USA Wrestling's Statement on Social Justice
- Thread starter dmm53
- Start date
Best non-wrestling post I've read in awhile. Normally prefer a wrestling focus and let the other stuff go elsewhere, but imo this is an exception. My only thought is to expand some of the above comments that aren't police-specific to all walks of life, all interactions. When I see the words "patience", empathy", "confrontational behavior", "potentially volatile situation", and more ... my thoughts also go to the workplace, and in fact all places where people gather and interact. The news wires are flooded with stories of behaviors that are harmful.
This is 100% the case Roar. This conversation needs to be had on every level of society. In this case, these issues directly affect a high percentage of our wrestlers. It also affects people we work with, that live in our community, go to school with, etc...
I'm always in the corner of our police and first responders. We couldn't have a functional society without them putting their lives on the line daily. And when you think of the sum of all interactions law enforcement has with the public that are handled well versus the cases of abuse, it is incredibly small. That said, look at all the destruction and lives lost directly as a result of the actions of a few policemen in Minnesota. The percentage is small, but significant. There are very few commercial airline accidents when you consider the number of take-offs and landings, but when one occurs the NTSB is all over it. Tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on analyzing the cause and developing prevention. When a defective part is found, the process is analyzed, aircraft in the field are all checked 100% because the integrity of the system depends on it.
We need to treat this issue the same way. When we see something broken we need to fix it now. Today. The day it happens. Like anything, it takes commitment from management. It is not an impossible task.
These discussions belong here because we want Mark Hall, Aaron Brooks, Roman Bravo-Young, Carter Starocci, Greg Kerkvliet, and all PSU wrestlers past, present, and future that have a skin color different than the majority to know that their fans want them to be safe and feel safe whether they are in State College or anywhere else in our great country. We all support them on the mat. They know that. They should also know that we all support them in life.
That said, look at all the destruction and lives lost directly as a result of the actions of a few policemen in Minnesota. The percentage is small, but significant.
As a direct result of the actions of a few........
Gotta call you out, these looters have a CHOICE, just like Officer Chauvin, he could have CHOSE to get off Floyds neck. Rioters and looters are out there because they CHOSE to destroy and cause MORE DEATH,because they thought that was going to fix things. Both instances are DEPLORABLE.
As a direct result of the actions of a few........
Gotta call you out, these looters have a CHOICE, just like Officer Chauvin, he could have CHOSE to get off Floyds neck. Rioters and looters are out there because they CHOSE to destroy and cause MORE DEATH,because they thought that was going to fix things. Both instances are DEPLORABLE.
Agreed Jon. But without that singular act happening, there would not have been protests. Without protests, the criminals would not have been enabled to go on their spree of destruction and looting. No brutality, no protest. No protest, no opportunity for criminals to run unchecked.
Like the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, it is one domino that falls, that leads to another, that leads to destruction.
"Like the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, it is one domino that falls, that leads to another, that leads to destruction." A WWI reference on a wrestling board. Impressive, 82 bordeaux : )
But couldn't a person then say the media politicizing these incidents for personal gain is the action that preceded the Floyd incident? That if they didn't promote each of these police shootings/use of force incidents even when justified then the reaction to the Floyd incident would not have been so severe? Every single use of excessive force is too much and often a person is asked to make split second decisions based on the brain's interpretation of events as to the proper level of force. Fortunately less than lethal force gives you an opportunity to continually assess the level and degree of force but lethal force most times does not. If we did not sensationalize prior incidents maybe the Floyd incident occurs, public gives the justice system the opportunity to work and the right result occurs as it seems has done so in this case? That being said the Country needs to prepare for a conviction of the lower charge as based on my reading of the complaint and information gained publicly the conviction will be for manslaughter due to indifference towards life by not rendering aid once they could not locate a pulse.
What many struggle to understand as they are used to TV crime or the standard crime scenario where violent crime occurs and an arrest is made, the difficulty in police encounters is their authorization by regulation to use force so the investigator has to get beyond that A shot B but did A have legal authority to act in the manner when A shot B which is a much tougher hurdle.
I would love to see an open minded conversation regarding these police shootings/use of force incidents where they not only discuss the level of force used and the race of the parties involved but also how often was there resistance, percentages of violence crimes committed by race and why the disparity exists, what can be done moving forward.
