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Former Clemson player pens open letter to most on this board

dbjork6317

The Jack Dunlap Club
Gold Member
Dec 4, 2009
15,226
60,876
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Dear White Clemson Fan.

As a former Clemson student athlete, the comments I see made on something as simple as a Black Lives Matter sticker on the helmets are atrocious, and not to mention, incredibly racist. It's so interesting that so many of you want Black bodies to perform well for you—as one white Clemson fan recently put it, Saturday is my time—but when it comes to those Black bodies standing in solidarity with other Black bodies, then somehow it's a distraction.

For some reason many of you don't have a problem with young Black athletes using their platforms for Military appreciation game or Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I'm trying to put my finger on what the problem is. Hmmm. It is not the platforms you don’t like. I think I can assume many of you praised Tim Tebow who kneeled in prayer or Jonathan Isaac who didn't kneel when others did. But you don't like them using their platforms, that they earned, to fight for Black lives as a way of telling our story, remembering our lynched, and holding both America, its people and our university accountable. Our bodies forcing you to see the ways in which our Black bodies have been forgotten, marginalized, abused, and oppressed, both on and off the field. In the classroom and in the community.

It's one thing to be ignorant, it's another thing to be arrogant, and it's quite another thing to be both at the same time.

We have loved both a country and people who have not loved us back. In case you didn't know, there are many Black alumni, Black taxpayers, and Black donors who too have made both America and Clemson what white people imagined as “great”. So that means it also belong to us, who are fighting for our lives, our children, and students who look just like us. We Black people have constantly given room to honor your white fallen of America (whom we are apart of), your white dead in 9/11 (whom we are apart of), as well as your white people who are struggling with Breast Cancer (whom we are apart of). We have helped shine light on your struggles, rightfully so, even at the expense of people remembering us. We have stood in solidarity with you publicly to give them room in hopes that room could be given to us as your fellow American and fellow Christian. You know #NeverForget….unless we’re talking about slavery, Jim Crow, white supremacy, or any other topic about Black lives that don't center white people or make white people comfortable.

It just may not be the game-day platform that you have a problem with but what they are using it for: to stand in solidarity with Black lives, to tell the truth about our country, your place in it, and to work for a more democratic future that believes Black lives are worthy of equality, freedom, and justice. “It is certain, in any case,” the essayist James Baldwin wrote, “that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.” Baldwin is right. He speaks of what many Black bodies are experiencing of the white Clemson fan today.

The question is: If indeed game-day belongs to everyone, which I believe, did you even for a second think that "everyone" includes us Black people? What about Clemson University? Our ancestors bodies are buried right next to the field our Black bodies perform so well on. It is ours as well. What about this country? Our bodies have paid the ultimate price. This country, America, it too is ours. You can't say you love us and be okay with what our history has meant to us. You can’t be okay with what continues to happen to people who look like us. You can’t just be okay with us running plays right on the field at Clemson but don’t believe us when we tell the truth on the field of America. Yet, far too many of you are okay with the way things are, far too many of you are okay with apathy, far too many of you are okay with a narrow idea of who "everyone" is, who “we the people” are, and who the Tiger Paw belongs to. But then again, such forgetfulness, such apathy, such hostility, makes you American, very American.

Americans, particularly white Americans, have always had a problem with Black bodies being free bodies. It is Black people who have had to fight for our bodies to be loved and remembered. Quick history lesson: the Black body in America, especially on the sports stage, has always been political. From the beginnings of Jack Johnson’s sturdy Black body taking the white world by storm in the boxing ring, Muhammed Ali refusing to fight in what he called the white man’s war, or even one of our own beloved defensive backs, Marion Reeves, who turned the white Tiger Paw black by becoming the first Black athlete to play on the field in 1971. Meaning wherever we went, we have always been a mirror for you to see both the worst and the best of America. We have been met with insults, beatings, blaming, policy to keep us out, punishments, and all the more, yet we still show up because this country and these sports are ours as well.

So I suggest, the white Clemson fan going on their loud-and-racist-and-dumb rant, sit this one out, enjoy the tailgate, beer, and sing with us, "God bless the America that will love Black people and display the worth of Black life." Where the blue hills yawns its greatness, Black bodies are there, alive, beautiful, and saying with a loud voice: Black Lives Matter! Screaming loud for all who can’t breathe, run, sleep in their beds with loved ones, pray, march, drive, walk, play with toys, save the day, and just simply live. Whatever change has been made, both at Clemson and in America, it is not because both have been so good, but that we refused to shut up and just play ball.

