Chicago Sun-Times
May 16, 2008
By, Joe Cowley
"Go back to your country and pick coffee beans.''
''... you dumb Mexican.''
"... you bastard Venezuelan.''
Welcome to Ozzie Guillen's e-mail inbox -- in just the last few weeks.
Oh, racism is alive and well in this country. Just not in the mind of
the White Sox manager.
He realizes what might be said about him behind closed doors. He knows
why he's open to criticism more than Lou Piniella or Bobby Cox -- who
coincidentally have the same number of World Series titles as Guillen.
If there's someone who could play the race card, it's him.
Yet Guillen doesn't. Never has. And it's not because he's naive. In
fact, quite the contrary.
''I'm treated differently because I'm Ozzie,'' Guillen said. ''People
think I don't know about political correctness or have to watch what I
say. I do understand political correctness, but I don't get uptight
about it. Too many people do. That's why some people don't appreciate
what I'm trying to say.''
Guillen knows that when a Jim Leyland tirade or Piniella sound-off is
shown on ''S****tsCenter,'' the response is often, ''Oh, smart move,
he's trying to fire up the troops.'' When Guillen is on TV, with every
other word bleeped out, far too often it's ''Crazy Ozzie.''
''I'm sure some people think, 'There's the crazy Latino again,'''
Guillen said. ''But I think it has to do with my age, not because I am
Latino. Maybe others feel that, but I don't. I don't believe in that
stuff. When we went to visit the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum [in
Kansas City], that taught me a lot about what is going on -- how bad
it was with the minority people in this country. I couldn't believe
it. I want to believe things are better.
''When the Marlins didn't interview me for the job [in 2003], it was
made into a big deal. I don't agree with that. I didn't want an
interview because I'm a Venezuelan. If I have a company, I'm going to
hire the best people I can hire -- black, white, from another country.
''I can sit here and beat my chest and say, 'I'm the only Latino to
win a World Series,' but I don't because I don't pay attention to
color and stuff like that. If people criticize me, it's because I'm
Ozzie. That's what I hope.''
And that's why he doesn't take those racist e-mails too seriously.
''If you send an e-mail and use the n-word to Jacque Jones or Kenny
Williams, Harold Baines, that's different because they feel that,''
Guillen explained. ''They're from this country. I don't feel it that
way. I laugh because people are ignorant.''
Guillen knows there's a double standard. Could you imagine if he were
arrested on a DUI charge, as St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa
was?
''Believe me, if I got a DUI, a lot of people would ask for me to
resign,'' he said. ''Tony got a slap on the wrist, but not because
he's white and I'm Latino. Tony has been in this game for a long time.
My situation is different because we have different personalities. But
if I got caught, wow.
''The other guy, 'Oh, he was just having fun and had bad luck.' Me?
'It's about time they caught him drinking and driving.' Not because
I'm Latino, but because of who I am. That's just me. I can't make
other people think that way about race, though, or listen to what I
say.''
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