ESPN anchor Sage Steele and other Christian sports figures met at the Under Our Skin forum at The Crossing Church in Tampa, Florida, to discuss “the intersection of race and faith in America today.”

An important topic for sure and one that requires attention and discussion.

Steele, mixed race woman, married to a white man, moderated the forum but also had a fair few words of her own.

Some of her words raised some eyebrows….. She said:

“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,”

“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?”

Now, before I get into any opinion, I feel for Steele, sometimes being biracial must be tough, you can catch heat from every corner but ultimately in the wider USA she is taken as black! That means she also deals with the shit the majority of black women have to deal with on a daily basis. Also, being married to a white man, she gets all sorts of crap from people about how she should have married a black man, are they not good enough etc etc.

Now, who knows why she married a white man…. Maybe she doesn’t like black dudes (which is a whole other post and hours of talking), maybe she fell in love with another human being and he happens to be white, maybe there is another reason…. However, it doesn’t matter. Simple thing, she doesn’t deserve flak for that from anybody, especially the black community.

BUT, to make statements like “The worst racism that I have received” is harmful and damaging. Yes, a lot of people have given her crap I am sure about marrying a white man, or not being a proper black woman and this is wrong but I don’t think it should be said to be racist.

As a black woman she has to face racism daily at the hands of an intrinsically weighted racist system, an underhandedly racist structure. Being black makes you subject to racism at every step and she has either gotten so used to that she doesn’t notice it or she is wearing a black out mask!

The black community needs discussion and help from each other to strengthen, to overcome differing opinions and accept each others decisions. It needs to focus on education, empowerment, debate and personal growth, community and cross-country support.

However, I don’t think calling it out as the most racist is either true or helpful.

What do you think?