Let me preface this by saying I absolutely despise talking about race-related issues. I myself am open-minded and prefer to surround myself with other open-minded folks. Some how though, this is a topic that always makes its way into the conversation. Fortunately, NASCAR has mostly avoided any race problems this century and has actually pushed for diversity in motorsport. That all took a step back with the Kyle Larson incident Monday night. So without going too far down the rabbit hole, I’m going to tell you why we shouldn’t “cancel” Larson, but merely put a moratorium on his participation in racing.
The Human Perspective
Even though this is all due to a racial slur, I’m going to look at this as vaguely as possible and avoid talking race. Look at it this way. Kyle Larson said a word with excessive negative connotations that we have been trying for decades to get rid of. What if it was another word though? You can replace it with a homophobic slur or slander even for what I’m about to say. Don’t nuke this man’s whole career. Yes, I hate the N-word and all that it stands for. Yes I think NASCAR should take action as well as Chip Ganassi. What about his wife? His son? The rest of his family for that matter. These people are all affected by the witch hunt to end Larson’s career.
Regardless of how wrong what he said is, Kyle Larson is still a human being. The right way to approach this isn’t to just slam him into the ground. In my opinion, Kyle Larson probably isn’t a racist, but he uttered a racial slur so until someone else famous messes up he will carry that title. So what should be done? Well fine him a shit ton lets call it $100,000. Then suspend him from ALL racing, including dirt and iRacing for at least one year. Again, just don’t end this man’s whole career over a single incident. Put him on blast and reinforce that what he did was wrong, but don’t ruin his whole life.
My Other Issue with this Incident
We’re all familiar with the above video. Morgan Freeman says “I don’t want a black history month because black history is American history.” Usually used by somebody to explain why we don’t need a black history month. However, there is a quote at the end that applies more to what I’m going to talk about. The interviewer asks “how do we get rid of racism?”. Freeman replies, “Stop talking about it. I’m going to stop calling you a white man and you’re stop calling me a black man.” The first part is really what I’m focused on here, but the latter half gives the vibe of my writing. We’re all one race, the human race and that’s how I see it sorry if you disagree.
Back to my point, what about all of these people sharing the video? Go back to Freeman’s quote “Stop talking about it”. The video of Larson’s mistake is about 30 seconds depending on the clip. The 24 hours of news that followed? All driven by people spreading this video. Which at first glance, will rightfully infuriate some people. But what did you actually help by sharing it? You didn’t help Larson which is fine, you don’t need to he will dig himself out of this hole, or not. But you also didn’t help your fellow Americans and the race issues we all hate in our society. No don’t cover it up, but don’t go after everything in Kyle Larson’s life. Sometimes social media could handle things better, but I also again understand we are all human and get emotional in response to things of this nature.
The Point of this Kyle Larson Piece
If I hate race issues, why did I write about this? Because it is everything I hate about how society is and specifically social media. I hate the N-word. I hate people being petty and trying to ruin others lives. Is there a line somewhere we shouldn’t cross? Probably, but who decides? Kyle Larson should and will be punished, but look in the mirror. Are you a hero for calling out a racist slur? Or are you a villain for trying to take a father’s job and leaving his family in limbo? Not my call and you couldn’t pay me to make it. Be kind to one another and understand not everyone is a lost cause. Kyle Larson has always seemed like an alright guy and hell I even said he was one of the biggest disappointments on Chairgatin’ so you know I’m not a Larson fan. Just have some opinions on how we should treat each other even when there is a serious societal wrong committed.
If you think I’m way out of line, reach out to my DMs on twitter and if you’re like me and just want racing stay up to date with all (well what we have for now) racing news on our page!