Breaking it down even further Black or African Americans make up approximately 14% of our population but account for 37.5% of violent crimes. I assume most would consider it a safe bet that engaging in violent crimes makes you more likely to have a violent encounter with the police? In 2017 Black or African American accounted for 22.6% fatal shootings by police. This is a simplistic way of looking at a complex subject. A much deeper dive needs to be taken into the how's and why's and what can be done.
Police are human beings and have the same hierarchy of needs as anyone else. Finding the balance to get someone to strive to do their best while also accounting for their needs is a difficult balance. It is put into perspective when you view what is happening in Baltimore where the officers are fearful (there is some justification for this and some hyperbole) of arrest which has lead them to self-preserve and crime has soared. The balance has to be found where policing can occur and community is served and Floyd issues are minimized. Unfortunately they will never go away as long as human element is in the picture.
Personal opinion: I would have thought that the path to support for the cause would be honesty and transparency. You want the non-believers to believe in your cause then don't try to lump everything into your cause. When Michael Brown was shot after reaching into a police car and grabbing an officers gun the narrative was hands up/don't shoot which turned out to be a complete lie. It did not stop riots and demonstrations and today is still a focal case for this movement. This is but one example of the many. There are other instance such in North Carolina and from what I cn tell Anquan Boldin's brother that are better indicators but maybe if they didn't promote each case that broadly fits their narrative then the story would not be as relevant.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/585152/people-shot-to-death-by-us-police-by-race/
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/topic-pages/tables/table-21
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Baltimore
BTW Psalm 1 says it more eloquently than I ever could. I highly agree with what was written.
I thought it was impressive as well; Especially since I've been binge-watching "The Great War" on Youtube. Up to episode 176, only 490 more to go.
It is my opinion that to place any blame on the media is a fool's errand. That is not fixable. Social media is already part of the fabric of our lives. The mainstream media is secondary. Derek Chauvin was watching people film him. He didn't think he was doing anything wrong. That is the problem. That is a cultural issue and it can be fixed. It will take commitment by our city's mayors. The majority of our city's mayors are way too chummy with their police departments. They need police chiefs on the job that want to make the changes. If they don't want to make the changes, they should be replaced. They need specific language in collective bargaining agreements about this type of misconduct. They need to reward the champions of change within each of these departments. They need to hold those accountable that are not working toward meeting measurable improvements.
If Chauvin is not successful in getting a change of venue, he is screwed. No matter which side of the fence most Minnesotans are on, they will be united in blaming Derek Chauvin. They already upped the charge to Murder 2. And they have charged the other 4 officers as well. In most cases you would be correct. In this case not so much. That jury will be afraid to not convict. Not a very fair jury pool to be sure. But changes of venue are a tough sell nowadays.
Kps7987, you bring up many valid points. Regarding the media, the old adage for them rings true, "If it bleeds, it leads." I obviously have no issue with the media covering these issues. That is their job, and even when I disagree with the propensity of some news outlets to lean hard left, I feel the benefits of a free press greatly outweigh any flaws in media in general. That being said, I believe the media share much blame for how they have covered this issue and other topics.
The issue of Black Americans committing a higher percentage of violent crime compared to their size of the population is a touchy one. I agree there needs to be an honest presentation of factual data in these discussions, but the polarization in our country on this topic and race in general makes it difficult. One of the shameful trends in our country is people attacking others who hold different opinions. It is difficult to engage others intelligently when the other party refuses to rationally discuss the merits/flaws of each person's position and instead resorts to character assassination. Why try to have a nuanced, intelligent conversation when you can just label the other party a "hater", "racist", "privileged", etc.?
Regarding the disproportionate percentage of Black Americans committing violent crime, I believe the root cause is primarily socioeconomic along with the pressures/realities of living in the inner city versus the suburbs/country. The fable of the town mouse and country mouse is instructive. Most of my career was spent working affluent neighborhoods, but toward the end of my career I spent several years working the "inner city" where economic hardship and violence were far too common (one of my fellow officers was assassinated while he was stopped for a red light, one was murdered, one was shot multiple times but survived, one was stabbed and many more were attacked). There is something dehumanizing about living in the "concrete jungle". It seems to suck the joy, peace, compassion and love from people.
