Here we go,
again, and again, and again.
At the
University of Missouri, racism claims and protests
went viral over the weekend after 30 black football players announced they will
not practice or play until university president Tim Wolfe is removed from
office.
For several
months, University of
Missouri black student groups have protested the racial slurs
allegedly used by some white students, as well as several other alleged acts of
discriminatory behavior, on the campus. The majority of the 35,000 student
population is white, according to MSN.
The 30 black
members of the University of Missouri
football team participating in the walkout want Tim Wolfe
removed as the leader of the four-college system, Fox News notes.
Refusing to engage in team activities could invalidate the players’
scholarships.
One of the
incidents cited by the protesters and one black student, Jonathan Butler, who
went on a hunger strike to call attention to their cause, was a Swastika drawn
on a dorm wall in feces. The protests began after someone in a pickup truck
driving down the road allegedly yelled a racial slur against a black member of
the student government. Exactly how an unkind exercise of freedom of speech by
an unknown individual is something Wolfe should be blamed for remains unclear.
Football teams have
stood their ground before and paid the consequences. Two seasons ago, Grambling
(Louisiana) football players forfeited a game at Jackson State after they
refused to travel in protest over poor facilities, transportation problems and
other things they considered examples of mistreatment at their university.
Although
Grambling, a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, would never be
confused with a major conference athletic program like Missouri, the Grambling
players showed the power of athletes at any level to get an administration’s
attention. Missouri’s players, who competed in one of the so-called Power 5
conferences, the Southeastern Conference, are positioned to do even more.
Their white
teammates, and their coaches, completed the circle of support by joining the
protest Sunday.
It’s unclear
if other Missouri athletes, notably the basketball team, scheduled to open its
season Friday, will follow suit. But even if it does not, it is important —
essential, in fact — to point out that the athletes on the football team, by
lending their support to what might have been an easily marginalized campus
protest, are breaking out of a cocoon that in the past has separated
African-American athletes on campus from their less visible peers
The racial tensions
came to a head during the university homecoming parade on October 10.
Protesters blocked the car carrying Wolfe after he refused to exit the vehicle
and speak with them. The protesters were ultimately removed by the police.
This comes
after last week's meeting between the two largest Baptist Denominations in the
country, one mostly white and the other
predominantly black, met with pastors from both groups in Mississippi for
a “Conversation on Race in America” today.
Leaders
of the Southern Baptist Convention and the National Baptist
Convention, USA, expressed concern over racial tensions after the unrest
in cities such as Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore and the shooting deaths of
members of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C.
The question is what part the church will play in the healing
of the nation’s problems between the races. Will the church step up and be a
force or stay to the side?
The irony of
course is that the most segregated hour in the country is the 11-noon hour on
Sundays, which effectively eliminates some of the power of the church’s voice
in these matters.
Till some
clean that up, the voice will be muted at best.
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