UNSCRIPTED: Sha’carri Richardson How can We Help Her?

Unscripted
By Keith Edmonds
FWIS Contributing Writer

Olympic sensation Sha’Carri Richardson is once again in the news for her off-track behaviors... She’s asking for forgiveness from her fans and the public in general after an ugly incident involving her boyfriend was made public last month. Details described the incident as an assault that occurred in a Seattle-Tacoma airport and her being booked (and arrested) on 4th degree domestic violence charges by local police. Accounts of the mishap stated that Richardson was screaming at then shoved her boyfriend (Olympic sprinter Christian Coleman) into a wall before throwing something at him as they were walking through the terminal. When asked about the incident Richardson spun it this way... “I have evidence of him assaulting me and can show more if needed.” After looking at footage, officers found nothing to substantiate her claims and the officer who submitted the report shared that Coleman did not wish to press any charges against Richardson. When asked about what occurred, Coleman stated “Sha’Carri is a great human being and person, does she have things that needs to work on as a person? Of course she does, but don’t we all? I’m the type of person that prefers to extend grace, mercy, and love.”

When given time to reflect on the incident, (some 4 days later) Richardson issued this written apology to Coleman “I put myself in a compromised position, I love him and to him I can’t apologize enough. My apology should be just as loud as my actions that day, and to Christian I love you and am deeply sorry. I’m practicing “self-reflection” and refuse to run away but face everything that comes to me head-on.”

So, what does this all mean for one of the world’s most popular and dominant athletes and what do we do with this new revelation of one of our most celebrated athletes? Now we’ve seen domestic violence situations surface again and again over the past few years and for the most part we view it form our opinions, and then in evidently forgive them because of their immense talents. But does it help that we put them back on their pedestal, or does it hurt us as we turn a “blind eye” towards their misfortunes? Are we more forgiving because Richardson is a celebrity, or because she’s a woman? Richardson has won numerous medals (including gold and silver in the Olympics in 2024) competing in track and field and is easily recognized world-wide as an international celebrity but does that excuse her behaviors? If you remember, she was suspended from the 2020 Olympic trials after testing positive for marijuana and asked for forgiveness due to her biological mother’s passing and we embraced her! After this latest incident, the question that should be asked in regard to Sha’Carri Richardson is How can we HELP her?

I think that one of the ways that we help Sha’Carri is that we recognize that although she is famous we have to balance her talents with her behaviors and hold her accountable for BOTH. Let me explain... If we are going to push her forward into her greatness as an athlete, then we have to share that we as her fans have an expectation of our athletes that they carry themselves with class and dignity as they represent the “good” in us. Yes, they are under a microscope and that will never change and of course mistakes will happen, but as long as they are willing to accept the consequences that come from the improprieties and hold themselves accountable then we’re more likely to accept their shortcomings. We have no idea what it’s like to be a world class athlete, but we do have an idea of what it’s like to be scrutinized for our failures and mistakes! Sha’Carri Richardson is human folks! Mistakes will happen from time to time and it’s up to each of us to decide when enough is enough! She has a glamorous life being in the spotlight of public opinion where everything she does positive or negative will be magnified and she just has to learn that many are affected by the decisions that she makes on a daily basis. In that vein she’s not unlike many of us on the outside looking in.