Racism & Bigotry in Chess
By Paul Truong
Earlier today, Susan and I received a shocking email from a well known American chess organizer.
It all started when this organizer wanted to invite a few of Webster University SPICE players to his event. We have sent our players to his event in past years so there were no problems as far as I know. The only thing we asked for is to contact us directly and not go to one student at a time since we know the availability and class schedule of each player. This way, there would be no conflict.
The organizer’s shocking response was: “I’ll talk to whoever, whenever, about whatever, anytime I want to, got it. I’m an American.”
Huh? He is an American and we are not? So I am not an American because I don’t have white skin? SPICE is like the United Nations of chess. So does he feel this way about SPICE players too since we have players from 16 different countries, and most of them were not born in the U.S.
I have lived in the US for 35 years. Susan has lived in the US for over 20 years. We are both American citizens. Our four children were born in the United States. And to have an “American” in chess speaking to us (especially Susan as a World & Olympiad Champion) that way? Incredible!
Unfortunately, this is not the first time, and I am sure it will not be the last that we have to deal with racism and bigotry. I personally faced this kind of behavior many times before, especially being the only (or one of very very few) Asian chess master playing and representing the U.S. back in the early 80’s.
Susan, on the other hand, faced a lot more gender discrimination throughout her entire career. The bigger problem is he is not the only one who feels this way. How high up is this problem? Will this ever change?
As a fellow American, I have to apologize for this gentleman’s behavior. We Americans have lost our moral compass and I see, more often than I care to, sexist statements coming from men. It doesn’t matter if they are of the clergy, business men, are what occupation they may be of, they all look at women as if they have never seen one before and it’s disgusting the things they say. It appears to be getting worse as time goes on. So, call me old-fashion, but my parents taught me better than that. Females are not sex objects and we are not animals. There is a reason why we, as humans, walk upright and not on all fours. Now if only people would realize why that is…
Calling this guy a gentleman seems a bit odd… Anyways, racism is a huge problem throuhout the world. Germany for example is over run by neokonservative forces making propaganda against imigrants, gay people etc. I want to throw up nearly the entire day when just checking the news or anything similar. Social networks are over flowing with racist commentaries and people don’t even care about posting those things on their real names, it is a shame.
Without going further into the american matter, I’d say that those things are over all coming from a massiv lack of education. In America rather buy guns, than school books and still teach their children that god made the world and kissing makes pregnant. In Europe we got education problems as well, still they mostly come from politics refusing to make investements and so we are lacking over 50000 teachers, just in Germany, and many more as you can guess, in all Europe.
I really thought for a long time, chess players were more intelligent and as so many people play chess all around the world, racism shouldn’t be a common matter. That makes me sad, but I think you guys should make a point and DON’T go to that event, even tell your students not to go. Don’t give discirmination, racism or ignorance any plattform!
Yeah, politics is a sore subject for me because I’m fully aware of how corrupt they are. It’s not education anymore, it’s brainwashing. Just ask any American and they will boldly tell you they are free when they are the most heavily taxed burdened people in the world. Have to ask permission to do anything and show proof everywhere they go that they are not criminals. Yup, freedom comes at a high cost to only find out they’re really not free at all.
Calling this guy a gentleman seems a bit odd… Anyways, racism is a huge problem throuhout the world. Germany for example is over run by neokonservative forces making propaganda against imigrants, gay people etc. I want to throw up nearly the entire day when just checking the news or anything similar. Social networks are over flowing with racist commentaries and people don’t even care about posting those things on their real names, it is a shame.
Without going further into the american matter, I’d say that those things are over all coming from a massiv lack of education. In America rather buy guns, than school books and still teach their children that god made the world and kissing makes pregnant. In Europe we got education problems as well, still they mostly come from politics refusing to make investements and so we are lacking over 50000 teachers, just in Germany, and many more as you can guess, in all Europe.
I really thought for a long time, chess players were more intelligent and as so many people play chess all around the world, racism shouldn’t be a common matter. That makes me sad, but I think you guys should make a point and DON’T go to that event, even tell your students not to go. Don’t give discirmination, racism or ignorance any plattform!
I am deeply sorry, for my bad english
While I know nothing about this situation other than what I just read above, perhaps what this organizer is objecting to is what may appear to him/her to be your attempt to control access to SPICE players. And thus, his/her comment of “I’m an American” may be only be an affirmation of his/her free speech rights as an American. From a dispassionate reading of the text alone, as an outsider I don’t interpret his/her sentence as casting aspersions on your citizenship status or ethnicity. If you told me I couldn’t email SPICE players directly and had to go through you, I might feel a little put out myself.
I grant you it sounds a bit odd to inject “I’m an American” into this response, but it may be a bit like when people say “it’s a free country” when one of their rights is challenged. If he/she had written, “you can’t tell me what I can and cannot do! I’m an American and I have my rights,” would your response had been the same? Perhaps some of the trouble here is his/her brusque tone.
Of course, I am not intimately familiar with past slights you or Susan have suffered in the past. I am familiar with some of the recent discussions regarding the influx of foreign chess talent (see a recent Chess Life for some discussion about this). Maybe there is an undercurrent of bias that I personally haven’t experienced, but that you feel you run into regularly. If so, I’m sorry for this and I think this is wrong, but I’m not sure if your somewhat florid headline is warranted in this case.
Best regards,
LS
I don’t think he meant it as racism. I think he took issue with you trying to block his direct access to your players. As in, “Americans can talk to whomever they want without consequences.” Certainly he’s a jerk, but not in the racist way you took it.
Sorry to see the “I am American” comment. It is sad. People who defend the guy who said “I am an American” was implying that Susan and Paul are not American. That is purely based on their birth place/skin color. I am man and I do not feel gender discrimination and that does not mean it does not exist. However I am not white skinned and I do face racial discrimination. Many People with white skin will not feel that there is a discrimination of different color but there is. I am sad to see that Chris and Larry defending the guy who made “I am American”. I get threats that “go back to your country” sometimes. However, I will say that racial discrimination is not just the domain of white skinned people. It is everywhere. I have seen most white skin people to be fair and respectful of different color and I have seen people with same skin color as me with racist attitude. Racism is there and cannot be denied that it does not exist, because one does not feel it. What can be done about it? Probably not too much.
Re: Samuel. I am sorry if my comments somehow distressed you, but I assure you they were made in good faith. I am not defending the organizer’s rude response, unless you think that by merely suggesting an alternate reading of what he/she said automatically constitutes agreement with him/her. Chris independently (and more clearly) said exactly what I was trying to say. I think that if multiple people have the same interpretation, then that new perspective should be taken seriously.
In no way do my comments mean that I believe that racism and sexism do not exist. And you are right, sometimes it is hard for those persons who are not subjected to such indignities to really feel these -isms as strongly as people like yourself do who have experienced these behaviors first-hand. I think these reminders are valuable, so I thank you for that.
Best regards,
LS
I can’t speak for the 1980s but I definitely feel that the US chess scene of today is a wonderful place that is almost completely free of racism. I see large numbers of whites blacks Asians and Indians getting together and genuinely enjoying playing together. Out in the hallways where families wait and players hang out between rounds people of every color are interacting with each other sincerely without a trace of racism. I know of just one incident several years ago involving a guy who talked to imaginary friends and his comment to another player got him swiftly banned from a prestigious club. Chess is a model community that should be studied for us to learn how to eliminate racism from society.
Doesn’t really seem like a big deal to me. I think you’re just a little sensitive
It seems like you are a bigot. No big deal.