Hawkeyes Past, Present, Future Share Feelings on Racial Injustice

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Again, not saying I necessarily agree with it, but the folks out there protesting do. I'd rather have mild disruption to industries that socialize the costs of their business using interstates while privatizing the profits than people getting tear gassed and flashbanged.

Truckers pay a huge amount of gas taxes, which fund roads. Do you want to raise those taxes on diesel? At the end of the day, yes, the trucker uses the road, but it is to move stuff for all of us. No truckers, no chicken tendies at Costco. And again, trucking is an ungodly low margin business.

These people are turning America into a college campus of disparate grievances and I don't care if they want to protest, but they really cannot be allowed to interfere with the interstates. If you are only allotted a set number of hours per day that you can be on the road, getting stopped for a couple hours is a huge deal. Truckers aren't millionaires sitting high in an office tower lighting cigars with hundred dollar bills. The millionaire guy is wholly unaffected by it. It's that poor bastard sitting in the cab burning gas without moving and running down the clock on a shipment that has to be somewhere at a certain time that suffers and he's the one who gets dinged when the load is late. With just in time supply chains being the norm, this goes well beyond just a "mild disruption" if it is allowed to continue (and happens widely across the nation). It's just a really bad idea if this tactic is used on interstates.
 
I'll be interested to see over the coming weeks and months what changes that are made to allow citizens more of a direct say or a direct oversight of the very police who are sworn to protect them.

Very little will change other than guys taking early retirement once they vest in the pension and the caliber of individuals signing up to be police officers dropping. There will be another unarmed man shot by the police that will cause another round of riots. The standard of "perfection" that people seem to want is unattainable.
 
Very little will change other than guys taking early retirement once they vest in the pension and the caliber of individuals signing up to be police officers dropping. There will be another unarmed man shot by the police that will cause another round of riots. The standard of "perfection" that people seem to want is unattainable.

Perfection is unattainable, absolutely. We're a world of broken human beings.

But I don't think it's too much to ask to have our police force be more accountable than they are. To treat people as human beings instead of enemies on the battlefield. To make more of an effort to be part of the community than acting as if they are above the community.

We've always tried to tell ourselves that the next step was too much....whether it be slavery, Jim Crow, school integration, interracial marriage, etc, etc. But we've proven that, as Americans, we really are trying to strive for "that more perfect union".
 
I don't know who Stephen B is but if what he said is true then it's a very poor look by Chris Doyle.
Rob also Retweeted Jaleel Johnson's reply about Doyle saying he couldn't afford golf clubs... I don't see how that could be perceived to have any racial undertones whatsoever. These conversations are important to be had, and to bring some stuff to light (like the #MeToo movement did) but it has also turned into a competition of everyone trying to 'out woke' each other.
 
Truckers pay a huge amount of gas taxes, which fund roads. Do you want to raise those taxes on diesel? At the end of the day, yes, the trucker uses the road, but it is to move stuff for all of us. No truckers, no chicken tendies at Costco. And again, trucking is an ungodly low margin business.

These people are turning America into a college campus of disparate grievances and I don't care if they want to protest, but they really cannot be allowed to interfere with the interstates. If you are only allotted a set number of hours per day that you can be on the road, getting stopped for a couple hours is a huge deal. Truckers aren't millionaires sitting high in an office tower lighting cigars with hundred dollar bills. The millionaire guy is wholly unaffected by it. It's that poor bastard sitting in the cab burning gas without moving and running down the clock on a shipment that has to be somewhere at a certain time that suffers and he's the one who gets dinged when the load is late. With just in time supply chains being the norm, this goes well beyond just a "mild disruption" if it is allowed to continue (and happens widely across the nation). It's just a really bad idea if this tactic is used on interstates.
I have several customers who are truckers, they do just fine. The system is broken for sure though, if uncontrollable circumstances arise as in this case or COVID, it's the workers who are punished. The millionaires and billionaires who employ them and "take all the risk" are "wholly unaffected by it". Good point.
 
Protect and serve.


I think what pisses me off the most about this is the fact that the officer pushes the other officer to keep walking when he slows down to assess the situation and they all just keep walking. I've got a number of friends in law enforcement and think highly of the profession in general, but WTF is wrong with this picture. You can't keep seeing stuff like this happen without getting pissed off.
 
