Atlanta Hawks GM disciplined for mentioning his wife was black

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http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...al-manager-wes-wilcox-racially-charged-remark

Atlanta Hawks general manager Wes Wilcox has received an undisclosed discipline from the organization for a racially charged joke he made during a season-ticket holder event last month, a team executive told ESPN's The Undefeated.

Wilcox, who is white, fielded questions from about 200 season-ticket holders and club members at a "Chalk Talk" event on Dec. 7. After some challenging questions from attendees, Deadspin reported that Wilcox responded by saying he had "a black wife and three mixed kids, so I'm used to people being angry and argumentative."

A Hawks internal investigation from Dec. 27 to Jan. 9 that included interviews with attendees concluded that Wilcox didn't use the words "angry and argumentative," but the mention of race merited his being reprimanded internally by the franchise.

"After hearing multiple sides of the story and getting multiple eyewitness accounts of what took place, I am not convinced that what we heard and read in Deadspin is a direct quote that was used," Nzinga Shaw, Hawks and Philips Arena chief diversity and inclusion officer, told The Undefeated on Tuesday. "Wes, however, certainly did make his off-color statement, which included elements of describing his wife's race. People that were in the room could make the assumption that he was using her race for the reason of the comments that followed. We certainly do not approve of this behavior and we are going to handle this manner internally."

The Deadspin account of Wilcox's words came from Hawks season-ticket holder Clarenton Crawford, an African-American who sent an email to team president Steve Koonin on Dec. 19. Shaw also contacted the NBA to inform the league about Wilcox's incident after Crawford's email was sent to Koonin. Shaw and Koonin met with Crawford and his wife on Jan. 3 in Atlanta after the couple returned from a trip out of the country. Shaw also conducted interviews with season-ticket holders and employees who were present in the room when Wilcox made his remarks.

Shaw said the Hawks have no plans to fire Wilcox, but an undisclosed internal discipline was levied after the investigation concluded Jan. 9. She added that the NBA left it entirely up to the team to levy any discipline. The NBA had previously told The Undefeated's Mike Wise that it had no plans of reprimanding Wilcox.

Wilcox declined comment to The Undefeated but previously apologized in a statement to Deadspin: "At an early December chalk talk, I made a self-deprecating comment at my own expense regarding my family, which is multi-racial. This joke offended Mr. Crawford and his wife and for that, I apologize."

Shaw was hired by the Hawks as the NBA's first-ever diversity chief in December 2014 after the franchise had some notable racial issues.

Luol Deng. Ferry described Deng as a player who "has a little African in him," and "a guy who would have a nice store out front and sell you counterfeit stuff out of the back."

Shortly after, the Hawks' then-controlling owner Bruce Levenson reported that he sent out a racist email two months earlier to Ferry that detailed Levenson's belief that the Atlanta fan base was "overwhelmingly black" and the "black people scared away whites" from attending games. Ferry resigned his post on June 22, 2015, after a 10-month leave of absence, and Levenson eventually sold the team.

"It was a tumultuous time. We went through so much. It was awful and almost took us under," Shaw said.

Following Shaw's hiring, the Hawks have tried to become more diverse, racially sensitive and inclusive.


Shaw designed a strategic, cross-departmental program that creates deeper cultural awareness and sensitivity. She provided guidance to the Hawks' leadership team to carry out inclusion in every facet of the business. On July 19, Shaw hosted an all-employee internal forum centering on what the Hawks described as "the unsettling and alarming events around the nation during the summer." She also spearheaded the Hawks' first-ever "Unity Weekend" last October in which the franchise engaged in all-staff community service, had a float in the Atlanta Pride Festival and hosted the first-ever "Unity Game" on Oct. 10 against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Shaw said Wilcox's incident was taken "very seriously," and was optimistic that it wouldn't derail the positive things the Hawks have done of late.

"We don't take matters like this lightly. We have a full understanding of what took place. We as an organization will get past it and hope to regain the trust of the community. This work will not stop," Shaw said.