The issue is also generational/historic. During my career I unfortunately heard far too many times adults/parents telling children that police were the enemy. When children grow up in this kind of an environment it is no wonder there is such a dysfunctional relationship between the police and Black America. I believe it is almost impossible to overestimate the harm to children who grow up in unloving, dysfunctional and broken homes. Without looking it up, I believe the number one indicator of whether someone will end up spending time in prison is being raised in a single parent home. The issue of absentee fathers, especially in Black families, is a huge problem.
As for myself, I believe the most productive thing I can personally do for race relations is to go out of my way to have positive, honest interactions with racial minorities. Hearts are best changed in individual encounters. As an illustration, I once went out of my way while on duty to strike up a conversation with a Black man who was approximately my age (56). We must have talked for 45 minutes, with much of it regarding issues of race. I learned he grew up in the St. Louis area and had experienced much racism in his life. I asked him if he noticed a difference between San Diego and St. Louis as far as race relations. He kind of laughed and told me the differences were stark. He said he periodically has to go back to St. Louis and when he is there he said the racial tension is palpable and puts him on edge. I believe we both walked away from the conversation having gained greater perspective and appreciation for race relations in general and greater empathy for the circumstances we both encountered individually.
I have had many similar conversations, mostly while on duty, with Black Americans and minorities in general. Mutual respect/concern and the willingness to give people the benefit of the doubt as they express their opinions on sensitive subjects is important. Many times over the course of my career I have had prisoners/detainees thank me as we parted for treating them with respect. This even occurred where I had to use force to make the arrest or the person was verbally aggressive at the start of the contact. I am definitely not saying these things to boast or say that I am some awesome guy. What I want to point out is that it is possible to be light in a dark world if you try. But sadly, the actions of just one officer can have grave consequences. I believe we can all do better. And maybe if more people start going out of their way to treat everyone with dignity and respect we can start to heal as a Nation. That is my hope and prayer.
You are speaking opinions as absolutes. You are saying the media participation is too far gone to make a change but are also blaming the actions of one person on the agency and/or profession. I don't think we know yet exactly what training was provided through his career, what corrective action or discipline was taken and/or ignored. Something also not taken into account which many police officers have certain workplace rights. Similar to if an autoworker does not perform to a standard they have a disciplinary process to go through so too does the police officer. So agencies do have a difficult time ridding themselves of bad seeds even as they attempt to do so. I have seen it first hand where a person was dismissed and returned through arbitration even though the members thought the dismissal was justified.
Lastly community pressure is leading to premature charges against police recently where District Attorneys feel its better for a jury to decide then to make the difficult decision. I can be wrong but public resentment does not lead to convictions. Facts and court articulation will determine the outcome of this case and based on what we know publicly I can't see a conviction for murder. Intent can be formed instantaneously but he showed extreme indifference towards life not malicious intent. I may be wrong and do not have a stake in this but I would rather have those in powerful positions prepare the country for disappointment. If he is convicted of murder I don't mind saying you were right.
I agree with everything you say and you say it so much more eloquent than I can. Show you are human and others will treat you as such. Show them your uniform and they will treat you how they perceive you to be whether positive or negative.
Another WWI reference. The whole war could have been avoided, and most likely WWII as well. Every major nation in the summer of 1914 could have walked away and didn't.
The Kaiser, wanted to avoid a 2 front war...when told that England could ensure France's neutrality, the Kaiser asked his Chief of Staff about not invading France, von Moltke's response, "It can't be done" since it would have upset his mobilization plan. 20 million dead later and 75 million more in WW2 because somebody couldn't get his train schedule disrupted.
Hopefully cooler heads prevail right now since we are not headed in a good direction. OTOH, reviewing the history of the early 1900's, it was only a matter of time before the European powers slugged it out. Everybody always underestimates the body count...
I live in the Baltimore area. Probably in the last 5 years, a police officer was caught on video punching a person in the face, unprovoked. The officer then lied about it and proceeded to arrest the person.
Eventually the truth came out. The Baltimore DA refused to prosecute the officer for perjury because it would have been a felony and would have prevented him from being a police officer in another jurisdiction. He got fired in Baltimore, but it was okay to let him work somewhere else in law enforcement.
My bad, insightful.You are a wise and inciteful person. Hopefully not!
