Oh, for Pete's Sake

A while back, there was an incident locally where racial slurs were allegedly used at a high school girls' junior varsity soccer game. The accused team explained that one of their players had a nickname that could sound like a racial slur (her name is Megan; her nickname is Meggars), but the slur itself had not been used.


End of story, right? OF COURSE NOT. An investigation was started; when that yielded inconclusive results, the local Athletic Conference got involved. When the Athletic Conference could not determine whether or not slurs had been used, the state Division of Human Rights stepped in. Their report was also inconclusive, although it did state that the "overwhelming majority" of attendees at the game heard no racial slurs.


Is it over now? Nope. This kind of thing never dies. Now codes of conduct are being amended, new rules are being instituted, etc., etc. Evidently, all because some poor kid's got an unfortunate nickname. And really, has a "code of conduct" ever stopped anyone from calling someone else a bad name? Not to make light of anything, but back when I was in junior high, there was one black girl in the entire school, and she was one tough cookie. If anyone had ever called her the "n" word, she would've just beat the shit out of them, end of story.


Now, if that slur indeed was used, that's a bad, bad thing, and should be punished. But it seems to be a simple misunderstanding that could have been cleared up a long time ago, if not for the inability of some people to stop beating a dead horse. Here's an excerpt from a local article about the incident:


"Even though the report found no evidence to support the allegations racist slurs were used at the game, Smith said the finding does not diminish the pain and hurt that members of the Valley High team felt that day because they believed such comments were being made."


And here is where I was going to say I hope these gals grow thicker skin before they head out into the real world, but you know what? This kind of crap is everywhere these days. "No, I didn't actually hear him say it, but he could have said it, and therefore I'm hurt and insulted and suing." That's right, suing. Because it's all about the money these days, isn't it? And I'm sure it's only a matter of time before some of the Valley High parents band together in a lawsuit. Because a couple hundred grand would go a long way toward salving poor little Susie's wounded soul.

Sheesh.