Racial ‘joke’ out of USC is not barrel of laughs

To Pete Carroll, it looked like the opposite of a team at the center of a racial controversy.

He watched his football squad go through its final workout before spring break Friday morning, saw players of various ethnicities sweat together, roughhouse and joke around. To him it seemed like a racial utopia.

Ironically, it was the comfortable banter between different races in the Trojans football family that led to the issue at hand this week, when a player took the “White Nation” moniker bestowed on a group of Caucasian special teams members by an African American assistant coach and started a “White Nation” group on Facebook.com -- in what was supposed to be a joke.

Another USC student complained about it, the school newspaper wrote about it and suddenly the Trojans had another off-field story, another example of how the idyllic and incredibly successful world Carroll has created within his program can stumble once it steps outside the practice field gate.

This wasn’t even the worst news associated with USC athletics this week.

Prized basketball recruit O.J. Mayo was one of four males cited on misdemeanor marijuana charges when officers pulled over a car in West Virginia. Police said the driver had marijuana on him and there was more marijuana in the car.

But that’s a player who has yet to enroll. The case of football players Clay Matthews Jr., David Buehler, Brian Cushing, Dan Deckas and Dallas Sartz involves players who have been or still are at USC and, if the program is stressing the right things, should know better. But how could anyone, anywhere think this was a good idea?

I asked Carroll about the controversy and he said: “It’s not a controversy, it’s a mistake.

“That’s always a sensitive area to go and he made a mistake, putting it on anywhere that could go public. As far as the team, it’s a non-issue. Guys having fun.

“It’s such a hot topic for obvious reasons. Really, all it is, it just shows us of how we need to be conscious of those type of vehicles for communication. It’s not an issue. It is about understanding what you’re dealing with.”

He said they have warned the players about the trouble that can come from online postings.

“We talk to them about stuff,” Carroll said. “Those kinds of mistakes are gifts for other people.”

They need to talk about it more. Drill it into their heads with as much repetition and redundancy as a blocking scheme. Because clearly they didn’t comprehend the dangers of taking inside jokes outside, especially on the Internet where anyone can see. No player would post Saturday’s game plan on the Internet, so why would they think it’s OK to post a racist joke?

I don’t think racism is a problem on the USC football team. No African American players quoted in news reports said it was. Neither did Todd McNair, the coach who came up with the “White Nation” nickname in the first place. When there’s the bond of a team, a tight group of friends, or even reporters sharing a beat, there’s a trust that allows anything -- no matter how potentially offensive -- to be said. You can get away with that when there’s the confidence that the speaker doesn’t actually believe it, and would never act on those words.

The problem is when anything is said outside of that specific context. If someone doesn’t know you, they’ll just assume you mean it, which is why anyone who came across the “White Nation” and saw the description -- “This group is not for the faint of heart. All members are athletes of Caucasion [sic] descent. DISCLAIMER: In no way are the following memebers [sic] intolerant of others, we are just doing our duty of protecting the Arian [sic] brotherhood” -- would wonder what kind of people are on the team (in addition to wondering what kind of tutors are helping with their spelling).

It’s not as if bad ideas are limited to the football team. A couple of years ago, a fraternity thought it would be cute to have a U.S.-Mexican border themed party, complete with barbed-wire fence and warning signs in the yard. And it’s not just USC; that same year, students at the University of Chicago held a “Straight-Thuggin Ghetto Party.”

And think -- these are the college students. What makes these type of jokes-gone-awry serious is that it draws out the insensitive and the ignorant, people who think of Latinos as illegal aliens sneaking across the border or African Americans as thugs.

The “White Nation” page brought someone from outside the initial group who posted an offensive picture and suggested African American babies should be incarcerated.

Even the news story in the Daily Trojan produced interesting feedback. On the newspaper’s website comments section, a number of people blasted the negative response to the Facebook group as another case of being “politically correct.”

I hate that term with a passion, and I’m sick of people swinging it like a machete whenever people really mean that they miss the good old days when you could mock or disrespect people’s race or gender without repercussions.

I’d rather be on the side that’s “correct” than be responsible for a Facebook group that’s wrong in so many ways.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com. To read more by Adande go to latimes.com/Adande.