Richie Incognito Was Considered an "Honorary Black Man" in Dolphins Locker Room

Joel Auerbach/Getty Images As the Richie Incognito/Jonathan Martin story continues to take bizarre twists and turns, the racial aspect of Incognito's calling

Joel Auerbach/Getty Images

As the Richie Incognito/Jonathan Martin story continues to take bizarre twists and turns, the racial aspect of Incognito's calling Martin a "half-n-----" on a voicemail has come into focus. Despite this inflammatory language, however, several of Incognito's Dolphins teammates apparently do not consider the indefinitely-suspended offensive lineman to be a racist.

In the Miami Herald, Armando Salguero writes:

Well, I've spoken to multiple people today about this and the explanation from all of them is that in the Dolphins locker room, Richie Incognito was considered a black guy. He was accepted by the black players. He was an honorary black man. And Jonathan Martin, who is bi-racial, was not. Indeed, Martin was considered less black than Incognito.

"Richie is honarary," one player who left the Dolphins this offseason told me today. "I don't expect you to understand because you're not black. But being a black guy, being a brother is more than just about skin color. It's about how you carry yourself. How you play. Where you come from. What you've experienced. A lot of things."

[Miami Herald]