Saunders Takes Bias to a New Level

When you expect someone to be incompetent and ultra-biased then it is nearly impossible for that person’s views or actions to cause a surprise. Therefore, when you consider that the N&O’s resident racist (Barry Saunders) found a way to reach new levels of incompetence and bias today then you wonder what is next out there.

For a little back drop, you need to be aware that the News & Observer’s Barry Saunders took the time to criticize NC State’s administration for not wanting to interview minorities during the Wolfpack’s search for a basketball coach back in April.

Then, NC State became the first athletics program in the Triangle to hire a minority to lead one of its primary sports and Saunders curiously disappeared without a peep after being so interested in the topic just days before. All you need to do is click here for 60 seconds to see the situation summarized for you.

Lest we wait no more, Wolfpackers!!! We finally have acknowledgement from brother Saunders that Sidney Lowe is black!!! And this is a good thing!!!

The crazy part about what you are about to read is that Saunders’ comments about Sidney Lowe come in the middle of an article complimenting UNC-CH for hiring a white guy named Butch after conducting a football search where no minorities were interviewed or considered for the job!

You think that this is too ridiculous to be true? Read for yourself how wonderful Carolina is for hiring a guy named Butch is 12.5% Cherokee Indian!!

This is not a joke. Evidently being 100% black isn’t as good for the race police as being 12.5% Native American. Who knew!? I learn something every day.

As a poster on a message board accurately summarized this craziness as follows:

Saunders blasts State for not interviewing minorities. State hires a minority (the 1st BBall or FBall at a triangle university). Saunders doesn’t make a big deal over State doing what he said we wouldn’t do. Carolina has a coaching search and doesn’t interview a minority but no word from Saunders. Carolina hires a white guy and Saunders writes an article that it is great that Carolina hires someone has relatives that were minority and finally mentions in passing that State hired a minority.

SFN could care less if Carolina tcontinues block access to minorities for the University’s leadership positions. But it was Barry Saunders that chose to make this issue a hot-buttom when he prematurely criticized NC State’s basketball search in April. So, it should come as no surprise that (in Barry Saunders’ world) it makes great sense to therefore praise UNC-CH for such a gutsy move with their 1/16th Native American. Don’t you get it?

I don’t either. Neither does this fantastic piece focusing on the same topic. Blog on, brother Sanders. (Not to be confused with ‘Saunders’)

Post-Script: Two follow-up comments from our readers that needed to be elevated here:

(1)

Lots of funny stuff here in addition to the hypocrisy:“Davis, after his introduction, told me that his great-grandfather was a full-blooded Cherokee and his grandfather was half-Cherokee.”

Butch’s ciphering abilities are going to fit right in at the flagship.

“Actually, Butch is Native American,” Baddour said. “He’s got a card in his wallet that identifies him.”

UNC is now the only school in the country that has a documented minority hire for a head coaching postion.

For those that don’t know, Saunders son is a highly recruited tight end out of Durham Riverside. He remains uncommitted but everyone knows he is going to UNC and would have even if they had hired David Duke.

(2)

By the way, the infamous ‘roll’ Davis refers to was originally based on brief interviews conducted by government-appointed agents at the turn of the century. The primary criteria was how Native American each person looked to a white guy sitting at a little folding table in a tent in the middle of a field in Oklahoma. Recent DNA results have shown that the average person walking down the street in New York City has as much Native American blood as anyone on the rolls. In fact, plans to settle once and for all Cherokee ancestry questions with DNA testing have been shelved and are the source of court proceedings for this very reason.None of this is to imply that Davis should not be rightly proud of his heritage. It is only to state that Barry Saunders, along with much of what passes for ‘academia’ over in Chapel Hill, are as out of touch and clueless as we could hope them to be.

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73 Responses to Saunders Takes Bias to a New Level

  1. BobLee 11/28/2006 at 2:34 PM #

    Yo Barry, are you oughta your freakin’ mind? And whats with the goofy pimp hat, dude?

