The Bobcat Nation

Commentary: Try looking at things from another angle

By Jeff Welsch, Chronicle Sports Editor

Admit it.

When we putter around whitebread Bozeman, where cultural diversity means some Anglos drive 10-year-old bio-diesel Passats and the other Anglos drive sparkling-new SUVs, and we happen upon a young African-American, we instantly think:

Athlete.

Montana State University.

Probably football. Maybe basketball.

Innocently, of course, but nevertheless so.

Yes?

Now let's try putting ourselves in the cleats, er, shoes of an African-American in Bozeman or any other bucolic little college town.

Sure, many will tell us that Bozeman is as accommodating as any place they've lived.

MSU coaches James Clark and Junior Adams, former athletes both, wax enthusiastically about their life-altering experiences here.

And yet, many African-Americans will also tell us that it's impossible to fully appreciate life for a minority in an Anglo-dominant culture like ours.

For a semblance of understanding, we'd have to attend one of Clark and Adams' new weekly Focused and Motivated Minorities gatherings at MSU.

Their mission, explained in a recent story by Carol Schmidt of MSU's News Services, is to provide minority athletes a sanctuary of sorts.

A place to openly share experiences with fellow minorities.

Given that so many African-Americans have found fulfillment here, you might question the need for such a group.

Therein lies the paradox.

Clark, Adams and other African-Americans share an affectionate bond with the Gallatin Valley, yet a disquieting undercurrent also lurks.

This is still a state where some alums grumble about giving football and basketball scholarships to minorities.

This is still such a mono-cultured valley that a white separatist named Kevin McGuire sees fertile ground for the nourishment of his group's twisted views.

Most important, this is still a community where minorities are substantially outnumbered; culture shock is real.

Hence, FAMM.

Though I have yet to attend a FAMM gathering, I was a featured guest at three similar meetings at Oregon State, where Adams' football career began.

The gatherings were born from frustration with police, media and general stereotypes, all simmering until boiling over after an incident involving Adams, several other football players and students at a party.

Emotions were so charged that the African-American friend orchestrating the gatherings was initially apprehensive about me facing a room full of surly 220-pound human monoliths.

That first session, conducted town-hall style, remains one of the most enlightening experiences of my career.

The one and only rule is a sacred Las Vegas-esque "what happens here, stays here," but if you were fortunate enough to enter such a cultural inner circle, you would learn that ...

* African-American athletes in predominantly Anglo communities are on guard against getting pulled over for "driving while black."

* If a black athlete and white woman are walking down the street, the woman might be asked "is everything all right?"

* Minority athletes view the police and media with equal wariness, mistrust or disdain.

Most exasperating is the broad brush minorities are too often painted with in communities lacking cultural diversity.

Stereotypes seem inescapable, even in a well-intentioned valley whose mantra is "Where Rivers and Cultures Meet."

We see an African-American walking down the street, and we not only think "athlete," we also are wont to think "brother from the 'hood who escaped the guns, drugs and gangs of the concrete jungle to find peace, direction and a home here in Pleasantville."

In some cases, it's true; in more cases, it's not.

Each athlete, African-American or otherwise, has a unique yarn to spin.

My industry's primary flaw, I explained at OSU, is that we aren't doing enough to counter stereotypes by taking readers beneath the athletes' armor and jersey numbers.

Show the biology major in a lab coat conducting an experiment. Show the secondary education major reading to school kids. Show the engineer working with structures.

Quite likely, then, as we putter around whitebread Bozeman in our bio-diesel Passats and high-octane SUVs, we'd see an African-American and think:

"Hey, that's the guy who ...!"

Or, better yet, we'd think absolutely nothing at all.

WetWaderMT wrote:Do you all mind if I bring some reality to this entire discussion w/ and/or about Mr. Welsch?

While I agree that the Chomical has improved its sports coverage, more than likely due to Jeff's hiring, Mr. Welsch's attitude and commentary about Bozeman/Montana/The Big Sky leads me to one conclusion. The reason he isn't going to be, and doesn't want to be, "a home town guy" is because he has NO desire to be! His entire ambiance is one of, "I'll suffer through these next two or three years w/o creating any alligances, prove my ability to be unbiased in one of the most 'biased' (which you all have to have the brains to realize are his feelings, what was his most recent article about...pointing out our 'lily whiteness') regions of the country, and move on to a better, bigger, HIGHER PAYING job in some area of the country where he can revert to writing about how pathetic Bozeman/Montana/The Big Sky are and laugh all the way to the bank. If you don't believe me...check out his opinions/commentary while he was in Boise or Portland.

Call me jaded, call me insightful...one of these days you'll all be wondering why he moved to Bozeman, when he was completely aware of the MSU/UMmmm rivalry before hand, with the idea of being completely neutral. And for all you "doubters," take a look at the papers of LA, or Chapel Hill/Durham, or Detroit...all of them have sports writers who take a stand and pledge their allegiance to one team or another w/o shame. And, anyone that thinks that Bozeman should be "above" all that doesn't truely want to live here or be here.

Bring on the hate mail from all the "lovers" of the most recent sports editor at the Chomical. Granted, he's gotten this site much more publicity than it could have ever gotten on its own, but his using of the site for his personal (read, non-MSU) gains will make most of the viewers/posters of this site wish he'd never have mentioned us, because he'll be mentioning us in the future in jest.

Cat Grad wrote:1AAfan has to be referring to Rial Cummings

WetWaderMT wrote:Call me jaded, call me insightful...

This is still a state where some alums grumble about giving football and basketball scholarships to minorities.

This is still such a mono-cultured valley that a white separatist named Kevin McGuire sees fertile ground for the nourishment of his group's twisted views.

African-American athletes in predominantly Anglo communities are on guard against getting pulled over for "driving while black."

* If a black athlete and white woman are walking down the street, the woman might be asked "is everything all right?"

* Minority athletes view the police and media with equal wariness, mistrust or disdain.

When we putter around whitebread Bozeman, where cultural diversity means some Anglos drive 10-year-old bio-diesel Passats and the other Anglos drive sparkling-new SUVs...