Ryan Lochte & The Tide Of White Privilege Abroad - Chris "Preach" Smith

Photo Credit: NBC Olympics

The 2016 Summer Olympic Games are almost at
their end, and have gone on with all of the drama
one expects from the sporting spectacle and quite
a few standout moments. The International Olympic
Committee probably felt as if they were going to
see it end without any major controversy, given the
global speculation about the safety of athletes and
the fact that Brazil is currently in the throes of a
major political scandal with their former president,
Dilma Rousseff, impeached and awaiting trial under
a cloud of possible corruption from her opponents.
They figured they’d be home free.

Ryan Lochte has proven them wrong.

Lochte, the heraled American swimmer along with
his teammates Jimmy Feigen, Gunnar Bentz and
Jimmy Conger claimed that they were robbed at
gunpoint this past Sunday night while returning
from a party at Club France to the Olympic Village.
In first hearing the story, it was curious how Lochte
made this claim and the Rio committee stated that
it wasn’t the case. Even more curious was Lochte’s
claim that he was like, “whatever” when a gun was
pointed to his head. After a few hours in the news,
the incident was picked up by global media and Lochte
faced a barrage of questions. The heat was on, and
apparently too much for him as he left the country.
Which was right before a Brazilian judge ordered that
he face questioning and not leave until he did. This
resulted in Bentz and Conger being pulled from their
flight home last evening. Feigen is still unaccounted
for at last report. And now it’s been found that the
entire “robbery” was one big fat lie, constructed for
the purpose of hiding a drunken altercation at a gas
station that apparently had Lochte and the other three
on tape getting into it with the staff at the station.
Complete with a broken door and pissing on the sidewalk
and cash to cover it all up. Yet there are still media
outlets who won’t call this what it is - criminally negligent
behavior unworthy of an athlete representing their
country. You have Mario Andrada stating that there are
no apologies needed, saying “We have to understand
that these kids are here to have fun.” For the record,
Lochte is 32.

Ryan Lochte has essentially thrown a cherry bomb into
the powderkeg that has been a bit dormant at the core
of these Olympic Games with these actions and further
added to a growing amount of voices questioning why
we should have the Games in the first place. Another
larger issue is at play here. Lochte didn’t just become 
another douchebag dudebro athlete with this. What he
has done is essentially exert a cutlass of privilege. Lying 
about being robbed in a city that has been known to
have an extreme amount of crime for decades is one thing,
but cast in the prism of being a white American in a foreign
city with a significant African heritage is heinous. It is
the triple privilege of being a white American athlete that
allowed him to do this and rope his teammates into it as
well. 

Photo Credit: USA TODAY

There have been precedents for this kind of behavior,
both hundreds of years in the making and now in
the present day. Think about how many stories you
have heard with international incidents of bad behavior
in other nations. How many stories have you heard
like this or this? It’s mainly been those that aren’t of
color, for various reasons. Then there’s an uproar over
how that nation treats them. I’ve been fortunate enough
to travel a bit, and I’ve seen the attitudes of some of
these people firsthand. Especially when they get sloshed.
Think about Brazil, and how much of this they’ve seen
in cities like Rio and Sao Paulo among others. Hell, just
go back to when you were in college and the tales you
heard after spring break. Lochte and these others could’ve
been hurt or hurt someone else, especially with the fact
that they fought a security guards. It’s as if the old maxim “free,
white and over the age” is still in effect. Which makes
this all the more wrong. It does shed a light on what is
deemed important by officials though. And it points out a certain 
hypocrisy among certain media outlets, and from those
here in the States as well who are sitting in bewilderment
over this major fabrication yet found more than a few
words to direct at Gabby Douglas for not holding her hand
over her heart after winning gold with her teammates in
women’s gymnastics. Nasty, hateful words that made her
teary-eyed at a press conference in a moment where the
nation should be lifting her up for representing them with
class and dignity. This incident by Lochte underscores the
sheer arrogance and meanness that unfortunately has
become stock and trade of some of our less humane fellow
Americans that we like to tuck away every four years for
these events. It’s also not a good look considering the 
bad behavior of some of our tourists abroad and even
a few of our Secret Service personnel in the past few
years especially in South America. Lastly, this behavior
rings deadly in a climate where in this country, you have
children of color being shot dead on the assumption that
they are criminals at first glance. What message do you
think this sends if Lochte isn’t held accountable?  

Lochte should be stripped of the medals he earned from
these Games and banned from competition for a year.
But it’s doubtful that will happen. Athletes are useful, until
they aren’t, especially those in the international spotlight.
In an Olympic Games where Black athletes, especially the
women, have proven their excellence once again, it should
behoove the U.S. Olympic Committee to get in front of
this and censure all four for their behavior.  Stem the tide
of white privilege, American style if only a little.