    Sincerely,
    Cosmo Kramer

  2. forst8 11/28/2006 at 2:41 PM #

    Saunders is the most incompetent writer I have seen at a major newspaper and on top of that, his rascism and bias attitudes make him a heaping pile of dog poop IMO. Even though I am not a fan of the N&O, I am surprised that they keep this moron on their staff.

    By the way, this is about as strong a statement as I could write without putting SFN in a position of possibly having to delete my reply so I was unable to tell you what I really think of him.

  3. Rick 11/28/2006 at 2:41 PM #

    He should be treated like the other moron greg you know who.
    Just completely ignore him.

  4. gopack968 11/28/2006 at 2:50 PM #

    Davis’s hiring is “momentus” because he is 1/16th Native American? Then Lee Fowler should be getting a frickin’ Nobel Peace Prize for hiring Sidney.

    And by the way, the infamous ‘roll’ Davis refers to was originally based on brief interviews conducted by government-appointed agents at the turn of the century. The primary criteria was how Native American each person looked to a white guy sitting at a little folding table in a tent in the middle of a field in Oklahoma. Recent DNA results have shown that the average person walking down the street in New York City has as much Native American blood as anyone on the rolls. In fact, plans to settle once and for all Cherokee ancestry questions with DNA testing have been shelved and are the source of court proceedings for this very reason.

    None of this is to imply that Davis should not be rightly proud of his heritage. It is only to state that Barry Saunders, along with much of what passes for ‘academia’ over in Chapel Hill, are as out of touch and clueless as we could hope them to be.

  5. highonlowe 11/28/2006 at 2:51 PM #

    Saunders is just another bojanglin’ troll, begging for clicks. (see also, Scoop Jackson)

  6. RickJ 11/28/2006 at 3:08 PM #

    Lots of funny stuff here in addition to the hypocrisy:

    “Davis, after his introduction, told me that his great-grandfather was a full-blooded Cherokee and his grandfather was half-Cherokee.”

    Butch’s ciphering abilities are going to fit right in at the flagship.

    “Actually, Butch is Native American,” Baddour said. “He’s got a card in his wallet that identifies him.”

    UNC is now the only school in the country that has a documented minority hire for a head coaching postion.

    For those that don’t know, Saunders son is a highly recruited tight end out of Durham Riverside. He remains uncommitted but everyone knows he is going to UNC and would have even if they had hired David Duke.

  7. GAWolf 11/28/2006 at 3:10 PM #

    I chuckle every morning that I see his glamour shot with that silly little sideways hat. He’s a jokester… at best.

    I hope he catches wind of this and logs on to post a reply. I’d love to hear his reaction.

  8. BobLee 11/28/2006 at 3:13 PM #

    Tahlequah, OK which is Butch’s hometown is the “capital” of the Cherokee Nation (after they were “relocated” from Western NC via “the Trail of Tears” in the mid-late 1800s.)

    Its likely that 99% of everyone who’s ever used a public restroom in Tahlequah has some “Cherokee DNA” in them.

    The only way this might effect UNC is that if (when?) Butch has us in a BCS game, the NCAA will not allow him to carry a tomahawk on the sidelines.

    If you guys hire Norm Chow, will you get points for hiring a part-Samoan or whatever he is “part”? No doubt ol’ Barry will be watching.

    BLS
    http://www.swaggersays.com

  9. beowolf 11/28/2006 at 3:13 PM #

    Davis’s hiring is “momentus” because he is 1/16th Native American? Then Lee Fowler should be getting a frickin’ Nobel Peace Prize for hiring Sidney.

    Well, he would, except that he didn’t hire Derek. So he’s probably 1/2 racist in Barry Slanders’ book.

    And BobLee, that pimp hat allows Barry to say Real Black-Man Slang like “sweet thang” and “chill, homes.” You won’t catch Dennis Rogers saying that! Or any other writer worth a damn, but that’s a different matter.