Some days I think I have had one too many concussions
@Psalm 1 guy ; You are only 56 years old. You could have many productive years as a Chief of Police somewhere. Just sayin'.
Psalm 1 guy - it's pretty clear I'm not the only one here who really appreciates your input. I lived in San Diego for almost 30 years. If you have been following the local HS wrestling, I'm guessing we might have some mutual friends. I remember a Mr Garcia who was an IT guy for the SDPD. He had two sons who wrestled in high school that were pretty good, especially his younger son Chris.
I know the media is doing their best to portray the Minneapolis incident as a racial issue, but I don't think that's the primary problem. Whether or not blacks get a disproportionate share of police misconduct is always a good topic for debate, but I am also aware of incidents where the recipient was not black. In my opinion, the root cause is often a matter of the wrong kind of person being hired by the police department. What kind of measures have police departments adopted to try to keep the wrong kind of people from being hired?
I know the media is doing their best to portray the Minneapolis incident as a racial issue, but I don't think that's the primary problem. Whether or not blacks get a disproportionate share of police misconduct is always a good topic for debate, but I am also aware of incidents where the recipient was not black. In my opinion, the root cause is often a matter of the wrong kind of person being hired by the police department. What kind of measures have police departments adopted to try to keep the wrong kind of people from being hired?
From the start I thought this was an example of police abuse or brutality and it represented some bad cops. It did not mean we are a racist country or all cops are bad. It is sad that we are going thru this as a country for something that has, IMHO, been misrepresented and hijacked. Hopefully, we will come out of this with more dialogue and understanding and also some changes to help limit these occurrences in the future.
Every profession has people who screw up and who suck at their job. Whether it is doctors, carpenters, coaches, or policemen. Hopefully we can stop pointing fingers in the near future and help find ways to reduce the screw ups or the severity of the screw ups in the future. All it takes is integrity, guts, and a clear moral compass. Shouldn't be too hard.
Two weeks ago, peaceful protesters were out, trying to get their lives and livelihoods back.
The ruling class and the chattering class? It was a threat to public order and public health. Protesters were selfish. Cops arresting a man playing ball with his daughter arrested in front of her? Hey man-you got what's coming-you broke the rules. Opening a gym? Hey don't you know you aren't essential, like big box stores.
Now, the ruling class fully approves of the looting and killing. Black lives matter? Not Stephanie's, the elderly disabled lady who lost the ability to get the things she need because the nearby stores she relied on were burned to the ground, reduced to tears. (A day or two later, Amazon quietly started restricting shipments to riot areas, so that won't help her).
Not the guy whose name escapes me asking "I'm black, what did I do", when his bar was burned to the ground. Not 77 year old retired police officer David Dorn, gunned down by rioters on Facebook-because killing an old man live-that's social justice, man. All black, and all victims of the rioters.
This was the perfect storm. A cop with a record of abuse who should have been terminated, even if Senator Klobuchar passed on prosecution. Floyd was a 48 year old guy with a record, a heart condition and a drug habit, on Fentanyl at the time of his death. A critical mass of all the wrong elements.
The thing is there was absolutely no evidence that this action was motivated by racial animus. None. But if this simply remained a question of abusive or hyperactive policing, people might have put two and two together. But no, Lucy knows Charlie Brown falls for it every time. Scream race and even a pandemic disappears. Nobody claimed race was the issue when Mohammed Noor shot Justine Damond. Of course we weren't supposed to ask any questions about race there.
Eric Barron and all these other sanctimonious frauds? They are just making sure the rioters don't come to their million dollar houses in gated communities or wreck the university. They'll say whatever they need to to avoid violence headed their way.
But it was nice to finally figure out what would get Wolf out of hiding.
Assuming there will be college wrestling in the future, can we discuss that?
The ruling class and the chattering class? It was a threat to public order and public health. Protesters were selfish. Cops arresting a man playing ball with his daughter arrested in front of her? Hey man-you got what's coming-you broke the rules. Opening a gym? Hey don't you know you aren't essential, like big box stores.
Now, the ruling class fully approves of the looting and killing. Black lives matter? Not Stephanie's, the elderly disabled lady who lost the ability to get the things she need because the nearby stores she relied on were burned to the ground, reduced to tears. (A day or two later, Amazon quietly started restricting shipments to riot areas, so that won't help her).
