Meaning of ‘thugs’ depends on your perspective
Sometimes when you say or type a phase or a word, people will take it a number of different ways, and perhaps not the way it was intended.
Unfortunately, that鈥檚 the case quite often in this day and age.
When Doug Conroy, coach of the Ringgold-based Little Rams Wrestling Program, posted on Facebook a phrase that included the word 鈥渢hugs鈥� in reference to a video of two 18-year-old Ringgold students apparently assaulting a 16-year-old student, he was informed by the Ringgold School District that his team could no longer use the facilities at Ringgold High School while he was the coach.
That鈥檚 because 鈥渢hugs鈥� was apparently deemed a racist word. The two 18-year-olds, who were charged with simple assault, are both black.
Conroy is fighting the decision, but has since stepped down so his team can continue to practice.
Conroy said on KDKA-TV, 鈥淭he woman who claimed to be the aunt of one of the men I was speaking of said that I had found a creative way to call her nephew the 鈥楴鈥� word.鈥�
What鈥檚 interesting is that the 16-year-old who was allegedly assaulted also is black. It would seem Conroy was sticking up for that boy, so why would someone think the use of 鈥渢hugs鈥� was racist in that situation?
Can it really be assumed that Conroy meant the use of 鈥渢hugs鈥� in a racist way?
Let鈥檚 talk about 鈥渢hugs鈥� a little bit.
I鈥檝e told several of my friends and relatives what was a fairly scary incident for me from my days living at Penn State鈥檚 main campus, and I鈥檇 like to relive it with my readers.
I was making my way back to my apartment one night, traveling down an alley that I usually trekked through. The back part of an establishment called Campus Casino was dominated by billiard tables and the back entrance of it spilled down some steps onto this alley. The front part of the place was mostly video games usually being played by college students, but sometimes the groups that took over the pool-playing area weren鈥檛 the most esteemed people, especially at night.
Just as I was reaching that point of the alley, a crew of males in T-shirts and blue jeans streamed out of Campus Casino, seemed to immediately notice me and formed a semi-circle in my path.
I got a chill from the danger I felt. They didn鈥檛 look like college students at all and when telling of this experience, I usually referred to the group as 鈥渁 bunch of thugs.鈥�
They started to cackle and close in on me, saying things such as 鈥淲here you goin鈥�,鈥� and 鈥淵ou鈥檙e gonna have to pay to come through this way you know,鈥� and 鈥淲hat鈥檚 in the bag?鈥� (I had a bag with me although to this day I can鈥檛 remember what was in it) and 鈥淵ou a college kid, huh?鈥�
I remember saying nothing, just looking around and slowly backing up, thinking should I just turn and run or would that make the situation worse, should I give them some money, should I just try to talk my way out of this, like, 鈥淗ey, guys, I don鈥檛 want any trouble, just trying to get back to my apartment?鈥�
As I stood there pondering, I could hear footsteps behind me. Did one of them circle around to cut me off from behind?
Then I heard a fairly deep voice.
鈥淚s there a problem here?鈥�
I turned around and there was a mammoth human being with big, broad shoulders and big biceps. I immediately thought, 鈥渇ootball player.鈥�
He walked up next to me, looked at the five 鈥渢hugs鈥� and said sort of matter-of-factly, 鈥淪omething wrong?鈥�
I quickly sized up the situation and wondered, could this guy really handle all these 鈥渢hugs鈥� if they decided to start a fight?
I didn鈥檛 have to think about it long. The 鈥渢hugs鈥� all backed down with very little dialogue at that point and dispersed.
The guy looked at me and asked, 鈥淵ou OK?鈥�
I was still trembling and muttered, 鈥淵eah 鈥� thanks.鈥�
He walked down the rest of the alley with me, I turned left, he turned right, I said 鈥渟ee ya,鈥� to him and he smiled and just waved and went on his way.
I never saw him again and never did find out if he was an actual member of the Nittany Lions football team or a wrestler or what. I just know I appreciated what he did for a young, frightened college kid.
When you read this story, I鈥檓 not sure how you envision it in your own mind, but I feel I should make the picture a little clearer for you.
The 鈥渢hugs鈥� were all rough-looking white guys. The 鈥渇ootball player鈥� who came to my rescue was black.
But what if it was the other way around? What if the 鈥渢hugs鈥� were black and the rescuer was white? Would that mean this was a completely racist story and would I then have people calling in and demanding the 缅北禁地 relieve me of my duties?
Let鈥檚 take it a step further. What if the 鈥渢hugs鈥� were black, the rescuer was white, and I was black? If that was the situation and I used the word 鈥渢hugs,鈥� would that be OK then?
It all seems so unfair to me. To be completely honest, when the word 鈥渢hug鈥� is mentioned to me, the image of an unsavory white person enters my mind.
I don鈥檛 believe Conroy had race in mind at all when he put up that post on Facebook.
Maybe I鈥檓 old school, not with the times, say whatever you want, but to me it鈥檚 disturbing that someone鈥檚 words can be taken and twisted and construed in ways they never intended.
But, in closing, I did want to add this: If the person who did rescue me from that alley on that night many years ago happens to read this and remembers the incident, please contact me. I just wanted you to know that, even years later, I appreciated you standing up to those 鈥渢hugs鈥� for me.
Rob Burchianti can be reached at rburchianti@heraldstandard.com or on Twitter at @rvburch.