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Black Coach: White wife hampers my career Curr> Guest Columnist The University o^Floridu's t'(H)thal! team nuule u state ment recently when it defeated the University of Oklahoma 24-14 and was declared national champion for the sec ond time in three years. Charlie Strong, the African American defensive coordina i. tor who kept the Sooners far below their 54 points a game average, made an even louder statement when he declared that despite all of his success at Florida, he has been passed over for head coaching posi tions because of his interracial marriage "EverytHxiy always said 1 didn't gel lhai job because m> wife was White." Strong told a columnist for the Orlando Sentinel He added. "If you think about it. a coach is stand ing up there representing the university. If you're not strong enough to look through that t interracial marriage ( then you have an issue'" Strong's assertion caught many by surprise. When; you "look at A frican - American Sports figures . - including" Charles Barkiey and Tiger Woods - many have- White wives. So do many big time Black coaches. . including Lovie Smith of the Chicago Bears. Interracial couples are so commonplace-^in athletics that one would be forgiven if he or she thought it was a requirement for Blacks partici . paring at tlie top echelon of sports. There is no doubt that interracial couples are less of a social taboo today than thev PhtKO b) (*MI> \fc i kite* t frtmJo Ncu(mmcI Mt I Florida ' s Charlie Strung, left, and Coach Urban Meyer celebrate their 2006 3X-28 vic tory over Arkansas in the S E C Championship. were just two decades ago According to a survey con ducted bv the Pew Research Center in 2003, more than three -quarters of all adult* - 77 percent said it is "all right for Blacks and Whites to date each other " lu 1987. that fig ure V\ as only 48 percent But Coach Strong's allega tion speaks to a more subtle point From the days of the Founding Fathers. White males have never objected to -interracial liaisons. You .can took at the complexion of any. group of African- Americans and see that racial ljiies have been blurred- 'White men. ranging from the supposedly, enlightened Thomas Jefferson to segregationist Strom Thurmond, have had children ,:by Black w omen . often against their will. The objection has been to the voluntary union' between Black- men and White women. That has been particu larly true in the Deep South. GunnarMyrdal's landmark "American Dilemma," written m the mid- 1940s, observed the South s "fixation on the purity of White womanhood" Mvrdal explained. "The South has an obsession with sex which helps to make this .region quite irrational in deal ijig with Negroe* generall\ ." "The Matter of Color." a book written b> retired I S Appeals Court Judge A. Leon Higginbotham Jr.. notes that it" a free Black man had sexual relations with 4 White woman in South Carolina during the Colonial period, he would automatically lose his'%ee dorn. . In 1955. Emnlett Till, a 14 year-old boy from Chicago, was murdered near Money. Miss, for allegedly whistling at a White woman Although his killer^ later bragged about killing young Till, they were never convicted.- .. 1 Until 1966. interracial marriages were illegal in 16 states. That' year, in the case of Loving v Virginia, which involved a marriage between a White man and a Black woman, the United States Supreme Court invalidated anti-miscegenation laws. According to the Census Bureau, the number of interra cial marridges remain relativer ly small, increasing from less than I percent in 1970 to slightly more than 5 percent in 2(XX). A survey conducted by the Few Research Center in 2005 found . that more than one-fifth of all Americans - 22 - say they have a close relative married. to someone of a dif ferent race. So. what was the reaction to Coach Strong's remarks on the Orlando Sentinel's Web site ' Here are some of them Blah. blah. Mali. / know that it is so Mffiricaify correct to suppiirt inter-racial mar riiige a$ if it's perfectly- Accept able: but / am pi rsonalh dis gusted by it Avid I know plenty of others an-jt? > / also find it ridiculous that such a dispro portionate number of these marriages involve rich and 'fa/nous Black nudes w ho arc bit: in rin world Of music, sports, or mntes. Apparently Bhti'lc wiymn an not. good enough for these ??v.v once they reach a <. < rtain status in the worlci. ?Fungus Wfiiv Fungus. Your name is s/xit-on. You are a Fungus I am < i successful WHIFF male, married to a beautiful, sue - cessfuJ BLAC/Cjcliialc. with a gorgeous little girl who is 3 and another one on the way. Sony to disgust you. you Neanderthal, with my choice to marry a beautiful woman of a darker skin tone than Barbie. DEAL wkh it. ?Freekoffhisleash Stop conipUunuig, he mar ried that snow bunny and he knen the consequences. He is a se'lf-hiiring Hlack mule, that believed he was too good to marry an educated Black women . ?I'm Glad . . Black haters tluili say the dude sliotddn t have tr<ried a White girl.. Maybe Couch Strong should sa\ "Thank you v Mr. White man for the job that / have, and I enjoy your smell." White man takes us out the jungle and look how we repay him. by creating rap music, dating White w'omen' and voting.' ? Or Balls Coach Maybe we haven't made as much progress in this area as we were led to believe George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine and the NNPA News Service, is a keynote speaker, moderator, and media coach. He can be- reached through his Web sHe, . www.georgecurry.com.) Track fritm pa f(<r H! 500m dash Also. Crystal Webley fin ished sixth in the women's pentathlon with 2.904 points in the event Her best single event finish came in th^ wujmen's 60m dash, when s WW finished third in the penthathlon's upper division with a y.22 in the event Senior Malliron Hod g e and soph o m o r e "f ersha Lane had