Our Black bodies that run fast, jump high, and give many of you white Clemson fans stories to talk about with your families and friends, are the same Black bodies that matter when we tell the truth of America and what needs to change.

Black Lives Matter! Go Tigers!
 
Black lives matter unless you want to talk about black abortions, black fatherless homes, black on black crime, and the fact that twice the number of white people are killed by police officers than blacks. And the organization "Black Lives Matter" is nothing but a terrorist group that wants to destroy the Western nuclear family. #AllLivesMatter
 
That
Black lives matter unless you want to talk about black abortions, black fatherless homes, black on black crime, and the fact that twice the number of white people are killed by police officers than blacks. And the organization "Black Lives Matter" is nothing but a terrorist group that wants to destroy the Western nuclear family. #AllLivesMatter
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There is a disconnect on what BLM is and stands for. A lot of people see cities burning when the social justice stuff is being done on the field.
 
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Everyone of us must open our ears and our hearts and actually hear this. As a white man, I could never write this because I have never lived anything like this. Many do not believe privilege exists. It does. I beg all of us to read and truly hear these words - they are coming from a perspective that most of us don't have, but if we are going to be true brothers and sisters, it is our responsibility to listen and then to act for justice.
 
Who is Dante Stewart? I have no problem with people standing for equality, opportunity and freedom. That is something we should all be for. I am not naive enough to think this country is perfect, but I think we continue to head in the right direction. What I am not for is the organization Black Lives Matter. I don't agree with them diminishing the role of the father in the traditional family when in fact many of the problems in all of society (black, white, brown, red, yellow, etc.) would be addressed if fathers had greater role in the family structure. So, I do not think it is right for a public institution to align itself with such an organization.
 
That is where the ignorance is . There is white on white crime. Black Lives matter has nothing to do with a group. Twice the number of white people are killed by cops because on about 20-25%of the country is black. And so you are saying only blacks have abortions( none of your business) or blacks have fatherless homes( again none of your business). I love Clemson and always will. Enjoyed my years there. But when I see post like yours, I can’t believe I was on campus with people that loathed me that much. I was taught to not look at a person’s skin, race, or religion. My family has fought in Almost every war this country has ever had. Even when after the war of 1812, there property was taken from them after helping fight to keep the country independent from the British. Some of my family has paid with their lives for this country and for someone as ignorant as you to spew your racist hatred makes me ashamed you are connected to my great university.
 
Black lives matter unless you want to talk about black abortions, black fatherless homes, black on black crime, and the fact that twice the number of white people are killed by police officers than blacks. And the organization "Black Lives Matter" is nothing but a terrorist group that wants to destroy the Western nuclear family. #AllLivesMatter
If All Lives Matter why are 65% of mass shootings perpetrated by whites?
 
Black lives matter unless you want to talk about black abortions, black fatherless homes, black on black crime, and the fact that twice the number of white people are killed by police officers than blacks. And the organization "Black Lives Matter" is nothing but a terrorist group that wants to destroy the Western nuclear family. #AllLivesMatter

-White fatherless homes are double the number of black fatherless homes.
-White abortions make up ~49% of abortions in this country.
-There are more white-on-white murders than black-on-black.
 
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BLM is ridiculous. We don't have a systemic racism problem in the USA. We have small factions and pockets that should be dealt with on a micro level.

If All Lives Matter why are 65% of mass shootings perpetrated by whites?
I mean 76% of the population is Caucasian so that seems about right if not a tad low.
 
I know you're just trolling OP and wasn't this same "letter" posted a year or so ago? It may say this month but I'm pretty sure this was making the rounds a while back.

Just because the word Black is in BLM doesn't mean that group does anything towards helping black people. Even black people can see this right? Once again black people are being used for a completely different agenda and go along with it blindly. Not one penny has ever been spent by BLM to improve Black communities, families, or culture yet we're all racists for being smart enough to see through that bs and not fall in line? When I was at Clemson the EE dept actively recruited black students to the program; had events during the summer that only people of color were invited to where they were basically treated like 5* athletes to get them to enroll in engineering. Once in they were assigned an advisor they worked with them to get the best classes and basically guided them through the curriculum. They were able to have direct links to professors for meetings after class where the rest of us had to sit out in the hallways on no class days hoping the prof would show up and have time to discuss. I know this wasn't unique to the Engineering Dept. This was university wide and happened all over the country. White people have bent over backwards to give people of color opportunities so I am not going to feel guilty they haven't been taken advantage of. ALL lives matter and the fact that one group screams only black lives matter is complete divisive and racist and ignorant of the fact no one group will make it alone. We are all in this together and well get out of it together. Period The longer black people let BLM speak for them, the more fed up the rest of us will get with the whole thing. There is a limit to how far the average white person will be pushed and guilted and harangued.
 
