Firing of St. Aug football coach Shows we live in a society ruled by double standards

In a not so surprising development, St. Augustine High School announced that Nathaniel Jones is no longer coaching at the 7th ward school after a video of a ‘racist’ chant the team performed before a game vs. Brother Martin on October 4 surfaced via social media and went viral locally.

The decision to remove Jones from his duties further illustrates how ‘soft’ and ‘politically correct’ society has become as a whole, especially in the Black-American community. The fact that the chant was labeled as ‘racist’ is laughable and scary at the same time. It shows how out of touch certain people are towards the black American culture and proves how others are willing to throw their values and what they believe in to the waist side in order to appease the masses.

That chant was nothing more than players getting themselves hyped and motivated to perform to the best of their abilities. It is no different than what happens in most other locker rooms on a weekly basis at all levels of football: from ‘park ball’ (term used in New Orleans for Pop Warner or recreational league football), middle/Jr. High, high school, college all the way to the NFL.

Was the chant candid and full of colorful language? Absolutely. Was it somewhat inappropriate? Maybe. But to say it was racist is completely senseless. According to several sources, the chant has been used for several weeks (if not longer). That would mean it was performed since the beginning of the current season. During that time, St. Aug has played Booker T. Washington HS, McDonogh 35 HS, Landry-Walker HS and John F. Kennedy HS. All of the schools mentioned have at least a 90% black student population. Would the same chant still be considered ‘racist’ if video surfaced before any of those games? Probably not.

While we’re talking about what is racist and what is not, what is so racist about a black person using the word ‘nigga?’ Yes, the word (or another variation of it - ‘nigger’) has a very ugly history in this country. So does a lot of other words, slangs and common practices that are still used to this day by people from all walks of life. The great thing about America is that we don’t let these these things define us and we have a knack for turning negatives into something that doesn’t affect us one way or another.

Ten years ago, Brother Martin (yes, the same school St. Aug played this past weekend) came under fire for a skit where students wore blackface to imitate St. Aug’s players during a skit in the school’s gym. While their intent may not have been to come off as racist, the undertones of the skit were clearly racial. When the skit became public news, Brother Martin issued an apology and life moved on. No one lost their job(s) over the incident.

St. Aug feeling the need to fire their coach when other institutions refused to do so in the face of more serious circumstances/situation is a prime example of the double standard society has placed on the African-American community. As a Catholic School that is supposed to he the shining light of the New Orleans community, yes St. Aug had a responsibility to protect its reputation, its brand, and and to make this incident a ‘teachable’ moment for its students, faculty, staff, and everyone else. That being said, the lesson wasn’t well received and the punishment does NOT fit the crime. A suspension would’ve sufficed and gotten the same point across.

We live in a world where Donald Trump was elected President of the United States less than two weeks after an audio recording surfaced of him telling someone else to grab a female ‘by the pussy.’, In the very same country, a football coach can lose his job for his BLACK players using the ‘n word’ in a chant that wasn’t even directed towards any individual or any specific group? Please make St. Aug firing their coach over that chant/video make sense.

As long as people give power to certain words to be able bring out negative reactions and emotions, those words will continue to enslave those same people and there will always be an easy way to get the better of those same people. Additionally, as long as people make decisions to satisfy others and to ‘save face’ instead of doing what is best for themselves, it’ll always be more difficult for them to stay ahead of the proverbial curve.