re: Football and slavery

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Commissioner Kuhn,

After twelve years in the major leagues, I do not feel I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes. I believe that any system which produces that result violates my basic rights as a citizen and is inconsistent with the laws of the United States and of the several States.
It is my desire to play baseball in 1970, and I am capable of playing. I have received a contract offer from the Philadelphia club, but I believe I have the right to consider offers from other clubs before making any decision. I, therefore, request that you make known to all Major League clubs my feelings in this matter, and advise them of my availability for the 1970 season.

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He's not a piece of property, no mtter how much he may "feel" like one. Te comparison is still suprememly stupid.

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Tons of thinly-veiled racism all through this thread. It seems like whenever a black person makes this comparison, the "I'm not a racist but..." crowd just can't wait to spit their vitriol all over their keyboards.

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cause its a supremely stupid argument. Please kindly point out the "thinly disguised" racism.

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You all realize that tons of athletes of all races throughout the history of American sports have made the slavery analogy as well, haven't you?

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And?

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It's not about race.

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Then why are saying there's so much "racism" here?

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It's about control and the physical nature. Just out of curiosity, does it bother you as much that Cap Anson made the same analogy in the 1880s? What about when Hideki Irabu made the same analogy in the 1990s?

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Wasnt around in the 1880's, sorry. I dont remember when that was said but it doesnt change the fact it is a stupid argument meant to try to use emotion to override logic in nonthinking people.

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I think the slavery argument is stupid. But don't turn this shite into an excuse to spew your racist bile on the msb. It's not a race issue.

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Please, point out the "racist bile" ou have seen. Should be pretty easy, no?

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cause its a supremely stupid argument.

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I agree.

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Please kindly point out the "thinly disguised" racism.

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Look through this thread.

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Then why are saying there's so much "racism" here?

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Because the reaction is making it about race.

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Wasnt around in the 1880's, sorry. I dont remember when that was said but it doesnt change the fact it is a stupid argument meant to try to use emotion to override logic in nonthinking people.

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Again, I agree.

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Please, point out the "racist bile" ou have seen. Should be pretty easy, no?

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Why certainly. As I said, the slavery-athlete thing isn't a racial issue, but the reaction makes it racial. For example:

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Its a lazy comparison meant to to give instant sympathy to the blak athlete from a general public too stupid to know better.

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I'm assuming you meant "black" here. My point is to say this isn't an issue only brought up by black athletes, but some of you can't wait to jump into that type of discussion.

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I wonder if Tim Tebow, JAcob Hester, Sam Bradford etc are slaves too, or is it a unique condition of the black athlete?

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Why ask this question when many white athletes have made the same complaint?

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do you know who brought this subject up most recently? Luther Campbell. He also talked about plantation mentality and black schools breaking away from the ncaa. That is what prompted the OP. I still see no "thinkly veiled racism" here and i have certainly looked, so please, point it out to me.

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All well and good. He's the most recent person to make the stupid argument and uses mainstay slavery references like "plantation." So you saw fit to sarcastically wonder if a list of white athletes don't experience the same thing? What about all the black athletes who haven't made the same complaint? What about all the white athletes who have?

I'm sorry for using the word "tons" to preface the racism stuff. I did find it disturbing how the first thing some couldn't wait to jump into was the race thing. There hasn't been a great deal of it in this thread. I was more reacting to the last time this topic came up re Adrian Peterson and the direction the participants in that thread were all too eager to take and jumped before it fully descended into that. My hope was to focus on discrediting the actual slavery argument which several responsible posters did here and not make take it down the same road these discussions usually go.

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The only similarity I could draw is that their bodies are both gonna be worn the frick out by the time they hit their 40s

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Before the Curt Flood Act, the similarity was that you couldn't choose your employer in your profession. Still, it was really stupid and offensive for them to try to liken their professions to that one aspect of slavery while their professions didn't include the most horrible things about slavery that made it so horrible.

It would be like me saying to someone who kills a roach: "EGADS! You killed a living creature! You ended a life! This is just like the holocaust!"