s p m e strong Wiggan performances in the lower division of the pentathlon. Hodge finished second in the women's 60m hurdles with a 10.24. Lane finished in the women's high jump in the lower division with a 411" ( 1 50m h Hodge finished sec ond in the women's 800m run in the lower division. Both teams will return to action, in two weeks when the squads head to Chapel Hill to taJce part in the Carolina Invitational. Hill from page B I number one man- before that Interview. I'm going to miss many aspects of my job I'm going to miss sharing great stories about some of the former, present and up-and-coming athletes of this area Winstpn Salem is so rich with tradi tion arid talent I told several people that m> job was easier than it looked simply because there were so many good things to write about All I had to do. was relay stories to' the communitv It was com pletely my pleasure Another thipg I'm defi nitely going to miss is the relationship I had w i th my co-workers I was e\ en cool with my superiors We were so much like family that I still feel, like I'm leaving loved ones as I turn the next page of the book called my life I genuinely loved going to work every day. I even , loved working on weekends, holidays and late-night hours. I lined seeing some of ihe same people every day. And, you always hope to be in a situation where you love what you do. and the people you do it w ith. That's what I had at The Chronicle . 1 even care for a lot of people that I've met as a result of work ing for The Chronicle. I've definitely made several good friends. But nothing lasts for ever Arid, all good things come to ah end. i ;'.s Sometimes you're forced aw as from what you love Sometimes it's taken away And. there are times when vou simply know it's time to mo\ e on and do something else No matter w hat the .situ ation may he. you have to deal with change You have to motivate yourself to turn over a new leaf. And you can't dwell or hang your hat on what you did in the past I've gone-.- through several changes in ray life., I remem ber when I thought going from being an athlete my entire life to one day waking up with nothing but questions and worries about life with out sports was going to be the biggest change. Then. 1 man aged to find happiness in writing about sports. 1 also had to deal with the change of transitioning from a daily newspaper in Alabama to a weekly publication in North Carolina I really don't know what I'm going to tackle next. I've still got a feu things going on. I'm also- working on some new projects We'll see what HE has in store for me. It should be interesting, though I simply want to thank all of you for your support through out the years: I also want to thank you all for reading my stories, columns and inter views. The e-mails and calls really meant a lot to me. I even appreciate the construc tive criticism. 1 took it all as love. Thank you. Attlhony Hill is the former sports editor for The Chronicle, He can he reached at thrill02 1 @ yahoo .com . Ph"t'? b) Hahhsifd Some Mustangs natch the action from the bench. Carver victor) Jrim puvtBI scoring " But Carver maintained an aggressive offense anil defense throughout the game - not letting up even after a 29-19 lead in ihe first half. Parklands #55 David Bishop. #23 Jerrae Thomas and #45 Alex Mitchell hus tled the court, trying to find the synergy that could give them a boost, but they had no luck against the aggressive Carver team The Mustang standouts were not as consistent as * i McGuinness Carver \ Dentil Rice. Wendell and Devontea Miller, who consistently took the ball to the hoop The stellar play of the Yellowjackets seemed like mockery late in the game when it wav^lear that Carver's lead uas insur mountable. Miller, who is known as "Slim" by his teammates, made several s|am dunk attempts in the fourth quarter ^ MeGuinness.'who said he strives to teach his players character and good sports manship. satd he didn't feel Carver needed to continue such aggressive play after gaining such a large lead in second half Man Tries Out For Pro Team After Using Thera-Gesic BEXAR COUNTY- After apply ing Thera-Gesic to his ?re right knee. Tom W. tried out for his favorite basketball "team W hen asked why a 5T older man could possibly think he would make the team, he painlessly replied: "None of your dang business'" #1 SH Go painlessly with Thera-Gesic Go Tom Go ( .iil 4ik1 1 iAdOu? Hon V'ui D?&v S? ?* ??*?*<? J* V W?" i^pPEPSii 24 V *2 \ R- 510,*? 24?40v1ii ? Vll.tW) V) \?\ |0 5R"*? v si'.ooc ? kh> \ ?; *22.7*1 ?U.W? U VmTO M Wi' t/ufi hv<ii i.\. n ?w WINSTON-SALEM SYMPHONY ROBERT MOODY,' ORCHESTRAL HEADLINERS The musicians of the Winston-Salem Symphony are the stars of this exciting all.-orchestra program. You'll be dazzled by the artistry of our featured artists in works by Vivaldi and Mozart, ahd the entire orchestra steals the spotlight for the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra. Vivaldi Concerto for Two Trumpets ?n C Major. RV 537 Featured Artists: Anita Grba. trumpet Kenneth Wilmot trumpet 'Mozart Smfonia cohcertante, K. 297b Kathryn Levy; flute. Amanda Gerfin, oboe Bartok Concerto for Orchestra. Saxtoh Rose, bassoon Robert Campbell, hom FEBRUARY 7, 8, & 10, 2009 Stevens Center of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts SATURDAY 7:30 P.M. Kicked-Back Classics Series SUNDAY 3:00 P.M., TUESDAY 7:30 P.M. Classics Series TICKETS: $I5-S55 For more information, call 336-464-0145 or visit www.wssymphony.org. POWERED BY SOUND f WINSTON-SALEM SYMPHONY rtfikP C?/ V^ARTS Wa?*movta / COUNCIL WKAI.TM MAi>M<IKMK?rr flm. l>viv(. Pm '"""" ?" Wilson FVA^EACUr two h^mid a nwx . ? ?- TT7TT. -? UMn?toCo? * liL, | *TrnaI wd|y 88 5?wfDD muLLen ^ M> J>.
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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Jan. 29, 2009, edition 1
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