White people cannot use the n-word, period. And Olathe coach is still wrong

The former Olathe North High School baseball coach fired Monday after being accused of directing a racial slur toward the only Black member of the team, says the student’s father, who posted the incident on social media and reported it to district leaders, got it wrong.

The former coach says what happened was misrepresented. But he did use the n-word and other offensive language in front of students and no matter how he intended it, that is a fireable offense.

Pete Flood says that when he used the offensive and racist language he did not direct it toward any player, but rather was denouncing the “offensive and derogatory” lyrics in a rap song students were playing during practice. He said the music was “loud and inappropriate,” and he just wanted it off.

“Never, never, never have I ever used the ‘N-word’ or any other racial slur to address a student, player, or person in my entire twenty-five year career in this district nor my personal life,” Flood wrote in a statement he sent to The Star.

OK, but Pete Flood was a coach. Someone who is supposed to lead by example. So as even he says, that’s no excuse.

Tony Banks, the player’s father who reported the incident, told The Star that Flood’s version of what happened is incorrect and demeans his son.

Banks said he trusts the school district, which quickly investigated the incident before the school board voted unanimously on Monday morning to immediately fire Flood.

And any teacher or coach using the n-word in a school setting, for any reason, is always a violation.

As the coach, he is supposed to protect his players. He’s lost his job, but how will this impact the only Black player on the team?

There aren’t many Black kids playing baseball as it is. Many have been driven away from the sport due to economic reasons. Others find baseball boring, its unwritten rules for gamesmanship relics from a bygone era.

At the start of the 2020 season, Major League Baseball was 57.5% white and 31.9% Latino, according to the league. Black players made up slightly more than 7% of the league.

The number of Black players in the MLB fell nearly every year between 1981 and last season, according to the Society of Baseball Research. By 2016, only 6.7% of the league was Black, the lowest percentage since 1957.

Coaches hurling such a hurtful, hateful word for any reason isn’t a great strategy for interesting more young Black athletes in what used to be the national pastime.

To those who would question why white Americans are criticized for using the same word that some Black Americans do use in music, comedy and elsewhere, here’s why: Historically, white America used the word to demoralize and dehumanize African Americans.

In the 80’s and 90’s, some young Black folks did reclaim it, using it affectionately among themselves in an effort to take the sting out of the word. But these days, many young Black men and women have tossed the word from their vocabulary, too.

And here’s a better question: why would any white person want to use it, knowing how hurtful it is?

Flood said that when he heard the rap lyrics, including the racial slur, another offensive word derogatory toward women, and some other disgusting cuss words blaring from speakers at a public school venue he “was shocked and offended” and asked the player to turn it off. But then he repeated the offensive words himself, saying they weren’t going to play music with those words in it.

“Change the song, change the artist, change the genre. I don’t care, just turn that s--- off,” Flood said he told the player. “In my opinion, these types of lyrics should never be played in a public venue at a school event.”

He’s right about that. But if they shouldn’t be played at a school event then they shouldn’t be said there either.

“I deeply regret that I repeated the N-word aloud; however, I do not regret requesting that a song with such offensive and derogatory language be turned off,” Flood said.

Even if he did repeat the lyrics in anger rather than in an attempt to demean, he was wrong. He hurt his players and he knew that immediately after the game. He said on the way off the field Olathe North assistant coaches told him that players were upset that he had used the racist term.

Flood said he has no plans to appeal for his job. “I do think that because I chose to say that word regardless of the context, I don’t think anything would be reversed here.”

Maybe there was some nuanced difference in what Flood said and what the player heard; in emotionally charged moments, that’s often the case. But the fact that those words tumbled so easily out of his mouth argues against his contention that those were words he couldn’t even bear to hear.

This story was originally published May 12, 2021 at 5:00 AM.