (1 children)

“[May] said it wasn’t a racist incident at all, the medals just got tangled,” said Ken McCue, who was co-founder of Sari and has been helping the family.

???

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

But when she untangled them she knowingly skipped the black kid. She even stopped like she was going back but didn't

[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

That's fucking bullshit. Someone one there should have called them out on this.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Una May, the CEO of Sports Ireland, said the judge who ignored the only black gymnast in the competition lineup had got the medals “tangled up”, in comments witnessed by at least two people outside the family.

In her initial emails the girl’s mother was clear that she was worried about systemic racism and the safety of all young athletes in the sport, and was not only seeking a response to the distress and pain her daughter had endured.

None of these organisations made any public comment on the girl’s treatment at the time and it would be another year before the family got an apology from Gymnastics Ireland, after the video went viral internationally.

The Department of Tourism, Culture, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media said it had asked for an investigation as soon as it heard about the incident and condemned the slow response from Gymnastics Ireland.

McCue said the apology from Gymnastics Ireland did not go far enough, and the executive staff needed to attend anti-racism training sessions to understand the harm such incidents did and protect young athletes.

Ogden also said the official response to the video in Ireland, which has largely focused on the behaviour of the individual handing out medals, failed to capture systemic issues.

The original article contains 882 words, the summary contains 209 words. Saved 76%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (3 children)

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

On camera in front of millions of people is the last place you would want to be racist. I think she was just an airhead. Actually, either way she's an idiot. I just don't buy the narrative of her thinking “yeah, im not going to give this kid her medal, that'll teach her! Haha I am so effective at being racist!”

[–] [email protected] 22 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Most racists are both stupid and malicious.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

A smart racist is an oxymoron.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago

Not sure if you've noticed but they're a lot more confident now.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago (1 children)

On the other hand, I disagree with everything you've said there. I don't have a quote to make people believe me instead of you though.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 11 months ago (2 children)

On camera in front of millions of people is the first place you would want to be racist??

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You assume racists think that far. They love to spite black people and if they can humiliate them in front of cameras even better. They can always claim later they "forgot"

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

You assume racists think that far.

Good point.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Maybe. Like, to make a point. Also, to me and you probably a racist mind is a bit of an enigma. In anycase, I'd put the focus more on the girl(s) that on the perpetrator. Of course the judge can't do much on that regard, but Institutions, government, and the likes should. Same applies to us.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I find myself feeling really bad for both the kid and the person handing out the medal.

In a room full of one skin colour and one or two outliers, I can imagine myself being socially clumsy enough to not see them at first and then feel too embarrassed or scared to admit why I overlooked them. I bet it’s even happened to me.

The organisation made an entire mess of this and made the life’s of all concerned more painful.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (2 children)

It seems you kind of understood systemic racism. The person who looks different than the 20 people next to them will experience this on the regular. Which, considering it objectively, is shitty for them to happen to and shitty to be done by the rest.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yes, I assume if this happens once then it happens more regularly. It sounds absolutely draining.

I think people don't realise that racism doesn't just mean intentional and pre-meditated behaviour, but also inherent biases. Biases that we should really be educated on to make the lives of our fellow humans better.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago

Exactly it's important to acknowledge the different ways of how racism can show.

It's quite possible the person didn't have a malicious or racist intent at that moment. It's still racist and people need awareness to tackle that subconscious racism. That's why talking about it and bringing it to the news is so important.

Not saying you wanted to stop the discussion, btw. Just wanted to add to it.

[–] paysrenttobirds 0 points 11 months ago

Yes, this is the key. I don't think she was making a point and even at the end it seems another girl also didn't get a medal because the judge ran out, so probably not intentional. BUT, the effect is so much more damaging because these kinds of things ARE sometimes meant as signals and so it should have been dealt with directly. If she had immediately acknowledged that it could be felt that way and said "racism has no place in gymnastics", you still wouldn't know if she was lying but at least racists could not take comfort from the organization's tacit acceptance of how racist it looked.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago

It's one of those points where a simple question would have solved a huge issue either way. Just people afraid to cause any commotion. I'm not asking to berate or assume the worst, just ask "why did you skip that girl. Even if you are a pansy shit, you don't have to confront until they are blunt about it.