Buccaneers CB Davis Apologizes for Tweeting Anti-Asian Slur; AAJA Responds
On Sunday evening, Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Carlton Davis III sent a tweet that contained an anti-Asian slur that he has since deleted and apologized for.
After originally tweeting "Gotta stop letting g---- in Miami," Davis - a member of the Buccaneers' social justice board - took to social media to offer his regrets as well as share his intention to drop the term from his vocabulary.
"I would never offend any group of people. You reporters can look for another story to blow up. The term was directed towards a producer claiming he “ran Miami', With that being said I’ll retire that word from my vocabulary giving the hard times our Asian family are enduring [heart emoji]," Davis wrote at first.
"I used a term that from where I come from has always meant 'lame' but I did not realize it has a much darker, negative connotation," he continued in a thread. "I have learned a valuable lesson and want to apologize to anyone that was offended by seeing that word because we need to focus on helping each other during these tough times."
The Asian American Journalists Association Sports Task Force posted a response to Davis's tweets on its website later on Sunday evening, acknowledging both a "swift response" from the Buccaneers' organization to the incident and Davis's apology, in hopes that he will help communities affected by such or similar demeaning language and acts of racism.
Earlier today, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Carlton Davis posted a tweet that included a derogatory term historically used to refer to Asians in the early 1900s. The Asian American Journalists Association Sports Task Force is disappointed by his sentiment, especially at a time when Asians in the United States are experiencing a sharp increase in anti-Asian hate which has resulted in harassment and attacks.
[Obscenity] is a hateful slur and is listed in AAJA’s official guidance on covering Asia and Asian Americans. The AAJA STF appreciates the swift response by the Buccaneers’ organization to address this matter. We also acknowledge Davis’ apology and look forward to seeing how he will help the affected communities.
AAJA calls on national and local media outlets to prioritize coverage of this ongoing violence against AAPIs, and to empower their journalists to report on these incidents immediately, accurately and comprehensively. AAJA National has also put together a list of related mental health resources that you can find here.
According to a Center for the Study of Hate Extremism study, anti-Asian hate crimes rose by 145% while overall hate crimes decreased by 6% in America's 16 largest cities this past year in comparison to 2019.
In a time where the Asian-American community is in pain and being disproportionately targeted by hate, it is crucial that slurs are understood and never repeated. And if one doesn't know the meaning of a certain word - whether it reads as a slur or not - they would immensely benefit from researching the word's denotation as well as its connotation before using it.
