Editor:

I believe the year was 1983 and the Washington Redskins were playing on Monday Night Football. Redskin wide receiver Alvin Garrett was returning a kickoff and was doing a good job of evading tacklers. The late Howard Cossell, who was on the broadcast team, got very excited at Garrett's run and exclaimed, "Boy, look at that little monkey go." Needless to say that was Cossell's last Monday Night broadcast. It actually put him out of a very popular spotlight he enjoyed for over 20 years. People say it was a Freudian slip that cost Cossell his job, others say it was blatant racism that Cossell displayed without regard. I had always admired Cossell and could not believe that the man who Muhammed Ali had fondly joked with over the years was coming out of a racist closet.

Oh well, Howard's gone, and that was a dark day in television broadcasting until March 2, 1996. Georgetown University was playing Villanova University in a Big East matchup on CBS. The announcers were Billy Packard and, I believe, Tim Brandt. Georgetown was playing a great game, and sophomore sensation Allen Iverson was having a spectacular day. On one play, in which Iverson drove to the basket, he was fouled, and the acrobatic shot went in. The announcers went nuts and on the replay one of them said, as Iverson went through bigger defenders, "That's one tough monkey." My mouth hit the floor. I couldn't believe that for the second time in my life I heard the word "monkey" being associated with a black athlete. I thought the announcer might have said "tough cookie." I called KGUN 9 sports and asked if they heard it. The sportscaster told me no because she was watching the UCLA game. I called the Washington Post, and they said calls were coming in like crazy, and indeed that is what I heard. I consider myself a level-headed person, and I always try and give people the benefit of the doubt, but when you associate a black man with a monkey ...

This time in our society is starting to really concern me. This is 1996, and we are supposed to be at a time when America is one - not one black, not one white, not one brown, but a whole. Black churches are once again being burned in the South, our politicians are openly spewing their racist views and sportscasters who we have learned to respect are allowing their true feelings to surface. I don't get it. When will we learn to look at each other as brothers and sisters of the same family?

Maybe the devil is winning the war. After all, as long as there is chaos the devil is happy.

Tony Pinkins
psychology junior