Re: TNET: Sunday Teleconference: Swinney brags on freshmen, comments on helmet stickers

All of us believe All lives Matter and the statement Black lives Matter, White lives matter and Purple lives Matter.

Most of us understand Black lives Matter organization is very political and involved in protests, riots etc. and we believe Clemson shouldn’t stand for them or Make America Great Again because we have people on both sides.

Let’s remember that these kids brains haven’t formed fully yet and they have all experienced different situations in their life that influenced them good and bad. Many of us had different values when we were their age, I wasn’t as mature as all of our players. The structure they have I could have done but I was looking how to get through class so I could go party & be with another girl etc. I wore T-shirts that said “where’s the beef” and “no muff to tuff”.

I smoked a little wacky weed and the last thing on my mind was politics. If their was pressure toward politics I wouldn’t have went against the grain with others but I did vote once I was 18 the way I thought was right.(not right or left)

We need to be patient with these kids, they are way ahead of where I was. I was blessed I retained classroom information and had enough drive to study when I had to but most of the time my little brain was leading me to the next girl or that’s what drove my decisions.

Dabo will lead these kids and challenge them to think for themselves knowing they will mature and start making wise political decisions later.

When your their age you think you know it all, can do it all and your invincible. We shouldn’t expect them to be there yet, we need to love them along the way.

Regardless of your beliefs I love you, It would be nice if we could all learn from this and keep politics on the politics and religion board. My Dad always said to me politics are best kept to yourself because love overcomes all. He was a minister so talking about Jesus was always ok, Dad you need to post on the politics & Religion board....lol

TigerJB3®

CU Guru [1545]

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Posts: 268

Joined: 2011

Sep 14, 2020, 8:49 AM

It has been really amazing to see the reaction of people to a tiny sticker that even on a 75 inch TV was hard to see.

There is racial injustice in the country, and there always has been. The fact that these student-athletes are being ridiculed for standing up for a cause, for wanting equality, for wanting their race to be recognized as equal, for wishing that their voices be heard, proves just how much injustice and racism this country holds.

Black Lives Matter stickers are not anything to do with a "Marxist" movement or group... it's a statement, more adequately described, it is a plea for help, in stopping the systemic racism this country has been in the grips of for almost its entire history. I've heard people say to keep the politics out of sports and just play, but that's the problem, equality is not and will never be politics. It's a human right. This is a human rights issue, and to stand on any side of that issue that doesn't align with justice and equality for all is inherently a racist stance. Just my opinion. To pretend that racism isn't an issue, yet be able to peruse message boards and read the literal racist sentiments that fans have posted, or watch the graphic videos of police brutality, or racist brutality, or just look at our history as a country and it's efforts over hundreds of years to put laws in action to suppress the lives of African Americans, well, that does actually make you racist, even if just innocently ignorant to these facts. The facts are that people are pleading for equality and doing so from a position that as a white person, you could never understand.

You don't have to agree with looting and rioting, violence, etc to understand that Black Lives Matter. You wouldn't pay all that money for Clemson gear, tickets, travel, to watch a majority of black student-athletes play sports if they didn't matter. When you try to minimize their voice or dictate what feelings they are allowed to convey, that's called oppression, and that's literally why they feel the need to put stickers on their helmets calling for equality, and ending racism, and pleading for people to recognize the worth of an African American life as equal to that of white life.

I'm so proud of my university for standing up to racism and allowing the students' voices to be heard. I'm so proud to have the coach who has been praised for trying to raise great young men, continuing to do so, even in the face of criticism and backlash.

Thank you Clemson, and thank you Dabo, and thank you to all of the athletes who are actively trying to make the world a better place by continuing to open up the narrative about equality in this country.

Message was edited by: TigerJB3®

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"There's something in these hills and I suspect that's what it is - the ability of an institution through the unending dedication and greatness of its people - its administration, its faculty, its staff, its students and alumni - to impart to all it touches a respect, an admiration, an affection that stands firm in disquieting times when things around it give impressions of coming unglued." - Joe Sherman '34

TNET: Sunday Teleconference: Swinney brags on freshmen, comments on helmet stickers