European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 13, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Sidelight the Schott heard round the world sure sounds ugly Clarence Page Cincinnati reds owner Marge Schott shot herself and professional baseball in the foot when she recently explained her use of racial and ethnic slurs As a joke but More disturbing than her own indifference to the seriousness of her remarks is the indifference of much of her Public. The reaction so far has been a shrug when it Hasni to been outright hostility toward her critics. A i would like to know what crimes she has committed what Laws she has broken a one Man on the Street told a television reporter. Broken Laws Are not the Point. Decent behaviour is. Schott won local hearts by saving the reds in 1984 from possibly moving elsewhere and with her Cranky charmingly eccentric ways like letting her pet St. Bernards run across the infield. But these Days she looks More like Archie bunkers meaner More arrogant sister. She did not deny that she had used terms like a Nigger a a a Jap and a Money grubbing jews a but explained that a if and when i used them it was Only kidding by. They were joke some joke. She might be More easily forgiven if she had a track record for promoting racial Progress. Instead the controversy has cast a spotlight on her own hiring practices her Enterprise has Only one Black employee among 45. Schotts attitude has gotten major league baseball into a worse image mess than the one a1 Cam Panis got it into five years ago when he said on National television that maybe Blacks a lacked the necessities to manage baseball teams. For that he was fired a harsh punishment i thought for an ambiguous remark delivered without apparent malice. Now just when baseball appeared to be getting Over the Campanis mess by hiring and promoting several Blacks into management and electing Bill White in Early 1989 to be National league president along comes Schott s new Flap. Inconveniently it comes on the heals of a Power play that drove former commissioner Fay Vincent out in september and left baseball without a Central flak Catcher. The owners fired Campanis for remarks less inflammatory than Schotts but unlike Schott he was not a fellow owner. Owners hate to turn on one of their own especially one presumes when that one is the clubs Only woman. They wish the problem would just go away. They wish she would go away. But More dismaying to me than Schott s remarks is the Lack of outrage in the reaction of local sports fans. Listen to sports talk radio for example and you will hear a string of other villains who Are the a a real cause of the problem. It is the National Media who Are ganging up on her the callers say. It is the thought police like Jesse Jackson and other outside agitators who try to hang her on a Cross of political correctness they say. Why done to they leave that dear old lady alone they say. Others cite the first amendment saying Schott has the right to shoot herself in the foot with whatever idiotic thing she wants to say. None of these arguments Deal with the real Point. It is not a question of broken Laws or infringed rights. It is a question of decency and fairness. Schott is a discredit to her race a the human race. When i was a Young Cincinnati reds fan growing up in nearby Middletown in the 1950s, my Mother taught me there were basically two kinds of people 1 was going to run into a Quality Folk and a Quality Folk were shrewd enough to keep imprudent comments to themselves. A a trash would say any Doggone thing that came into their minds and usually say it As loudly and brazenly As possible because they thought it was Clever to behave like a fool. Momus not around anymore. But i can guess which category she would put Marge Schott into. Even Back in the segregated �?T50s and yes Many Public accommodations like hotels restaurants and amusement Parks were segregated in the North too we just did no to have the Quot Whites Only sign Quot Quality White folks refrained from using then word in Public even among other White people. Today i find it too bad that More of the upstanding citizens who Rise up so quickly with righteous indignation to condemn offensive material of a sexual or violent nature say nothing or next to nothing when the offence is against a racial group. It similarly amazes me that so Many people Are so Quick to whip out the first amendment which pro americans instinct is to simply feed starving somalis Andy Rooney when people refer to a Basic instincts a they Arentt usually talking about anything Good. We should be careful about being too suspicious of All our Basic instincts because there also exists in All of us an instinctive desire to be honest ethical and Good. They Are human traits. You see the convicted murderer interviewed in prison and realize that Een he has some decent instincts. The idea of doing the right thing appeals to americans. Its Why we went into Vietnam. We thought we were doing the right thing. I done to mind a and did no to mind at the time a All the people who objected to our involvement in the War in Vietnam but i thought they failed to understand that we went in for perfectly Good and honorable reasons. It turned out to be terribly wrong we All know that but it does no to change the goodness of our intention. Most americans seem to approve the idea of our sending troops into Somalia to Stop the theft of food supplies so that they reach the starving people who need them. Our Basic instincts to be generous and humane Are coming to the surface. We Are not All harassers of women in the workplaces amp a Bank manipulators or dishonest politicians. You hear perfectly sensible people saying that getting involved in Somalia is a mistake. These hardheaded realists warn that one thing leads to another and we ought to devote All our Money and Energy to our problems Here at Home. Its a persuasive argument with a lot of holes in it. First we can easily do both. Somalia is smaller than Texas and has fewer people than new York or los Angeles. We could save everyone who lives there from starving to death with food Well never miss. We wont he denying our own homeless people anything when we Send somalis Basic stuff like flour and Corn of which we have an excess. Most of our own homeless would starve to death standing next to a thousand pounds of Pillsbury flour because the know w hat to do with it. If i were Mats me a with Marge Schott where there a smoke in Crew a fire. Tests discussion and criticism in a feeble attempt to silence discussion and criticism of something others find offensive. Schott has a right to sound As idiotic As she wants to but that does no to mean nobody else has the right to criticize her for it. We not Only have the right. We have the obligation. After All Schott has hardly been contrite. A i done to think the Good Blacks like this a she told a local radio station. A we have kills taking guns to school. There Are kids trained to Rob Banks at 13, and these Are All the things that Jesse Jackson and All these influential Blacks should be concentrating right. In other words clean up your own streets and leave me and my bal club and my narrow teeny weeny Little mind alone. Obligations Are a two Way Street. If Black leaders Are obliged to clean up their Community so Are White leaders. Marge Schott can begin by cleaning up her Mouth. Tho Chicago Tribuno to death i know what to do with a Gunny sack of soybeans myself. The other Point is one thing does not always Lead to another. A lot of times one thing does no to Lead to anything else. Trying to neutralize the bad Guys and establish a distribution system for food that gets it to the people who need it might be impossible but its w Orth a try. None of us wants to see More pictures of 8-year-old somali children with flies at their eyes weighing 35 pounds and looking like walking cadavers. Its too sad before dinner. The smart thing might Well be to get the starving kids out of our minds and ignore Somalia. A we can to save the whole world Quot we could say. A a let stake care of the hungry and homeless right Here in our own there Are apparently people in other countries who think our interest in Somalia is selfish that by helping them we Hope to be Able to establish an economic base there that will Benefit us. They think we have an Eye on a naval base in Somalia on the Indian Ocean. Most americans done to know or care about any of these possible motives right now. They could t find Somalia in five minutes on a map of the world and in someone in High of tic Lias a devious motive amen cans done to care. They Pisl want us to help feed these people. I l o am ouf Vilotti a a by i jilt Ltd i Tor f if Ltd or it Joo Flur december 1 j. 1 j Al dunday a Page j
