Acting White: Formula One's Rising Star

Last fall a great friend, lawyer and former driver introduced me and my son to Formula One-style racing. Of the 50,000 or so fans at the race, we were but a handful of blacks attending, which led to a lengthy discussion on the issues facing would-be black drivers. Of course my scheming friend would love for my son to take up the sport, and is busy plotting a course.

Fast forward to the past week when Lewis Hamilton, a budding Tiger Woods-type phenom in F1 racing, experienced racist taunts at a prep-event in Spain. The treatment of the bi-racial Brit Hamilton has set the racing world abuzz. It seems that some Spanish fans showed up in blackface, while others taunted him with epithets et cetera, as a he moved about the raceway.

The F1 governing body is moving to try to spare their racing season the same havoc that racist soccer fans repeatedly heap on that sport across the EU. Spain may lose their races as a result. For their part, the Spaniards are claiming no ill intent, saying that they make fun of everyone, and being black is no different than being fat or a woman. Wow. (see for yourself)

For his part, young Lewis seems unperturbed, and I understand why. I was shocked at the speeds, between 150 and 225 mph, these drivers push on circuitous and narrow tracks. If Tiger gets distracted by hootin’ fans, he drops a stroke - if Lewis gets distracted, he dies in a ball-of-fire. All the more reason to stay focused.

So I do not expect to hear much from the hapa-black kid, other than racing strategy and stats, as he drags the F1 racing world into the present century. And like Tiger on the greens, kicking ass on the track will do more to straighten out people and silence the butt-heads, than all the press-hound Reverend’s on the planet.

James C. Collier

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