Tackling The Problems In Our Own Backyard: Some Thoughts About Clemson Football And Race
Dabo Swinney is a hero to Clemson football fans. It’s easy to imagine that even the people who don’t call themselves fans of football find plenty to like about him. This makes it much easier to take him at his word when he says the allegations by South Carolina football players Bryson Allen-Williams, Terry Googer, and Dante Sawyer that Clemson football players or fans used racial slurs during their November 26 game are “absolutely false.”
Swinney says he asked his players about it and they denied it. It’s safe to say any thinking person — guilty or not — would deny such an allegation. Many of the comments surrounding the situation call into question the veracity of the statements since no one has admitted to using any racial slurs. Other comments call into question the racial identities of the would-be insulters, insinuating it should be considered less an ordeal if the culprits were black, and that their black teammates would likely have taken exception if the injurious remarks were made by white players. Since such a large number of players on the field were black one could easily be convinced by such suggestions that this isn’t really an issue that needs to be addressed, especially with such pressing issues as Clemson’s upcoming conference championship game against Virginia Tech and the potential of playing in its second consecutive college football playoffs. This is also an understandable perspective.
Death Valley is a fascinating venue for college football. The stunning 80,000-plus seat stadium is named for Frank Howard, a known racist. In a 2005 Sports Illustrated Article Wake Forest Alum Billy Smith recalls watching Howard say, “I’ll never have a Nigra at Clemson.” The Tigers’ run down onto the field is referred to as “the most exciting 25 seconds in college football.” It’s been noted elsewhere, however, that at the apex of that hill is John C. Calhoun’s Fort Hill plantation house, which is open to the public seven days a week. It’s just a short walk away from the most recognizable building on campus — the one with the clock tower — which is named for the notorious white supremacist, murderer, and racial terrorist statesman Benjamin Tillman. Clemson might be better served by vigorously condemning such acts instead of dismissing the reports as ludicrous attempts at grabbing attention or media sensationalism. That the hills overlooking Death Valley are lined with monuments to a bygone era of racial terror and economic exploitation makes the insinuation that vestiges of such archaic thinking and speaking still exist on its football team or among its fans something Clemson University and its football program should take seriously.
The allegations made by the University of South Carolina players are not the first — or only — troubling racial incidents at Clemson this year, alone, that have gone virtually unchecked and unacknowledged. Earlier this semester there were reports of students harassed and called racial slurs by individuals riding around campus in a pickup truck, which were communicated by local news at the same time campus police were investigating Ku Klux Klan recruitment flyers left on the doorsteps of students across campus. These events came to light mere days before white nationalist Milo Yianopoulos spoke at a sold out campus event marketed as “Make Clemson Great Again.” That event, in itself, is not problematic, as students on a college campus should be exposed to a wide range of opinions and viewpoints in the development of their political and social identities. It can be seen alongside the 9 day sit-in at the administration building last spring as evidence of differing ideas and approaches about events on campus and across the country. Posed alongside the accusation that Clemson Tigers might use objectionable language during the rivalry game, though, it provides context for the university and its athletic programs to perhaps examine their responses and/or their messaging to their fan base.
But to hear Coach Swinney tell it, the media should be more focused on Clemson “being 23–1 in the past two years” or “the seniors winning their 46th game” or “the largest margin of victory ever against an SEC team and one of the most dominating performances ever.” He says he doesn’t blame the players who made the allegations but, “for the adults who will take anything and go and write and spin it and headline it the way they want it to get people to click on it? Man, shame on them. That’s the world we live in. That’s sad. A lot of those people should be fired. They should be fired.” It sounds like Coach Swinney is rather oblivious to the context in which this event he considers non-news occurred. To use a football metaphor: no scout goes recruiting where they know they are unlikely to find recruits. Their efforts are better used where they know there may be some semblance of potential success. If Clemson is a place where students in the general population are harassed with slurs, and the campus is viewed as prime recruiting grounds for the KKK, and student groups can sell out an auditorium named for a white supremacist with an event featuring a white nationalist — all with no outright comment from university trustees and upper administration — why would it be hard to believe its football team or fans might exhibit similar behavior? Perhaps this also contributes to the newsworthiness of the statements of the USC players.
One of the few, if not the only reported representative of Clemson, condemning the reprehensible acts rather than the reporting on them is offensive lineman Jay Guillermo, who reached out to one of the USC players, and told the media Tuesday, “We had just talked about it and I let him know that that’s not what we do. If anything was said, that’s not how we are, not what we are as an offensive line, a team, university. We have a good culture around here, a really classy culture.”
It should go without saying that Clemson fans, students, staff, faculty, coaches, administrators, and trustees find the use of racial slurs or racial terror reprehensible. It should. But because it has gone on so long with so little condemnation from the aforementioned, Coach Swinney’s “I know the character of our team and that’s really all there is to say about it.” falls a bit short, especially with so much going on in his own back yard that nobody seems to have very much interest in tackling.