Not the guy whose name escapes me asking "I'm black, what did I do", when his bar was burned to the ground. Not 77 year old retired police officer David Dorn, gunned down by rioters on Facebook-because killing an old man live-that's social justice, man. All black, and all victims of the rioters.
This was the perfect storm. A cop with a record of abuse who should have been terminated, even if Senator Klobuchar passed on prosecution. Floyd was a 48 year old guy with a record, a heart condition and a drug habit, on Fentanyl at the time of his death. A critical mass of all the wrong elements.
The thing is there was absolutely no evidence that this action was motivated by racial animus. None. But if this simply remained a question of abusive or hyperactive policing, people might have put two and two together. But no, Lucy knows Charlie Brown falls for it every time. Scream race and even a pandemic disappears. Nobody claimed race was the issue when Mohammed Noor shot Justine Damond. Of course we weren't supposed to ask any questions about race there.
Eric Barron and all these other sanctimonious frauds? They are just making sure the rioters don't come to their million dollar houses in gated communities or wreck the university. They'll say whatever they need to to avoid violence headed their way.
But it was nice to finally figure out what would get Wolf out of hiding.
Assuming there will be college wrestling in the future, can we discuss that?
Y'all need to realize the Venn diagram between the peaceful protesters and the looters does not intersect. The looters are criminals, the protesters are exercising their rights that were earned by the people we celebrated and remembered May 25th.
Having never worked the Backgrounds/Recruiting Unit I can not give you any specifics regarding how SDPD screens applicants. I have talked to officers from that Unit and they told me they have an extremely hard time finding qualified applicants. They go through thousands of applicants just to find enough to fill an academy of 50 officers. The skill set needed to be a good officer is long: solid verbal and written communication skills, intelligence, life experience and maturity, the ability to be equally as comfortable and proficient in talking to a parolee or the owner of a Fortune 500 company, no financial red flags (late payments, bankruptcies, bounced checks, etc.), a calm demeanor not prone to overly emotional responses to stress, being fair and empathetic with no history of racism/discrimination, physically fit, no major driving- related incidents such as multiple tickets, etc., sufficient educational background with preferably a four-year degree, good decision making skills, especially under stress, no social media red flags/inappropriate comments. The list goes on and on.
The bottom line is that it is very hard to find solid police officer candidates. I would also say that being a police officer is a very tough job to do well on a consistent basis. Officers see the worst of society and man's inhumanity to man. You would scarcely believe what many officers have seen. The cumulative toll can be crushing. I personally knew several officers that committed suicide any many others who engaged in self destructive behavior. I wish there was a foolproof way to weed out unfit applicants, but some still make it into the profession. Also, some officers start off good and slowly start going bad. I cannot overemphasize how damaging it is to be exposed long-term to many of the things officers experience on a near daily basis. Some just can't handle it.
And yes, I used to work for Ralph Garcia and knew his son, Chris. I would suggest Googling "SDPD Officer Chris Garcia". You will find it interesting reading, and no, I will not be commenting further regarding what you discover.
32 years was more than enough for me!@Psalm 1 guy ; You are only 56 years old. You could have many productive years as a Chief of Police somewhere. Just sayin'.
If criminals took advantage of a July Fourth parade to loot and destroy property, no one would condemn the people celebrating the Fourth. The rioters are NOT protesting, they are rioting. I am a white woman, who will be protesting on Friday. I will not destroy property or be belligerent to police. I will wear a mask. I will not be lumped with the criminals who are taking advantage of severe social inequities. Everyone who equates the protesters with riots is thinking exactly what the rioters want you to believe.
Having never worked the Backgrounds/Recruiting Unit I can not give you any specifics regarding how SDPD screens applicants. I have talked to officers from that Unit and they told me they have an extremely hard time finding qualified applicants. They go through thousands of applicants just to find enough to fill an academy of 50 officers. The skill set needed to be a good officer is long: solid verbal and written communication skills, intelligence, life experience and maturity, the ability to be equally as comfortable and proficient in talking to a parolee or the owner of a Fortune 500 company, no financial red flags (late payments, bankruptcies, bounced checks, etc.), a calm demeanor not prone to overly emotional responses to stress, being fair and empathetic with no history of racism/discrimination, physically fit, no major driving- related incidents such as multiple tickets, etc., sufficient educational background with preferably a four-year degree, good decision making skills, especially under stress, no social media red flags/inappropriate comments. The list goes on and on.
