Racism in Wrestling? The short answer is yes, Not because of wrestling but because of the fact that there is racism in life. I have come across this in various walks, probably more than others. While my skin appears white, my nationality is actually Native American, while my son's skin is light chocolate he is actually African American. The truth is that I hear all kinds of comments regarding ones ethnic, racial, or educational background from people who don't know mine or my sons race. You ought to see their expressions when I tell them of mine or my sons race when they start telling ethnic jokes. I guess this is one of the reasons that I am comfortable pastoring a true multi racial church.

Racism is not limited to the color of one’s skin. I still hear jokes about "Hillbilly's" even though many of America's most complicated technologies were created by people from the South. Or what about derogatory comments between people who live in the city and those who live in the country? The truth is, is that racism is ignorance or stupidity, and that we all need to recognize our equality in the eyes of God.

Frankly, that is one of the good things about wrestling, each person gets to prove their worth, or lack thereof by the way they wrestle and act, whether they win or loose. Unfortunately, many are ignorant as to the customs, traditions, and cultures of various groups of people. I firmly believe that for that reason, not necessarily racism or prejudice, that many are critical of teams like Hard Knox in Kansas, or Pin Kings in Oklahoma. If making the effort to get to know the coaches and wrestlers I think many will find a different type of person than they expect. I grew up in the projects around African American's more than around whites, I have found myself able to "rib" and kid around with many coaches and wrestlers from teams mentioned above. I have personally come to enjoy my relationship with many of these coaches and wrestlers I see people become critical of them, sometimes for justified reasons maybe, but many times, just because those teams may have black coaches or wrestlers. If people were honest about it they would recognize that they come down on these teams more than others and that is evident by their lack of criticism of wrestlers or coaches who are White and behave the same way.

The big question is, what do you do about racism? I have concluded that you have to live your life to the fullest and recognize that those who choose to remain ignorant are the ones who are loosing out. I believe one must also be willing to confront racism when they see it, hear it, or experience it, no matter who it is that is making the comments, red yellow, black, white or any mixture thereof. This for me, includes the need to quit playing race cards when a persons race has nothing to do with their behavior, again I have heard it from all sides. I firmly believe that if more people did these things that those who are racist would learn to at least be silent.