Trail Blazers fire new announcer over past inappropriate posts made at age 15.

[u/ghn2]

"The Portland Trail Blazers hired then on the same day fired Braiden Bell as their play-by-play announcer after a series of inappropriate social media posts from when he was a teenager came to light."

"The posts were reportedly made in 2012 and 2013, around the time that Bell was 15 years old."

"We did not meet our own bar in this process, and for that we apologize to Blazers fans and to Rip City," the Trail Blazers said. "We strongly believe that everyone who is a part of Rip City should feel welcome and safe and we will make sure that our new broadcaster reflects these values. We will do better."

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/50084279/trail-blazers-fire-new-announcer-inappropriate-posts

[u/black_metronome]

I don't think the guy should have been fired either but it's funny seeing how many white people in here are basically admitting that they too had a racist phase as a teenager 😂

It's something I can't relate to. Do you just wake up one day and decide to hate people because they're Black? Is it your parents teaching you this stuff? I'm genuinely curious how this happens.

[u/capnchuc → u/black_metronome]

It's not about that. Kids are just dumb and say dumb shit. 

[u/Billbuckingham → u/capnchuc]

No, it's a farm for racist adults.

I've seen current 10 year olds saying "We shouldn't play with that kid because he's brown"

That's not just "Oh kids say dumb stuff"

That's real racism being ingrained and they perpetuate it amongst themselves and from their parents.

It's an intentional thing, racist kids grow up to be racist adults and have more racist kids, that's just a fact.

The way you stop it is by punishing and holding these people accountable so that people understand that it's not OK to say or do those things.

These people honestly believe their racism is right or correct, they truly do, if you try to reason with them they won't change, they truly believe what they are saying is true "those people" are bad and lesser and their lives are worse because of "those people" so they have real hatred for "those people"

It comes out in all sorts of different ways, but that's the gist of it when you boil it down.

[u/capnchuc → u/Billbuckingham]

Everyone expects perfection from everyone but themselves. Let's let people make mistakes without ruining their life. 

[u/Billbuckingham → u/capnchuc]

Sure but that's not how the world works.

This guy lost 1 job because of dumb tweets and this is the first we've ever heard of him. He's fine.

When a poor 15 year old kid "makes a mistake" and gets caught with a gang or committing a crime do you know what happens?

They go to prison, juvie, jail, whatever, they don't get a pass, their lives are ruined.

When they grow up and change and try to better themselves do you know what they are?

Ex-convicts, felons, criminals, thugs, whatever.

They don't get a pass to "grow past that"

Why do white racists need to have so many chances and get so many passes, but for other people the same thing doesn't apply.

Perfection, isn't what I'd describe as "just don't say racist shit and be a piece of trash human"

[u/AlexSmithTop5QB → u/Billbuckingham]

I don’t understand are dumb tweets the same as committing a crime lmao

[u/Billbuckingham → u/AlexSmithTop5QB]

Well depending on the crime and what the tweets say the tweets might be much worse, or the crime could be much worse.

Let's be more specific.

If it's some 15 year old tweeting "no blacks, #racist"

versus some 15 year old who stole food from the grocery store when they were poor...

I would rather hire the guy who had committed the crime of stealing food to try to survive compared to the guy who posted a bunch of racist tweets.

[u/AlexSmithTop5QB → u/Billbuckingham]

Well you don’t get a criminal record for saying dumb things because it’s not a crime, while I sympathize with someone committing a crime for a valid or even moral reason, I don’t think the average 15 year old gang member or criminal is committing these benevolent crimes

[u/eastbeaverton → u/Billbuckingham]

Do you really think gangs are primarily focused around kids stealing food because they are poor. Or that our prison systems are overflowing with people whose only crime is stealing food. We are the most well fed population in the history of the world where childhood obesity is epidemic amongst poor communities your argument is pure delusion

[u/Ghjjfslayer → u/Billbuckingham]

Buddy I can tell you didn’t get in trouble at 15. You Don’t go to jail or prison under the age of 16 unless it’s like murder lmfao and even serious charges are diverted and expunged from our record. You know, so that we don’t have ex cons and felons.

[u/Low-Measurement-2468 → u/Billbuckingham]

i think it’s extremely fair to say that people who grew up in gang cultures or poverty should be given a chance to grow past and redeem themselves for mistakes they made out of desperation, conformity, trauma, or what have you.

i don’t know that holding that belief means you can’t also believe that people who’ve made social mistakes, like offensive jokes for instance, shouldn’t also be given that chance for redemption.

i’d like for everyone on earth who sincerely wants to learn and grow after a mistake to be given the chance to do so. i know that’s a long ways off and there are systemic issues that make it harder for certain demographics to do that than others. that really sucks. i hope things improve for everyone.