The bottom line is that it is very hard to find solid police officer candidates. I would also say that being a police officer is a very tough job to do well on a consistent basis. Officers see the worst of society and man's inhumanity to man. You would scarcely believe what many officers have seen. The cumulative toll can be crushing. I personally knew several officers that committed suicide any many others who engaged in self destructive behavior. I wish there was a foolproof way to weed out unfit applicants, but some still make it into the profession. Also, some officers start off good and slowly start going bad. I cannot overemphasize how damaging it is to be exposed long-term to many of the things officers experience on a near daily basis. Some just can't handle it.
And yes, I used to work for Ralph Garcia and knew his son, Chris. I would suggest Googling "SDPD Officer Chris Garcia". You will find it interesting reading, and no, I will not be commenting further regarding what you discover.
Wow! Ok - I get your point there, but that one really rocked me.
I still get back to San Diego from time to time. Hopefully I'll get to meet you in person some time. Do you ever go to the state tournament in Bakersfield? There are a group of guys from San Diego who go every year, mostly ex refs and coaches. I always try to get over there for at least one day just to see everyone.
Many police departments are now being trained to military standards. They are taught to essentially shoot first and ask questions later.And they are receiving military equipment from a government that buys way more equipment than it needs. Wonder why? This is not a problem of 'a few bad apples'. It is a systemic problem which trains these officers in a way that promotes violent responses. I deal with a lot of small departments around Penna. Invariably, they are good members of their community, doing their job with compassion and intelligence. I've been around these departments for over 20 years, and I've only seen one instance of police brutality - a black cop on a black victim. These cops understand they are there to help the community, keep it safe and keep things calm. They never escalate.
I know there is never a simple answer, but training cops to be violent has led to many of these over-reactions. And they do these violent acts almost always with immunity, so there is nothing holding them back.
I know there is never a simple answer, but training cops to be violent has led to many of these over-reactions. And they do these violent acts almost always with immunity, so there is nothing holding them back.
"When we see something broken we need to fix it now. Today. The day it happens. Like anything, it takes commitment from management. It is not an impossible task."
Enough with the conspicuous virtue signalling. My inbox is filled with stupid corporate emails telling that they are committed to "social justice". Where the hell were they three weeks ago. It's disgusting opportunistic metooistic theater, that has one saving grace-it replaced the endless "new normal, we're here for you" crap that we were treated to for the past couple of months.
What is broken (at Penn State)? It was decades ago when I, a white guy from a small town, roomed with a black guy from Philadelphia. When I met his grandmother, she reminded me of my own.
All I cared about was that we were mutually considerate and worth a conversation once in a while. He was a good guy, a hell of a lot better than the white spoiled brat from Newtown that didn't pay his phone bill from the previous summer. No cell phones then, one room phone.
The conversation then was that years after segregation ended, students were self segregating. You want to fix that? It looks now like that self-segregation is encouraged.
"These discussions belong here because we want Mark Hall, Aaron Brooks, Roman Bravo-Young, Carter Starocci, Greg Kerkvliet, and all PSU wrestlers past, present, and future that have a skin color different than the majority to know that their fans want them to be safe and feel safe whether they are in State College or anywhere else in our great country. We all support them on the mat. "
Why would they feel unsafe?
Nobody cares about their skin color, they care that they are great wrestlers and decent kids and not necessarily in that order.
You want to make somebody uncomfortable, keep mentioning some irrelevant physical attribute because you think they have to be reminded that you don't care about enough to keep mentioning it. If you weren't moved by Mark Hall's good bye letter, you are twisted.
Should white women feel unsafe on campus because Mohammed Noor shot Justine Damond? No, the people of Minneapolis should be concerned that they have a problem.
Yep.. Charlie Brown just can't resist the football...
Enough with the conspicuous virtue signalling. My inbox is filled with stupid corporate emails telling that they are committed to "social justice". Where the hell were they three weeks ago. It's disgusting opportunistic metooistic theater, that has one saving grace-it replaced the endless "new normal, we're here for you" crap that we were treated to for the past couple of months.