  10. Cardiff Giant 11/28/2006 at 3:17 PM #

    Slanders is a fool and a liar.

  11. harrisek 11/28/2006 at 3:19 PM #

    This is a subject best left to die due to neglect. The article contains nothing worthy of comment.

  12. highonlowe 11/28/2006 at 3:22 PM #

    Just for the record Beo- Right Angles and the Meck Deck are in my daily blog rotation. Keep up the good work

  13. BobLee 11/28/2006 at 3:23 PM #

    Beo … I saw Barry’s job description when I was down at the N&O.

    (1-10): “…. and piss off whitey in North Raleigh and Cary.”

    He has permission to say absolutely ANYTHING he pleases just so long as it generates “reader response”.

    The only time he got into trouble was from the guys who have the rights to all the Sanford & Sons scripts. He can’t pull more than five quotes per column.

    BLS

  14. beowolf 11/28/2006 at 3:30 PM #

    Years ago now, when I was a senior at NCSU and a part-timer in the Features Dept. at the N&O, I remember David Menconi the music reviewer and the rest of the dept. getting in a huge snit about Slanders. Slanders had called some publicist for a band that was going to be in concert (which he wanted to see) and chewed them out on the phone for not giving HIM a FREE review ticket.

    That was (a) extraordinarily presumptive on Slanders’ part, not to mention incredibly rude; (b) exceedingly out-of-bounds since that Menconi’s purview, not Slanders’; and (c) indicative of the very self-serving, entitlement mentality of Slanders.

  15. ruffles31 11/28/2006 at 3:35 PM #

    Barry needs to talk to Woody Durham. I was listening to the UNC-Tenn bball game on Friday coming back to Raleigh. As a Pack and Vols fan, it was real hard to listen to Woody on multiple levels. As unbiasedly as I can say, Woody needs to retire as he has lost alot of his “ability.”

    But he said “Join us on Monday afternoon at 2:45 PM as we introduce our new football coach, Bruce Davis.” My only question for Woody and Barry is this:

    Is Bruce Davis any relation to Butch Davis?

  16. burnbarn 11/28/2006 at 3:37 PM #

    Bob Lee,

    Do you think we are being crazy on this issue?

  17. redfred2 11/28/2006 at 3:45 PM #

    Barry, Barry, Barry, ???

    I thought you and I had several earlier e-mail discussions about the Sidney Lowe hire. That was back after your column in which you said NCSU was damned if they didn’t hire a minority. OH, BUT IF THEY DID hire that minority coach, they weren’t actually doing for all of the right reasons. Especially not Barry Saunders right reasons. One of those no win, race bias, situations. You know what I’m talking about, you write about it all of the time and there is constant and clear evidence of it in your columns.
    Wouldn’t you agree that it pretty obvious to everyone on the planet, with the exception of the visually impaired, that Sidney Lowe is a black man, or an Afro-American. Or wouldn’t you agree with that assessment Mr Saunders? I’m pretty sure that the NC State administration was fully aware of that fact from the onset, when they hired Sidney Lowe.

    But a guy named BUTCH Davis, is 1/8 Cherokee Indian? Who would have ever thunk? Now that UNC has hired someone, whom they had no earthly idea is about his any part Cherokee Indian, prior to contact and well after the negotiations are under way, you feel the need to positively weigh in on the subject matter. Then all of a sudden an absolute plethora of warm fuzzies comes rolling off of your tongue to land right on the printed page of your newspaper column. You even mentioned Sidney Lowe! But this time, in a positive light, without any totally contradictory racial innuendos implied. What a guy.

    I am truly glad that you felt it was honorable for UNC to UNKNOWINGLY hire a minority, and for you to then, load it down with all of your accolades and your personal blessings of approval.

    It’s just more of the usual bandwagon, grandstanding, catering to the masses, and a pitiful lack of journalistic integrity that we’ve all come appreciate from the N&O.

    All to be expected, especially when reading a newspaper column with the name of one, Mr Barry Saunders, attached.