I try, from my limited viewpoint, to understand where he’s coming from. I would be frustrated, too.
Unfortunately, we are seeing two very different versions of BLM. Does supporting BLM mean supporting the scenes that we see of hospital ERs getting blocked and restaurants being taken over? Businesses being vandalized and innocent people getting beat down? I don’t support any of that.
Or, are we to trust that the BLM on the stickers, etc is not about all of that? That the athletes only represent the peaceful and honorable and completely necessary aspects? I’d like to believe that and I assume that it is. But asking all white people to only see the good and block out the bad is not realistic. Same as asking people to only see the good cops. Kap refused to see only the good and he protested. He refused pay respects to the flag and what it stood for just like some white (and black) people refuse to pay respects to an organization that has some pretty egregious flaws of its own.
I don’t have any answers, but I make long, rambling posts anyway.
 
As a nation we are in serious trouble. This at a time when we are so lacking for true leaders - of any party. Problems need their root cause to be solved in order to permanently correct. Racism does still exist in our country and is a cultural problem that needs to be corrected by all of US. The worst part? We are under a major, silent cyber attack by China and Russia, and this attack is widening our perceived differences on EVERY issue. Any way out will have to be orchestrated by "we the people".
 
Serious question...where was the backlash to the helmet stickers? I don't follow all the SM sites.
 
Black lives matter unless you want to talk about black abortions, black fatherless homes, black on black crime, and the fact that twice the number of white people are killed by police officers than blacks. And the organization "Black Lives Matter" is nothing but a terrorist group that wants to destroy the Western nuclear family. #AllLivesMatter

In truth, those are issues for all races, not just the black race. I see a lot of fatherless homes now - white, black, hispanic, whatever.

I will agree that the Black Lives Matter organization needs to be kept separate from the Black Lives Matter movement. It is possible to support the movement and not be ready to support the organization because of other concerns.

The "destroy the western nuclear family" has been associated with BLM the organization. It's not on their website that I have seen, but I have seen somewhat-credible sources (newspaper article somewhere - and it wasn't Breitbart or The Blaze or Fox News or anything like that) that linked the two.

Serious question...where was the backlash to the helmet stickers? I don't follow all the SM sites.

Apparently there was some of it on social media. And in today's lack-of-nuance-and-ability-to-fvcking-think society, that means everyone is a racist or something.

I'm getting it secondhand from a virtue-signaling facebook friend. I didn't see it either.

I support the Black Lives Matter movement - the idea that racism is wrong and that the lives of black people are important and precious in the eyes of God and should be in the eyes of man - 100%. I am suspicious of the organization. As I am all political organizations.

ETA I missed a softball on the "SM sites".
 
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As a nation we are in serious trouble. This at a time when we are so lacking for true leaders - of any party. Problems need their root cause to be solved in order to permanently correct. Racism does still exist in our country and is a cultural problem that needs to be corrected by all of US. The worst part? We are under a major, silent cyber attack by China and Russia, and this attack is widening our perceived differences on EVERY issue. Any way out will have to be orchestrated by "we the people".

Funny bit on that - was on Twitter and someone listed a bunch of episodes of police brutality and blamed Trump.

Half of them at least were from the Obama administration or earlier - probably more but I don't 100% remember the dates on some. Michael Brown (which was questionable anyway), Travon Martin, Philandro Castile, etc.

I'm no Trump lover but for God's sake.......

But this was just one idiot on Twitter.
 
We Black people have constantly given room to honor your white fallen of America (whom we are apart of), your white dead in 9/11 (whom we are apart of), as well as your white people who are struggling with Breast Cancer (whom we are apart of).

Ok. He lost me here. I had no idea these things were about color.
 
This isn't rocket science although for some it may seem so.

I do NOT and I repeat do NOT have to support the Marxist BLM organization who just finished burning down the entire country and supports looting to express my support for Black Lives.
 

Dear White Clemson Fan.

As a former Clemson student athlete, the comments I see made on something as simple as a Black Lives Matter sticker on the helmets are atrocious, and not to mention, incredibly racist. It's so interesting that so many of you want Black bodies to perform well for you—as one white Clemson fan recently put it, Saturday is my time—but when it comes to those Black bodies standing in solidarity with other Black bodies, then somehow it's a distraction.

