On the Friday broadcast of ESPN2’s “First Take,” co-host Stephen A. Smith responded to Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey’s comments on the lack of respect white running backs get in the college ranks and in the NFL.
Smith agreed with the 2015 Heisman runner-up, welcoming him to the feeling many black people experience “even in different professions.”
“If [McCaffrey] were black, he would get talk about differently. He makes a very valid point. There is no reason for anybody to be up in arms for what he is saying because it is absolutely true what he is saying,” Smith said. “There is a flip side, though. My response to Christian McCaffrey would be this: Welcome to our world, my brother. There is a whole bunch of black folks that feel exactly the same way, albeit about different positions even in different professions. Every day we wake up as black people, particularly black men, we find ourselves looking at situations and saying, ‘If we were white, it would be different. If we were white, we would be celebrated in this fashion. If we were white, this would be said about us.’ This is the way it is.”
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