Turned Away From Clubs, Cabs : Blacks on Rams Team Tell of Rebuffs in Tokyo
A group of black players for the visiting Los Angeles Rams encountered what they called racial bias here when they were turned away from several downtown nightclubs and were refused taxi service in a driving rainstorm this week.
“It felt almost like going back to slavery, with no blacks allowed,” said an angry defensive back Doug Reed, who added that he encountered a much friendlier reception here in 1981, when he played in the Mirage Bowl while attending San Diego State University.
Reed said that he and the other black players--cornerback LeRoy Irvin, safeties Vince Newsome and James Washington, nose tackle Alvin Wright and fullback Buford McGee--were also rebuffed by pedestrians when they asked for directions to their hotel after they were turned away from the nightclubs. Eventually, an American woman offered help.
The Rams are in Tokyo this week for their second foreign exhibition game in three years. The problems encountered by black team members notwithstanding, a theme of good will seems to prevail in the days leading up to the event, despite the monumental effort involved in flying the team, entourage and materials overseas.
“NFL football is a giant step toward improved international relations and the bonding of man,” team owner Georgia Frontiere said Tuesday to the Japanese media shortly after the team arrived for its America Bowl ’89 meeting Sunday (7 p.m. Saturday, PDT) with the San Francisco 49ers.
“It also gives an opportunity to the teams to experience other cultures and become goodwill ambassadors of the sport,” Frontiere went on to say.
Neither Frontiere nor team officials were immediately available for comment on the incidents involving black players.
However, Taro Tsujii, who acted as interpreter for the Rams players, said that what the black players encountered wasn’t so much a case of racism as cab drivers being intimidated by the group of large players. Several drivers told the players they were too big to ride in their cabs, said Tsujii, a friend of Irvin who had stayed with him during a recent visit to Southern California.
Reed said he was later told that the players were in the wrong part of town, and that another section of the city was more “Americanized.”
But Reed, who said he is not leaving the hotel room for any more forays into Japanese society, said with exasperation: “When someone says, ‘no foreigners,’ I mean, what is this? I’ve got this foreign currency. I’ve got your money in my pocket. And I can’t go in certain places? What’s wrong with my money?
“You guys come to the United States and it’s a free-for-all. And for them to have a barrier set up for us? Life is something.”
Newsome said he thought some Japanese, particularly the cab drivers, might have been intimidated by the players’ size. Still, he said, white athletes probably would not have faced the same problem.
Linebacker Mark Jerue, who is white, said he had no problems traversing the city the same evening. He spent part of the night at the Hard Rock Cafe.
Charges of racial bias, particularly prejudice directed against blacks, have at times strained U.S. government and business relations with Japan. Because the island nation historically has had limited exposure to other cultures, Japanese understanding of symbols and statements that may be perceived elsewhere as racially offensive has been slow to develop, cultural experts believe.
In a widely publicized 1986 incident, Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone suggested in a speech that minorities pull down educational levels in the United States.
In the speech, which was broadcast on Japanese television, Nakasone said: “The level of Japanese society far surpasses that of the United States. There are many blacks, Puerto Ricans and Mexicans in the United States whose average level is extremely low.”
Amid reactions of outrage in the United States and in Japan, Nakasone apologized for his comments and said he did not intend to suggest that American minority groups are inferior to whites, but to note the differences in educational levels between his country, which is racially homogenous, and the United States.
Last December, the Congressional Black Caucus protested against toy products and advertising by three Japanese companies that were offensive to American blacks. In addition, the Japanese Embassy in Washington reported hundreds of calls from Americans complaining about toys, clothing and advertising images using characters with exaggerated black features.
Sanrio Inc., a major toy manufacturer, apologized by pulling its line of Little Black Sambo gift items from its 3,000 boutiques and donating $600,000 worth of toys to minority children in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Some might view American Bowl ’89 as a mere exhibition between the Rams and 49ers, a minor, regular-season prelude during which head coaches bite their tongues until the moment they can pull their stars from a game that few will remember in a week or so.
To some it’s one extra game in a long, hot series of summer exhibitions.
But it is more than that for Frontiere, who for one week can call the world her stage.
“It’s our most popular game and we bring it to you to share as our brothers and sisters,” Frontiere told the Japanese.
Yet, below the rarefied air, in the boiler room of diplomacy, an overseas trip amounts to considerable behind-the-scenes work. The logistics of moving a team of 285 players, coaches, trainers, staff and guests across international datelines can be an adventure in itself. There are 6,800 pounds of equipment to consider--helmets, shoes, footballs, tackling dummies, recording equipment, towels, gloves.
Two years ago in London, before the Rams’ exhibition game against Denver, assistant equipment manager Todd Hewitt was held up five hours in customs because one of his trunks was mislabeled.
Dick Beam, team director of operations, began preparations for the current trip last March and made two Tokyo visits before this week. Coordinating plans for hotels, buses, practice schedules, meals, tours, meeting rooms, dressing rooms and visas presents a unique set of problems in a foreign land.
“The language barrier is the main thing,” Beam said. “What it did was extend every meeting two to three times longer than if both parties spoke English. Once you break that, and have them understand what you need, they are extremely cordial and have responded positively for every thing we’ve asked for.”
Naturally, there are cultural barriers to overcome. Trainer Jim Anderson was asked this week if his players would need hot tea on the sidelines. Anderson could only laugh at the thought of 285-pound tackle Jackie Slater calling for his tea during a time out.
Equipment manager Don Hewitt is relying on the hotel laundry service to clean 80 uniforms each day. He is holding his breath.
Several players admit privately that they would rather be in training camp, which is a bit like saying they’d rather be at the dentist.
“These are distractions,” one said. “It’s just natural for us to think we’re on vacation. There are temptations that people just can’t keep themselves from. It’s wonderful that teams are able to travel, but it seems like we’ve been picked every year.”
Actually, owner Frontiere has lobbied hard for her team’s overseas excursions and is already talking of a game next summer in Milan, Italy.
The trips aren’t necessarily profitable for Frontiere and the Rams. The team claims to have broken even two years ago in London. Some of the costs for this trip are absorbed by the game’s sponsors, primarily Toshiba.
“I’d almost rather stay in Fullerton,” another player said.
Because of the intensity of the rivalry, the Rams and 49ers won’t be scrimmaging this week before the game.
Reed, for one, has witnessed enough intensity for one week.
“It seems like once you’re outside the hotel, it’s like, ‘Who are you?’ We get everything we want within this area right here. But don’t leave. This is your palace. Don’t leave the gates. There are peasants out there who will tear you apart.”
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