CLIFFS:
-hawks GM has a black wife and kids and basically said "hes use to hearing complaints because of it" and a black man and woman complained about his statement being racially insensitive because he MENTIONED HIS WIFE'S RACE (lmao).
-hawks have a diversity chief officier and department (lmaoooo)

This has to be a joke. A dude with a black wife said his wife was black and hes racially insensitive? and the hawks have a diversity officer? Holy shit our country has digressed to a bunch of trigger sensitive bitches lol. A fucking diversity officer? What the hell is this? A california university?

@KONE you will love this piece
 
You can have a black wife and black kids and do a tasteless racially motivated comment...


I know right wing pussies are going to pretend as if you can't.


I need to hear the full statement to judge tho
 
You can have a black wife and black kids and do a tasteless racially movtibvated comment
Saying that because they're interracial they sometimes face adversity is racially insensitive? lol no, its a fact a lot of people have an issue with interracial couples.

Something racially insensitive would be like " ew an interracial couple? but that person is gross, they aren't white". THAT'S racially insensitive. me saying my gf is white isn't racially insensitive towards whites lol. People are triggered sensitive bitches
 
PC is killing our country. People need to learn to relax and joke a little bit.

86892.jpg
 
10 bucks says the white guy and his black wife even joke about that.
 
He is talking about black people being angry and argumentative......the fact that TS is trying to twist it says more about him. Anyone with any sense knows exactly what he is saying.
 
Most likely he's saying shit like

"Yea, i'm a whitey white fucking guy, look at me!"
Wes-Wilcox.jpg


and i married, not only a black woman, but her name is black too! Larisha!!! and she's super black
3369c60.jpg

https://www.linkedin.com/in/larisha-whatley-wilcox-27a0b916

"so yea, i get a lot of shit from my other white asshole friends, but at least i know they're kind in jest cuz they're my friends and shit"

Black person who complained was thinking

"OH NAWWWW, HE SAYIN DAT BLACK WIFE AND HIS BLACK KIDS ALWAYS COMPLAIN, CUZ THEY BLACK!!!"

"WE GONNA GIT HIM!!!"

Also, how do i know this is exactly what he meant?

I have a few whitey white fuck friends (all male) who have married non white girls (actually to be correct, these non white girls are all my wifes friends, first)

and this is how they act, they're not racist, if anything they are at the forefront of fighting the racist as fuck fuckwits cuz they're in the fucking trenches, for fucks sake this guy has 3 kids! ppl probably think
"oh just cuz he married a black woman, he can say black jokes n shit!!!"

No fucknuts he didn't marry her to get a "say black shit, get out of jail free card"...
 
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The moral of the story is this, if you have a politically correct, social justice warrior for a boss, may God help you.
 
He didn't even use the terms "angry and argumentative", yet the response he got was just that.;)

In a city that's 70% black, this kind of shit is to be expected, though.
 
You can have a black wife and black kids and do a tasteless racially motivated comment...


I know right wing pussies are going to pretend as if you can't.


I need to hear the full statement to judge tho

Pussies? Youre the one crying because someone said something that hurt your little feelings.

Twerk for me, Leroy. Twerk, but don't you dare look me in the eye.
 
He didn't even use the terms "angry and argumentative", yet the response he got was just that.;)

In a city that's 70% black, this kind of shit is to be expected, though.
what are you saying? huh? that they're gonna be angry and argumentative?
 
Nzinga Shaw, Hawks and Philips Arena chief diversity and inclusion officer


<6><6><6>

Watch the Polish jokes around Buzz Killington over here.
 
Now, was the problem that he mentioned his wife was black, or was the problem that he stereotyped her and his kids as being "angry black people"?

You wouldn't be being disingenuous, would you?
 
2017 people.. The world we live in now
 
Now, was the problem that he mentioned his wife was black, or was the problem that he stereotyped her and his kids as being "angry black people"?

You wouldn't be being disingenuous, would you?

The problem is you people cry over everything and nothing.

What kind of grown man goes and complains because someone said something that hurt his feelings? Bitch made bitches.
 
I always laugh when white people do something, they get disciplined for it and then blame minorities for being cry babies. A white guy made racially stereotype comments, his employers disciplined for him. white people get upset about it and blame others for being cry babies. It just make no sense
 
You can have a black wife and black kids and do a tasteless racially motivated comment...


I know right wing pussies are going to pretend as if you can't.


I need to hear the full statement to judge tho
Lol, the correct answer is: "wow, that's sounds very stupid."
 
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