Subtle Chauvinism

On Manhattan's Communist Daily Worker, sportwriters are expected to toe the party line as carefully as reporters and editorial writers. Last spring, Sport Columnist Lester Rodney publicly apologized for a misstep: he had been guilty of subtle "white chauvinism" in failing to condemn New York Giants Manager Leo Durocher for his Polo Grounds row with a Puerto Rican fan (TIME, May 16).

Columnist Rodney was obviously in need of a brush-up course in subtle chauvinism. Last week he apologized again, this time for quoting San Francisco University Basketball Coach Pete Newell's description of Substitute Willie Wong as "exceptionally fast, intelligent and a good shot." Lamented Rodney: "The inclusion of 'intelligent' was a subtle form of chauvinism ... I had thought of it as part of the reason why a player of only 5-4 could make a college team . . . Looking back . . . it is clear enough that the SF mentor was expressing ... so called white superiority over those with darker skins, [by implying] that there is something newsworthy in a Chinese-American being 'intelligent.' "

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