Anti-racist gym communities tolerate racist incidents when social bonds outweigh the offense

Evidence

Nobody condoned the use of this language, as within the folk logic of the gym’s emergent anti-racism, people universally condemned the use of overtly racist language. However, Fitz’s reaction to this was a feeling of disappointment, initial anger and sadness but not really any sense of surprise. He situates this emergent racism as something to live with until it reaches a point where he feels he must intervene, telling Filip to “reign it in”. It’s worth noting that Fitz is a far superior and much bigger fighter than Filip, so it is not that he was scared in any way to tackle this emergent racism. Interestingly, only two weeks after Fitz shared this with me Filip was in attendance at Fitz’s birthday party and nobody said anything about it; they were getting on well, drinking and laughing together like two old friends. Since the incident Fitz, as before, has helped prepare Filip’s son for fights, taking him to shows and supporting his progress, and he continues to regularly socialise with Filip outside of the gym. In short, Filip’s obviously racist use of the “N-word” was tolerated and overcome with minimal fuss. This of course puts a burden on Fitz to manage this negative experience – which he appears attuned to doing, as when I later asked him how he felt about it all he simply replied; “it is what it is” and shrugged, seemingly not fussed about dwelling on it; as if he is unsurprised by emergent racism, seeing it as something that one must learn to live with. — Amit Singh, “Carnal conviviality” and the end of…, 81

Categorization

• XREF: Connects thematically to the everyday negotiation of prejudice and friendship in Naqvi’s ‘Home Boy’ and the workplace tolerance themes in ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’. — connects to: Muay Thai gyms’ partner-based training structure fosters mutualistic bonds that override ascriptive difference. — Amit Singh, “Carnal conviviality” and the end of…, 55; Cross-ethnic friendships formed during fight training persist beyond the gym into fighters’ daily lives — Amit Singh, “Carnal conviviality” and the end of…, 56; An emergent social norm punishes accusations of racism, not racism itself — Cristian Tileagă, The Nature of Prejudice: Society,…, 523 (+1 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: Rich microsociology of how ‘emergent anti-racism’ coexists with absorbing racist acts via friendship and unspoken burden on the wronged party.
• corroborated: 4 independent passages support this claim — Amit Singh, “Carnal conviviality” and the end of…, 81

Broader Connections

• The same people can be racist above ground and antiracist below it #exemplifies (0.80)
• An emergent social norm punishes accusations of racism, not racism itself #complicates (0.75) — Cristian Tileagă, The Nature of Prejudice, 523