Source: Michael Loccisano / Getty
ESPN anchor Sage Steele recently told a Christian forum that the worst racism she experiences comes from those within her own race.
Christian sports figures, such as Steele, NFL tight end Benjamin Watson and former NFL Coach Tony Dungy, spoke at the Under Our Skin forum at The Crossing Church in Tampa, Florida to “discuss the intersection of race and faith in America today,” reports The Daily Wire.
Steele, who is biracial and married to a white man, served as moderator for the forum. She told the panel: “There are times that I believe that we, as African-Americans, can be hypocritical, and that is to not look ourselves in the mirror when we are saying certain things and blaming other groups for one thing when we are doing the exact same thing.”
“The worst racism that I have received [as a biracial woman married to white man], and I mean thousands and thousands over the years, is from black people, who in my mind thought would be the most accepting because there has been that experience,” the anchor explained. “But even as recent as the last couple of weeks, the words that I have had thrown at me I can’t repeat here and it’s 99 percent from people with my skin color. But if a white person said those words to me, what would happen?”
Last month, Steele was roasted online for criticizing the “not my president” protesters gathered at airports, saying the picketers were ironically delaying flights of immigrants, whom they claimed they were fighting for. Steele, 44, said she was dragged immediately by other black people.
“How do we [as Christians] address this honestly with each other and our communities? Because to me, if we don’t start with ourselves in any issue, how can we point our fingers at somebody else?” Steele said.
Dungy also weighed in on the matter.
The former Colts coach suggested parents need to set the standard for their children if we want to heal the divide.
“We have to start with ourselves and our families,” he said. “We have got to teach our kids that there is a way you treat people. It doesn’t matter if they’re black, white, rich, poor, educated, uneducated. There is a certain level [of respect] because that is what we do, because that is what Christ says we should do.”
Dungy added, “We can’t expect everybody else play by certain rules and we don’t. We can’t expect to treat people wrongly and not expect people to treat us wrongly. I think it’s got to start with us in our families and spread out.”
SOURCE: EURweb.com
Article Courtesy of EURWeb
Picture Courtesy of Michael Loccisano and Getty Images
Sage Steele Says She Experiences Racism from Other Black People was originally published on wzakcleveland.com