What is broken (at Penn State)? It was decades ago when I, a white guy from a small town, roomed with a black guy from Philadelphia. When I met his grandmother, she reminded me of my own.
All I cared about was that we were mutually considerate and worth a conversation once in a while. He was a good guy, a hell of a lot better than the white spoiled brat from Newtown that didn't pay his phone bill from the previous summer. No cell phones then, one room phone.
The conversation then was that years after segregation ended, students were self segregating. You want to fix that? It looks now like that self-segregation is encouraged.
"These discussions belong here because we want Mark Hall, Aaron Brooks, Roman Bravo-Young, Carter Starocci, Greg Kerkvliet, and all PSU wrestlers past, present, and future that have a skin color different than the majority to know that their fans want them to be safe and feel safe whether they are in State College or anywhere else in our great country. We all support them on the mat. "
Why would they feel unsafe?
Nobody cares about their skin color, they care that they are great wrestlers and decent kids and not necessarily in that order.
You want to make somebody uncomfortable, keep mentioning some irrelevant physical attribute because you think they have to be reminded that you don't care about enough to keep mentioning it. If you weren't moved by Mark Hall's good bye letter, you are twisted.
Should white women feel unsafe on campus because Mohammed Noor shot Justine Damond? No, the people of Minneapolis should be concerned that they have a problem.
Yep.. Charlie Brown just can't resist the football...
Rebel;
I hear what you're saying, and I respect that. Let me explain what I meant by a few things:
This isn't corporate rhetoric. This is a mantra our company lives by, and it isn't my idea. It comes from a short book entitled "2 Second Lean" by Paul Akers. It is a life changing book for anyone to use in any walk of life. 32 years ago we operated to a quality standard designed around MIL-Standard 105D, which had AQLs (acceptable quality levels) of up to 2.5% defect rate. Our customers demanded that we comply to a defect rate of 500 PPM (defects/million). We all looked at it as an impossible task. They didn't understand our business we said. Well that changed, because it became 50PPM, then 10PPM, then 2PPM, and eventually 0PPM. Last year we shipped 47 million components to the automotive industry without one detectable defect. At 2PPM we would have had a customer complaint every 2 days. At a 1.5%AQL rate we would have had a defect found every 45 seconds of every day.
A current process is to reduce the set-up time on a work center from 12 hours to 10 minutes. That's not something a skilled machinist likes to hear. It implies he wasn't doing a good job, but that's not true. He was given poor tools and a bad process. We aren't there yet. We are at 2 hours. But we will get there. In the meantime, that machinist has an extra 10 hours to work on defect prevention and improvements.
In the same vein, our police are not bad cops, or bad people. They are given a bad process and the wrong tools. It just takes commitment by everyone involved to fix in now.
In reference to the PSU wrestlers feeling safe, ask @Johnbrooks if he every worries (in addition to our normal parental worries) about Aaron when he leaves the house. Ask any of these wrestlers how THEY feel, not how WE think they should feel. If WE ARE, the WE SHOULD all feel as equally safe at PSU or anywhere else.
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In case anyone is wondering what is going through AB's head. This was his Instagram post today. We should stand behind these young men that give us so much pride and joy.
Tough times for everyone right now. I just pray that we have sports in the fall. It seems to be one of the only things that bring us together anymore.
That is a young man that is wise beyond his years. A very thoughtful post.
No one is lumping you in with the criminals. Everyone knows the difference between right and wrong. What the police officer did to George Floyd was wrong. What the looters are doing is wrong. The peaceful protesters are fine and no one has a problem with them. Also, one of the points being made was the difference between how protesters of the shutdown and the unfair gov't taking away our constitutional rights was treated for lock down protesters as compared to the looters.
I don't know what standards they are being trained too, several of them act as if they are in a war zone. When comparing to the military keep this in mind, the military has defined rules of engagement, often that means they cannot return fire until fired upon, not the perp's arm moved. When they break those ROE's, they are usually prosecuted and don't have a magic police card with "Qualified Immunity" on the back that keeps them out of jail.
The militarization of police has been debated for quite a while now. Here's one take, but I suggest Googling for more discussion.
.https://www.charleskochinstitute.or...ice-policing-reform/militarization-of-police/
