When people show you who they are, believe them

Racists at University of Alabama football games? Whodathunkit, right??

Lies are the insecurity of our egos refusing to acknowledge the stupidity of our choices.

• Craig D. Lounsbrough

A very wise person once offered me some sage advice. She said, “When people show you who they are, believe them.” I think about that often when people spew hatred, racism, homophobia, and other types of exclusionary, self-superior language at other people.

When people show you who they are, believe them.

Earlier this season, the University of Texas football team traveled to Tuscaloosa, AL, to play the University of Alabama. I watched a good game between two highly-ranked teams on television. Texas surprised many by defeating Alabama 34-24, and more than a few Alabama fans didn’t take the loss particularly well.

You can see the video here: Alabama fans screaming homophobic slurs at Texas players celebrating on the sidelines at Bryant-Denny Stadium. It was an unmistakably disgusting display by people who should know better…and yet there it was. People were screaming, “GO BACK TO THE PROJECTS!!” followed by far worse.

“When people show you who they are, believe them.”

Of course, it would be easy to leap to conclusions and condemn the Alabama fan base en masse. It’s unknown whether the racist abuse hurled at the players was done by a few fans or a large number. Some Alabama fans have claimed these maroons are outliers, while others familiar with crowds at Tide games are somewhat less sanguine.

Whatever the case, there’s no way this is the first time this sort of behavior has occurred and that it only happens in small numbers. Given Alabama’s racist history, I’m more inclined to believe that the abuse shown in the video is far more frequent and widespread than most Alabama fans would care to believe.

Athletes don’t expect to be welcomed at an opponent’s venue with open arms. That’s just the nature of the beast. But the line needs to be drawn when it comes to racist, homophobic, and other sorts of hateful abuse. That language has no place in any arena, especially in athletic competition, which is supposed to be fair, intense, and friendly.

The problem in situations like this is rarely the athletes. It’s the fans who are too liquored up and/or have too much money riding on the game. When things aren’t going their way, they feel empowered to take out their frustration in the way that feels most appropriate to them. Of course, there’s nothing appropriate about hate speech directed at individuals from a specific racial demographic. This is especially at an athletic competition that doesn’t matter much in the overall scheme of things.

Alabama fans have every right to be upset over an unexpected home loss. The Tide doesn’t lose at home often, especially to a team outside the SEC (though, as of 2024-25, Texas will become part of the SEC). But there’s a difference between mourning a loss and hurling racial and homophobic epithets at a team that’s beating yours.

After Texas' 34-24 win over Alabama, a video surfaced on social media of a group of University of Alabama students engaging in "vile" behavior by using racist and homophobic language against Texas players who were dancing on the sideline.

The Austin American-Statesman…reached out to Alabama for comments and received the following statement from the university.

"We are disgusted by reports of vile language and inappropriate behavior Saturday night. To be clear, we condemn this behavior and it will not be tolerated in our venues. It is not representative of UA or our values. We expect all attendees to act with class and respect toward others," the statement said.

"Fans are strongly encouraged to report issues to our security on-site. Gameday and delayed reports are appropriately addressed and anyone found to be in violation of our rules and expectations will be promptly removed and may be banned from future events."

The problem is that, despite the statement from the University of Alabama, there have been too many anecdotal reports contradicting their assertions to believe that Saturday night’s abuse isn’t “representative of UA” or its values. Not officially, of course- no school is about to endorse or even condone racism or homophobia openly. But it seems clear that this isn’t the first time this sort of behavior has occurred. Nor is it likely to be the last.

And it’s time UA did something about it instead of merely clutching pearls.

But what ARE UA’s values? I’ve seen nothing that indicates the actions they’ll be taking to ensure nothing like this happens again. Perhaps those in positions of power believe only a few inebriated fans were responsible for the poor behavior, but it’s more than that. Alabama- the state and the university- has fostered a culture steeped in racism, homophobia, and other types of exclusionary thinking. The state’s culture has made this sort of behavior acceptable.

Not so long ago, James Hood defied segregation at the University of Alabama.

Alabama’s power structure has long been the province of White Conservative Christian heterosexual cisgender males, who’ve been able to exercise power with little oversight or accountability. It took the Civil Rights struggle to make a dent in that power structure, but not much has changed in many respects in the Yellowhammer State.

One need only look at the current conflict over Alabama’s voting map to see how little progress has been made. After being ordered by the US Supreme Court to create two majority-Black Congressional districts, the Alabama legislature refused, ultimately creating only one majority-Black district. Another district was created with a 40% Black population, but it still wasn’t what the Supreme Court had required of Alabama.

So virulent racism accompanied by a lack of accountability is hardly surprising in Alabama. It’s a thread running throughout the state’s history. I’ll be surprised if UA actively seeks out those responsible for the behavior in the video. It would be a pleasant surprise to be proven wrong, but I’m not about to hold my breath. I prefer to be surprised rather than disappointed.

Suppose UA was serious about making opposing fans, parents, and players feel welcome. In that case, they’d do something to mitigate the harassment that’s long been part and parcel of the experience of attending football games at Alabama.

When people show you who they are, believe them.

(All of my posts are now public. Any reader financial support will be considered pledges- support that’s greatly appreciated but not required to get to all of my work. I’ll leave it to my readers to determine if my work is worthy of their monetary support and at what level. To those who do offer their support, thank you. It means more than you know.)