I don't know who Stephen B is but if what he said is true then it's a very poor look by Chris Doyle.
Rob also Retweeted Jaleel Johnson's reply about Doyle saying he couldn't afford golf clubs... I don't see how that could be perceived to have any racial undertones whatsoever. These conversations are important to be had, and to bring some stuff to light (like the #MeToo movement did) but it has also turned into a competition of everyone trying to 'out woke' each other.

I've seen only 3 former black players coming out and criticizing the program. Given the fact that KF has coached probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 250-300 black players at Iowa, I'm not going to let what a couple say sway my opinion on the man or the program.
 
I think what pisses me off the most about this is the fact that the officer pushes the other officer to keep walking when he slows down to assess the situation and they all just keep walking. I've got a number of friends in law enforcement and think highly of the profession in general, but WTF is wrong with this picture. You can't keep seeing stuff like this happen without getting pissed off.
Yeah you can see the officer that pushed him down immediately regrets it and wants to check on him but the one in charge pulls him off to focus on the imminent threat, the single protester with the BLM sign and arresting the reporter who filmed it.
 
Yeah you can see the officer that pushed him down immediately regrets it and wants to check on him but the one in charge pulls him off to focus on the imminent threat, the single protester with the BLM sign and arresting the reporter who filmed it.

When I watch it, I truly get the feeling that there was absolutely no intent by the officer to cause him to fall. The fact that the officer paused showed IMO that he immediately regretted the fact the man got hurt, but at the end of the day, every officer that was there and looked the other way and did nothing failed the badge and ideology that they swore to uphold and protect. I get the fact that everything they do is under a microscope and that they're under a great deal of stress, but at the end of the day they're still people. I just don't see how they can sleep at night thinking that's ok.
 
I've seen only 3 former black players coming out and criticizing the program. Given the fact that KF has coached probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 250-300 black players at Iowa, I'm not going to let what a couple say sway my opinion on the man or the program.

The complaints against Sandusky also just started with a few people.

Just so every knows, busting someone's balls is now totally off limits. Telling a college kid he is poor is verboten. Remember those HR videos from the '90's where the doofus white guy engaged in 12 acts of sexual harassment and told 6 horribly racist jokes? That guy is now you every time you open your mouth.
 
When I watch it, I truly get the feeling that there was absolutely no intent by the officer to cause him to fall. The fact that the officer paused showed IMO that he immediately regretted the fact the man got hurt, but at the end of the day, every officer that was there and looked the other way and did nothing failed the badge and ideology that they swore to uphold and protect. I get the fact that everything they do is under a microscope and that they're under a great deal of stress, but at the end of the day they're still people. I just don't see how they can sleep at night thinking that's ok.
Yeah there were at least 20 officers in the immediate area, 2 of them could have attended to him while the other 18 swarmed the protester. Just sickening.
 
Coaches, first and foremost, are mentors and teachers as well as professionals. Regardless of whatever context he was going for, or pathetic attempt at motivating someone he crossed the line. He may be a quality guy off the field and a great coach, but he's responsible for everything that comes out of his mouth and how it could be perceived. Maybe I'm just overly sensitive because I coach varsity as well as youth sports, but there's absolutely no situation in which I can come up with in which it's even remotely acceptable to even joke about one of your players gangbanging in the off season.
 
When I watch it, I truly get the feeling that there was absolutely no intent by the officer to cause him to fall. The fact that the officer paused showed IMO that he immediately regretted the fact the man got hurt, but at the end of the day, every officer that was there and looked the other way and did nothing failed the badge and ideology that they swore to uphold and protect. I get the fact that everything they do is under a microscope and that they're under a great deal of stress, but at the end of the day they're still people. I just don't see how they can sleep at night thinking that's ok.
Lol it gets worse apparently -

https://theintercept.com/2020/06/05...und-tripped-fell-video-shows-lied/?comments=1

"Although the incident took place outside Buffalo’s City Hall, in daylight and in full view of witnesses, including at least five journalists, the Buffalo Police Department initially said in a statement that, during a “skirmish involving protestors, one person was injured when he tripped & fell.”
 
