ESPN’s Sage Steele Talks Diversity, Says Her Irish Mother Should Be Praised

Sage Steele caught a lot of backlash on social media after she criticized Tampa Bay Buc Mike Evans for kneeling during the National Anthem in protest of Donald Trump. Steele posted a photo of her father’s grave site with the tweet, “Hey @MikeEvans13_ look up definition of the word DEMOCRACY & remember this pic while kneeling/exercising your right to protest #perspective.” After Steele missed the entire point of Evans’ protest, many came to his defense, including Miko Grimes. Now, in response to THAT backlash, she has written a Facebook post in which she discusses diversity and chastises people of color for not truly being open to it. The ESPN host, who is biracial; her mother is Irish and her father African American, is married to a Caucasian man. According to her, she has received a lot of hate from the black community.

“We — as people of color — continue to cry for racial equality, diversity and acceptance, and rightfully so. That said, why must we continue to tear down those within our own race? Why must we shun those within our own race who think differently? Or marry outside of our race? Or vote differently? Or have “good hair”? Or speak differently? Shouldn’t we instead be offering up praise for our wonderful diversity?”

She goes on to discuss how her Irish mother risked her life to marry her black father and should be praised for her courage.

“My mother is a perfect example. Raised by an Irish father and an Italian mother in a small Massachusetts town, she went against her parents’ wishes and married the black man she fell in love with. What she dealt with fresh off of the tumultuous civil rights era was horrific in so many ways — which is one of many reasons why she is the strongest, bravest woman I know. So, instead of rolling your eyes at my black father for “selling out”, shouldn’t you be praising my white mother for following her color-blind heart and not succumbing to the pressures of American society back then? Apparently not.”

This part kind of annoyed me. While I see where she was going, why should her mother receive any more praise than a black woman marrying a black man and having black children in a country that brought them there but didn’t want them there? When the white woman was not by her husband’s side, she’s still treated far better than the black woman was.  She can still go back to her privileged, white life. The black woman would still be a second class citizen. Plus, wouldn’t it be the black man who would have gotten lynched, harassed and murdered for being with the white woman? His punishment definitely would have been harsher than hers.

Steele continues with her rant, “Here’s the thing:  You don’t get a hall-pass just because you’re a minority. Racism is racism, no matter what color your skin is. So when you call me a sell-out, or a coon, or an Uncle Tom, or any other derogatory term to let me know that you disagree with me, you lose every ounce of credibility with those whom you deem racist at the drop of a hat.”

I’m sure Sage, in her day, has experienced forms of racism hurled towards her. We all have. I’m also sure she’s had issues within the black community, as we all have. No community is perfect. However, I think she has a huge problem with missing the point. People came at her because of the way she came at Mike Evans. When she came at Evans she missed the point of his protest and automatically associated it to her father, which is selfish considering her father fought for a country that didn’t even want him marrying her mother, let alone drinking from the same water fountain. Somehow Sage took all of this as a way to make it about herself and it wasn’t. That is what she’s not understanding and that’s why people are mad at her.

You can read Sage’s entire post below: