When the video of Hanna Strong calling an unidentified person a “f*ggot-a** n*gger” circulated Saturday, it could have been looked at as just another setback in the fight against racism, homophobia and intolerance as a whole.

But Hanna Strong is a student-athlete at Syracuse University. Hanna Strong plays in one of, if not the, best women’s soccer conference in the country. It’s not just another viral video.

It’s a revolting stringing-together of racial and homophobic slurs that puts Strong and Syracuse University at the front of the ever-present movement against hate. The next step is the one that will define the situation and Strong, as a student-athlete, needs to take it herself.

Strong needs to make an in-person apology and put a face to the ever-present issue.

After the video of Strong, a senior midfielder on the SU women’s soccer team, caught fire on Saturday afternoon, Syracuse Athletics released a statement from Director of Athletics Daryl Gross. In the statement, Gross announced that SU head coach Phil Wheddon suspended Strong indefinitely and that an investigation — by the Department of Public Safety and the Title IX Office — is underway. 

“Syracuse Athletics, as a strong and diverse part of this University community, has zero tolerance for these actions,” Gross said in the statement. 

Gross added in his statement that any findings of the investigation will be immediately reported to the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities. There’s a plan of action, but it won’t stack up to the statement Strong could make.

Strong’s words hurt from a Syracuse women’s soccer player and they hurt from the mailman — because these words are heavy, anyone can throw them hard. They’re often said at Syracuse, by those who “can” and those who “can’t.” And Strong isn’t just hurting homosexual and African-American communities with each word. She’s hurting a society striving to be better than her actions. 

It’s not because she’s an athlete, but her being an athlete compounds the urgency for the university and Strong to push forward. 

Strong needs to make an in-person public apology. Not an email statement. That works for Gross, Senior Vice President and Dean of Student Affairs Rebecca Reed Kantrowitz — who said she and Chancellor Kent Syverud echoed Gross’ sentiments in a statement — or even Wheddon.

That’s how these situations are usually dealt with. But Strong needs to stand in front of Syracuse University backdrop and behind a podium with the university seal on it and address what she said. Because if the program’s high-profile athletes can stand there before and after games and promote their teams’ and the school’s athletic values, Strong can face the music.

The Syracuse community deserves to see a different set of words come out of her mouth.

At the end of the day, whether Strong is remorseful that she called that person a “f*ggot-a** n*gger” is irrelevant. Remorse won’t make the video go away because frankly nothing can. 

But what is relevant is any child or teenager that has gone to see Strong play, looking up to her one minute and watching her say, “Call me out on saying the N-word, I don’t give a sh*t” the next. What’s relevant is that those fans will be part of uncensored conversations in the days to come. What’s relevant is anyone that has ever cheered her on, who now has to wonder which Hanna Strong they were watching all along.

Strong’s platform as a collegiate athlete is both tall and far-reaching, and by saying those words she’s put herself at the front of a much larger conversation.

So she needs to lead it in some way. Take ownership of her words. Make herself vulnerable as a person whose actions were wrong, and recognize the societal and communal implications they carry.

There are words, like these, that transcend the mouths they come out of. In this instance, it happens to be hers and she happens to possess desirable talent on the soccer field.

What Strong has been presented with is a conundrum of sorts. One side may be her reality, in which she is ostracized from the Syracuse community and never comfortably puts on an Orange jersey ever again. 

On the other is the fact that she, like me and you, is a human prone to make mistakes, however disgusting her mistake may be. Her social consciousness was lost in the moment but could shine in the aftermath. That, in short, is how progress is made. 

F*ggot and n*gger. 

I hope it’s the last time I ever have to cite those words as coming out of not just an athlete’s, but a person’s mouth.

Jesse Dougherty is the sports editor at The Daily Orange where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at jcdoug01@syr.edu or on Twitter at @dougherty_jesse.

Published on September 8, 2014 at 12:15 am