Nobody asked :), but my own two cents:

*though my family was on welfare when I was young, I do have some level of privilege because I am white. I just do. I am not sure how anybody could deny that some sort of white privilege exists, but everybody gets to have an opinion. From friends and family members that are people of color, I know of enough stories to know I am treated differently than they are in so many ways that have nothing to do with merit.

*my great grandmother came over from Ireland in 1900, after slavery was abolished. While I don't feel personal guilt (and I don't know how anybody could have personal guilt for something that happened 150 years ago), I do think it is possible to feel sympathy that African Americans were predominantly slaves for a couple hundred plus years here. I don't agree that I should feel guilt (I personally had nothing to do with it), but I do feel crappy that this was part of the history of my country, and that leads to feelings of sympathy for people of color who have had much to overcome. It sucks for POC that they started behind the 8-ball and it has been hard to climb out.

*the overwhelming majority of cops are good people and not racist. Statistics show that cop/POC deaths and I would argue treatment (compare 1960s cops in the south, for example) have improved in the last 50-60 years. However, many people (perhaps aided by the media?) believe it is worse than it has ever been. But the bottom line: there is still room to grow, and even ONE racist cop means that work needs to be done and progress needs to be made. Until we have a police force where 100% of cops treat all colors the same, light needs to be shined on that.

*being a cop is a HARD, pressure-filled job. You go into situations where if you aren't completely alert, you could be killed. You may have a split second to defend yourself. Not everybody respects the challenging job cops have. Most genuinely want to serve and protect. Having said that, George Floyd's death was disgusting and sad. The officer(s) should be given the full force of the law. It's tragic that this happened and that the other officers didn't fix the situation.

*Rioting and looting is wrong and unlawful. I don't understand people exusing this behavior. I don't get it. I also don't get cities giving looters a free pass to do it again the next night by letting them out of prison as quickly as they are in some cities. (NY especially)

*Many issues of inequality have to do with white privilege, as already stated. However, there are things in the black community that also contribute to this. It frustrates me that anybody who mentions these things is criticised and even called racist. IT IS POSSIBLE TO BELIEVE WHITE PRIVILEGE EXISTS AND ALSO THAT THERE ARE THINGS THAT COULD BE CHANGED WITHIN THE BLACK COMMUNITY TO HELP BRIDGE THE GAP OF INQUALITY. I don't understand why both realities can't exist and why the racist word is immediately tossed out.

*these protests are important to raise awareness of some of the inequalities that exist. I fully support them. I don't support the violence towards officers, whites, or businesses as justified. It's not just antifa folks doing to damage. It's not just white supremacists. It's not just angry POC. It's all three, and none are right.

*I don't understand why both sides (R and DI) can't condemn the violence. Trump did a poor job of condemning white nationalists in Charlottesville a couple years ago. And very few black leaders have condemned the rioting and looting.

*I think the "woke mob" is dangerous and cancel culture is stupid. The New York Times apologizing for Cotton's Op-Ed is disturbing, and reinforces the notion that only one viewpoint is right and all others should be eliminated. We are getting farther and farther away from free speech, and it's scary.

*Lastly, thanks to Rob for opening up this discussion. I appreciate his passion for this.
 
What influence does Ferentz have with the Iowa City PD? They always were ego-tripping cowboys when I went to teh U back in the horse and buggy days, even to white boys, so what’s changed? Besides, do we really want a cozy relationship between the money-making programs and local cops like they do in Ames where the po-po look the other way when ISU “athletes” do something criminal? I’m not sure the anti-university, anti-sports blue hairs who run Iowa City’s government would allow that anyways.

What about Doyle? By nature S&C coaches are like drill sergeants, ragging on athletes when they slack off in order to make them better. They’re a dime a dozen in “boot camp” type fitness centers where they are pushing clients to achieve higher than what they think they can. I can see where some of those comments about golf clubs or gang banging might offend certain snowflakes on the team. My experience with some scholarship athletes in the 70s was that they could be lazy if you let them and needed a kick in the ass to get in or stay in shape.

Unless there’s more, I’m not sure Doyle is a problem.
 
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