    Your buddy,
    Joe Smith

  18. highonlowe 11/28/2006 at 4:03 PM #

    I’m not black, but I feel the need to paraphase from Jason Whitlock’s interview with The Big Lead.

    (Saunders) is a clown. And the publishing of his fake ghetto posturing is an insult to black intelligence, and it interferes with intelligent discussion of important racial issues. And his stuff is being presented like grown folks should take it seriously. Please. I guess I’ll go Bill Cosby on you, but it’s about time we as black people quit letting Flavor Flav and the rest of these clowns bojangle for dollars. There’s going to be a new civil-rights movement among black people and the people bojangling for dollars are going to be put in check.

    Place Saunders in same category.

  19. sautz 11/28/2006 at 4:07 PM #

    I have exactly two friends from Oklahoma. Both have blue eyes and blond hair and both have their Native American “ID card”. I am in no way trying to take away or dispute their heritage, but as BobbyLee and others point out, it is very common to be 16th American Indian in those parts. I certainly don’t see this as a triumphant minority hire like Saunders is spinning this to be. It really should not be an issue in the first place.

  20. dawgitall 11/28/2006 at 4:31 PM #

    I ‘ve gotta say I’ve mostly just monitored this site as a lifelong state fan interested in all wolfpack sports, but some of you have just got to get that big ole chip off your shoulders! The complaints about the ESPN guys last night were just too much. Those guys are talking heads that don’t know much about NCS and were trying to fill air time. Sure they sounded like idiots but the way we shut them up is to get out there with our great new coach and win basketball games. Now folks are all bent out of shape about a fluff article written by B. Saunders. It’s okay, it’s about a Carolina guy and mentions State. It’s no big deal. He puts out fluff stories every week. He’s gotta say something to draw his pay check. Sure he wrote an unfair article about the coaches search earlier in the year but if Fowler hadn’t done such a poor job in the first place and let it drag on forever people wouldn’t have been writing negative pieces. This is just trivial stuff. Carolina and Duke bias will be corrected in only one way. Fielding outstanding teams in red and white.

  21. redfred2 11/28/2006 at 4:31 PM #

    “It really should not be an issue in the first place.”

    Exactly. I didn’t even think of race or hear in mentioned Sidney Lowe’s hiring, except by, guess who, Mr Barry Saunders.

    I thought race wasn’t supposed to be a factor? Which is it there Barry?

  22. gumbydammit 11/28/2006 at 4:43 PM #

    I enjoy Barry Saunders’ columns. I especially like how when I fold the paper down to the size of the column, it is just the right size to wipe my butt.

  23. redfred2 11/28/2006 at 4:45 PM #

    dawgitall

    Good commentary, but I would ask where all of the constant negative journalism is about especially Wake Forest, or Duke, or Carolina, from Saunders or any other sports media?

    So you’re saying that you have to beat someone to get a fair shake in reporting, and that this all started as recently as the coaching change?

  24. dawgitall 11/28/2006 at 4:54 PM #

    Well red I guess what I’m saying is that the world isn’t fair and it doesn’t do a lot of good to whine about it. We can’t change what people say or think but if we get out there and just play the game and play it well we have the last laugh. I don’t like what the ESPN guys said but what the team did last night (and hopefully will do as this season and the ones to come unfold) will in the long run begin to change the way we are percieved by the media. Let them see a winning attitude, excited fans filling the stands, and a great coach at work. Surely they will help to turn things around.

  25. highstick 11/28/2006 at 4:55 PM #

    I’ve said this before, but will repeat again, The N&O, The Charlotte Observer, The State(in Columbia, SC) and the Rock Hill Herald are all owned by the same bunch of scumbags, McGlatchy Newspapers. They do not report news, they stir up crap and don’t have the least bit of social responsibility. That’s why pimps like Barry can get jobs there! Quit buying their newspapers and if you do, please use it in the bottom of your bird cage!

    Freedom of the Press, my royal butt. I’d like some Freedom from the Press!

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