The disturbing sublety in Coach Carter

This post is long overdue. Last Monday I wrote a reflection on the movie Coach Carter and how impotant it is for student athletes to view the film regardless of the sport.

But there is this disturbing (at least for me) subplot: the love affair between Carter's player Kenyon and the Kyra portrayed by Ashanti. Early in the film, it was established that Kenyon impregnated and that the girl was obviously excited about the prospect of having a child but the guy was having reservations about caring for a family because he was motivated to go to college. So Kyra rants on about Kenyon's selfish interests for wanting to go to college and drops him like a hot potato. The guy hinted at getting rid of the baby because he wasn't sure of the kind of future he could give the three of them. And he was speaking of choices.

Towards the end of the movie, Kenyon got a college scholarship and by way of bringing the good news to Kyra, he asked her to be part of his life again and to go with him where ever he goes together with the yet to be born baby. It was at this point that the girl confesses she had pregnancy terminated and I was deeply disturbed with the guy's reply: "Oh, you shouldn't have gone through it alone" or something to that effect. But it was the girl's answer that I truly found revolting: "My mom was with me".

What is the movie trying to tell teenagers watching? For all I care, this subplot could have been deleted and something more wholesome was put in its place. It is clearly making a political statement, albeit, very subtly that abortion is all right and irresponsible sex is all right. And what about morals?

It was no coincidence that two days after I wrote my Monday post, i got this email from one of my students with pictures of aborted fetuses in various states of mutilation. The images were so graphic that even before I got to the end of the photos I was already crying. And I knew I had to speak up.

Besides using the movie to motivate players and coaches, it can also be used as a springboard to discuss, what else but promiscuity, responsibility, and abortion. And for me, the last one is never a choice; it should not even be an option.