The clip from which the above screenshot was taken has Irving “Magic” Johnson, one of the great basketball players of all time, and some other black fellow discussing the legendary Larry Bird. Transcript below, with two sections omitted as not pertinent to this discussion. Whereas the two fellows were talking over each other, I have not bothered to separate their statements.
When I first met him, I said “All right, I’m going to see this dude this White cat can go.” ‘Cause the verdict is always out on White boys who can hoop. With all due respect. It’s respect. Like this ain’t nothing bad. “Let me see what he can do.” But Larry had something that most White boys don’t have. Just saying that to keep it real. He got a little bit of nigga in him. [APPLAUSE] Larry’s different now. That boy, he can play now. Played on a team in college in a tournament together. … [W]hen we got in, we turned it out. I saw this dude eat Jack Givens up. He was player of the year that year. … And Larry Bird was just slicing and dicing him. And I said, “O ho.” I called home. I said, “It’s true about this boy.” I was calling everybody. I said, “This dude can play!”
Now, imagine if the discussion had been between two White males regarding performance in academics. Alterations are in italics, with Bird’s name with the name of a noted Black African computer scientist, and the opposing player’s name with that of a famous White “Jeopardy” champion:
When I first met him, I said, “All right, I’m going to see this dude this Black cat can go.” ‘Cause the verdict is always out on Black boys who can [be in academic competitions]. With all due respect. It’s respect. Like this ain’t nothing bad. “Let me see what he can do.” But Philip had something that most Black boys don’t have. Just saying that to keep it real. He got a little bit of [the White race] in him. [APPLAUSE] Philip’s different now. That boy, he can play now. Played on a team in college in a tournament together. … [W]hen we got in, we turned it out. I saw this dude eat Ken Jennings up. He was player of the year that year. … And Philip Emeagwali was just slicing and dicing him. And I said, “O ho.” I called home. I said, “It’s true about this boy.” I was calling everybody. I said, “This dude can play!”
Sounds fine to me.
