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Ángel Valodia Matos suffered a foot injury while competing in the Tae-Kwan-Do Olympic competition. The rules allow only a minute timeout for injuries, so when he took too long Chakir Chelbat, the referee, disqualified him from his event. He angrily pushed another judge out of the way and ran for Chelbat. He kicked the referee in the face and spat on the mat as he was dragged away. He and his coach were unofficially banned from the Olympics for life and his record was scratched out. Fidel Castro published an essay in Cuba soon afterwards protesting the ruling and implying that the judges were racist.

 

      How could you dispute a call like that? I mean, a minute's a minute, and the clock doesn't lie--there's no room for subjectivity. Calling the judges racist for this call is like calling your professor racist because you failed a multiple choice test.

We are all well aware that multiple choice tests are unfairly written specifically to favor rich white straight males. But hey, if you need a cop-out or someone to blame for something, be sure to blame something abstract that can't defend itself, like racism.

They would have had the same argument and it would have been just as compelling if the referee was Cuban himself. If the judges wanted to not be called racist, they would have to bend the rules to favor his race, which is exactly how affirmative action works. We discriminate against the majority to make people feel like we are leveling the playing field. Sometimes I wonder how affirmative action isn't seen as patronizing and demeaning the way it overcompensates to give too much favor to minorities.

I'm sure if it was a multiple choice test he would still be calling the teacher racist and kicking him in the face. The main difference is the class would be dismissed and he would be a hero, not a worldwide disgrace for himself and the country supporting him. Still, it makes quite a story. And the look on the judge's face is priceless. I think the photographer should get a medal.

Wow, that's ridiculous. I can't believe the competitor didn't land in jail! As for the affirmative action comments, I agree. How do people not see that by "getting breaks" it's NOT equalizing, it's more along the lines of letting you cheat a bit for the same work, etc., anyone else who's qualified would be getting? It doesn't matter what color, race, creed, religion, etc., you are. As long as you can do your job appropriately and well (and that means Olympians tool!), you deserve the job. In this case, writing a letter to say the judges are racist is absurd. Playing any kind of racist card to gain ANYTHING is just cheap and makes yourself the victim.

In America we try so hard to make everyone equal in every way that we have made some people far more equal than others. It shouldn't matter what your skin color is, and this should have no effect on your job eligibility. You shouldn't be any less eligible or any more eligible to get breaks due to the amount of melanin given to you by your DNA. I have known people who went to college absolutely free because they had a certain skin color. This gave them the same scholarship I got from averaging 3-5 hours of sleep a night for years while I worked hard to rank nationally in academic excellence. If we're striving for equality, we need to actually practice equality, not just tip the scales vastly in the other direction.