Despite what many people seem to believe, it’s actually quite easy to not be a bigot. Yet, as Mark Ruffalo has once again pointed out, a lot of people seem to be unable to show basic humanity. His latest issue is with ESPN commentator John Anderson, who referred to defenseman Zach Whitecloud’s last name as being a name for “toilet paper.”
Of course, the longtime SportsCenter host did grow up in an era where lead paint was ubiquitous, so perhaps it’s not entirely his fault that his idea of a great joke is the sort of insult a middle schooler would throw out when losing an argument. But, as Ruffalo brilliantly and succinctly expresses, by letting people get away with this sort of seemingly juvenile — but actually hateful — behavior, we’re normalizing it further, and thus dehumanizing those it applies to.
Thankfully, Anderson has apologized and it’s been accepted by Whitecloud in a fairly magnanimous way. The sports star has been the bigger man and then some, using his platform to speak about how he’s proud of his heritage, and that while he’s faced plenty of ignorance before, nothing will make him change that. In an interview after the game, he stated:
“I think it was an attempt at humor that came out as being obviously insensitive, and he acknowledges that. He understands that it was wrong to say. I wanted to make sure he knew that I accepted his apology. People make mistakes, and this is a scenario where not just John but everyone can learn from and move forward in a positive direction and try to be better.”
He then added:
“I’m proud of where I come from and where I was raised, who I was raised by. I carry my grandfather’s last name, and nothing makes me more proud than to be able to do that. In our culture, we were raised to be the first ones to reach out and offer help, so that’s why I reached out to John this morning.”
Anderson’s apology was there, but not quite understanding of the true depth of what he’d said:
“This is totally on me and I sincerely apologize to Zach, the Golden Knights, their fans and everyone else for what I said. It’s my job to be prepared and know the backgrounds of the players and I blew it.”
While it’s nice that he appreciates it was insensitive and, frankly, embarrassing for him as a professional to have made such a mean-spirited and easy-to-avoid mistake, there is a much deeper context going on here that makes what he said so much worse than being just insulting to Whitecloud.
The history of indigenous people in Canada is one heavy with cultural genocide, with the Dakota people, of whom Whitecloud is an ancestor, facing a heavy toll. Like in Australia and south of the border in the States, indigenous children were taken away from their families and sent to schools where they were often sexually abused, beaten for speaking anything other than English, and had their culture erased. Mounties would even kidnap young indigenous kids whose communities had tried to hide them.
Literally thousands died of malnutrition, with the real body count being too hard to estimate as records were botched, and often children were sent back to their reservations once they were sick to the point of death, so the statistics about in-school deaths could be kept down. While this may all seem a big jump from being derogatory about somebody’s name and culture, the notions stem from the same impulse — and by normalizing it, people like Anderson are contributing to a culture of bigotry that allows horrors like that to flourish. And, the worst thing is, there were plenty more terrors other than residential schools — they were just the most evil outcome of a society that dehumanized indigenous people.
This isn’t the first time Ruffalo has waded into a contentious issue with full-blooded support of a liberal cause, and judging by his past, it won’t be the last. While many famous people test the waters, it’s heartening to see somebody really take a stand and use their platform to unabashedly raise awareness for causes like this. Let’s just hope that John Anderson tries to be a little more like Ruffalo next time he thinks he’s being funny.