For some reason many of you don't have a problem with young Black athletes using their platforms for Military appreciation game or Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I'm trying to put my finger on what the problem is. Hmmm. It is not the platforms you don’t like. I think I can assume many of you praised Tim Tebow who kneeled in prayer or Jonathan Isaac who didn't kneel when others did. But you don't like them using their platforms, that they earned, to fight for Black lives as a way of telling our story, remembering our lynched, and holding both America, its people and our university accountable. Our bodies forcing you to see the ways in which our Black bodies have been forgotten, marginalized, abused, and oppressed, both on and off the field. In the classroom and in the community.

It's one thing to be ignorant, it's another thing to be arrogant, and it's quite another thing to be both at the same time.

We have loved both a country and people who have not loved us back. In case you didn't know, there are many Black alumni, Black taxpayers, and Black donors who too have made both America and Clemson what white people imagined as “great”. So that means it also belong to us, who are fighting for our lives, our children, and students who look just like us. We Black people have constantly given room to honor your white fallen of America (whom we are apart of), your white dead in 9/11 (whom we are apart of), as well as your white people who are struggling with Breast Cancer (whom we are apart of). We have helped shine light on your struggles, rightfully so, even at the expense of people remembering us. We have stood in solidarity with you publicly to give them room in hopes that room could be given to us as your fellow American and fellow Christian. You know #NeverForget….unless we’re talking about slavery, Jim Crow, white supremacy, or any other topic about Black lives that don't center white people or make white people comfortable.

It just may not be the game-day platform that you have a problem with but what they are using it for: to stand in solidarity with Black lives, to tell the truth about our country, your place in it, and to work for a more democratic future that believes Black lives are worthy of equality, freedom, and justice. “It is certain, in any case,” the essayist James Baldwin wrote, “that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.” Baldwin is right. He speaks of what many Black bodies are experiencing of the white Clemson fan today.

The question is: If indeed game-day belongs to everyone, which I believe, did you even for a second think that "everyone" includes us Black people? What about Clemson University? Our ancestors bodies are buried right next to the field our Black bodies perform so well on. It is ours as well. What about this country? Our bodies have paid the ultimate price. This country, America, it too is ours. You can't say you love us and be okay with what our history has meant to us. You can’t be okay with what continues to happen to people who look like us. You can’t just be okay with us running plays right on the field at Clemson but don’t believe us when we tell the truth on the field of America. Yet, far too many of you are okay with the way things are, far too many of you are okay with apathy, far too many of you are okay with a narrow idea of who "everyone" is, who “we the people” are, and who the Tiger Paw belongs to. But then again, such forgetfulness, such apathy, such hostility, makes you American, very American.

Americans, particularly white Americans, have always had a problem with Black bodies being free bodies. It is Black people who have had to fight for our bodies to be loved and remembered. Quick history lesson: the Black body in America, especially on the sports stage, has always been political. From the beginnings of Jack Johnson’s sturdy Black body taking the white world by storm in the boxing ring, Muhammed Ali refusing to fight in what he called the white man’s war, or even one of our own beloved defensive backs, Marion Reeves, who turned the white Tiger Paw black by becoming the first Black athlete to play on the field in 1971. Meaning wherever we went, we have always been a mirror for you to see both the worst and the best of America. We have been met with insults, beatings, blaming, policy to keep us out, punishments, and all the more, yet we still show up because this country and these sports are ours as well.

So I suggest, the white Clemson fan going on their loud-and-racist-and-dumb rant, sit this one out, enjoy the tailgate, beer, and sing with us, "God bless the America that will love Black people and display the worth of Black life." Where the blue hills yawns its greatness, Black bodies are there, alive, beautiful, and saying with a loud voice: Black Lives Matter! Screaming loud for all who can’t breathe, run, sleep in their beds with loved ones, pray, march, drive, walk, play with toys, save the day, and just simply live. Whatever change has been made, both at Clemson and in America, it is not because both have been so good, but that we refused to shut up and just play ball.

Our Black bodies that run fast, jump high, and give many of you white Clemson fans stories to talk about with your families and friends, are the same Black bodies that matter when we tell the truth of America and what needs to change.

Black Lives Matter! Go Tigers!

This isn't rocket science although for some it may seem so.

I do NOT and I repeat do NOT have to support the Marxist BLM organization who just finished burning down the entire country and supports looting to express my support for Black Lives.
 
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