Current:Home > MyBenjamin Ashford|Colts owner Jim Irsay needs to check his privilege and remember a name: George Floyd -CapitalSource
Benjamin Ashford|Colts owner Jim Irsay needs to check his privilege and remember a name: George Floyd
Chainkeen View
Date:2025-04-11 11:11:50
Do you want to see what privilege looks like?Benjamin Ashford In all of its arrogance and ignorance. In all of its lack of historical knowledge. In its lack of understanding of how race and power in America works. Do you want to see? Look no further than Jim Irsay, the owner of the Indianapolis Colts, in a staggering television interview dripping with almost unfathomable ignorance and memory holes.
Irsay spoke to journalist Andrea Kremer from “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” on a segment scheduled to air on Nov. 21, and as she has done for decades, as well as anyone in sports journalism ever, she got an interview subject to open up. To reveal their inner selves. And that’s what Irsay did and what we saw inside was something remarkably problematic.
Irsay spoke about a number of topics, including his battle with addiction. But one of the most interesting parts of the interview is when Irsay talks about his arrest in Indiana in 2014 for driving under the influence. According to records obtained at the time by the Indianapolis Star, officers "recovered numerous prescription medication bottles containing pills.” They also discovered approximately $29,000 in cash.
Irsay pled guilty to a misdemeanor count of operating a vehicle while intoxicated. He also admitted to having a number of drugs in his system including hydrocodone, oxycodone and Xanax.
Irsay tells Kremer that “the arrest was wrong” and he only pled guilty because he wanted the entire ordeal to end. This is where the interview gets troublesome.
Read more NFL coverage:NFL power rankings Week 12: Eagles, Chiefs affirm their place at top
"I am prejudiced against because I'm a rich, white billionaire," Irsay told Kremer. "If I'm just the average guy down the block, they're not pulling me in, of course not."
Kremer then asked: "Do you know what it's going to sound like if people hear you say they're prejudiced against a rich, white guy?"
"I don't care what it sounds like. It's the truth," he said. "You know, Andrea, I could give a damn what people think how anything sounds or sounds like. The truth is the truth and I know the truth."
Let’s all pause for a moment and give our prayers to the rich, white billionaires. They need our support. It’s a rough life for them. The tax breaks. The private jets. The mansions. Please be considerate in their time of need.
It would be easy to dig into the data about the advantages rich, white men have in this country. Or, white men, period. Or how Black Americans are killed at a higher rate by police than any other group.
But I truly want to focus on one person, someone Irsay apparently needs to be reminded of: his name is George Floyd.
You see, privilege is when you, who has more money than many Americans combined, with a straight face say you are the victim, apparently forgetting what a true victim looks like. Floyd, and many people of color, are actually targeted by police. Floyd was brutally murdered by multiple officers.
Irsay doesn't seem to understand the multiple Americas that exist when it comes to law enforcement and encounters with police. Or he just doesn't care. Many times, encounters with police for people of color are exasperating or life altering. Or life ending.
Even the smallest encounters can be chilling. Several weeks ago, I was jogging around 4:30 in the morning. I was running on the left side of the street and at one point a police cruiser drove by on the right side. It stayed on that side of the street, pulled about 15 feet in front of me, and slowed to my pace and drove like that for a good three minutes. Then, wondering if I was imagining things, I stopped running and stood there. The car stopped. Keeping that distance. I started running again, the car started moving again, keeping the same distance. This part of the encounter lasted about another two minutes.
I was jogging. I didn't have 29K on me in cash like Irsay (unfortunately). The only drug in my system was the caffeine from a drink of Diet Pepsi that I had before leaving. There was no communication from the officer or officers in the vehicle. It just followed me. It was menacing behavior and there was no reason for it. Did the officer think I was going to rob a house while wearing all my night gear where I'm lit up like a Christmas tree?
The police car only stopped following me when something rare happened at that time of the morning: another car came along on the same side of the street as the police car and pulled behind it because the cruiser was moving so slowly. The cruiser was essentially blocking the road. The police car then sped up and drove off.
I apparently drew attention from the police just jogging. I'm unaware of any laws that I could have possibly broken unless there's one for jogging too slow.
This is the world Irsay apparently doesn't see or understand.
Irsay's comments are damaging on a number of fronts but more than anything they demonstrate such glaring privilege. I can't imagine Black Colts players seeing his words and not rolling their eyes.
So, again, do you want to see what privilege looks like? In all of its arrogance and ignorance. In all of its lack of historical knowledge.
Just listen to Irsay.
veryGood! (9737)
Related
- Toyota to invest $922 million to build a new paint facility at its Kentucky complex
- Maine shooting survivor says he ran down bowling alley and hid behind pins to escape gunman: I just booked it
- Sofia Richie Makes a Convincing Case to Revive the Y2K Trend of Using Concealer as Lipstick
- What happened during the Maine shootings last night? A timeline of the tragedy
- Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie return for an 'Encore,' reminisce about 'The Simple Life'
- Man arrested after trespassing twice in one day at Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s home in Los Angeles
- Palestinians plead ‘stop the bombs’ at UN meeting but Israel insists Hamas must be ‘obliterated’
- Epic battle between heron and snake in Florida wildlife refuge caught on camera
- US wholesale inflation accelerated in November in sign that some price pressures remain elevated
- The average long-term US mortgage rate rises for 7th straight week, 30-year loan reaches 7.79%
Ranking
- Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
- White House says Russia is executing its own soldiers for not following orders
- Feeling the pinch of high home insurance rates? It's not getting better anytime soon
- Driver in Malibu crash that killed 4 Pepperdine students pleads not guilty to murder
- DoorDash steps up driver ID checks after traffic safety complaints
- Carjacking call led police to chief’s son who was wanted in officers’ shooting. He died hours later
- Former Ohio State OL Dawand Jones suspected Michigan had Buckeyes' signs during 2022 game
- Jay-Z Reveals Why Blue Ivy Now Asks Him for Fashion Advice
Recommendation
Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
Experts reconstruct face of teenage Inca girl sacrificed over 500 years ago in Peru
Week 9 college football expert picks: Top 25 game predictions led by Oregon-Utah
Soil removal from Ohio train derailment site is nearly done, but cleanup isn’t over
EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
Jonathan Majors' ex-girlfriend arrested amid domestic violence case against the actor
Kris Jenner calls affair during Robert Kardashian marriage 'my life's biggest regret'
María Corina Machado is winner of Venezuela opposition primary that the government has denounced