fro is woke
fro is woke
Ugh. Stupid people piss me off.
I am not sure that Slim Pickens believed that all lives mattered equally....
Dum Spiro Spero
And here we go...
Former Alabama gymnast says assistant coach made racist comment
Updated 1:14 PM; Today 1:05 PM
Former Alabama gymnast Tia Kiaku in a social media post Tuesday evening accused one of the Crimson Tide’s assistant coaches of making a racist comment toward her and two other African-American teammates.
Kiaku, who indicated she decided to leave the program because of the incident, said the school conducted a Title IX investigation and deemed the comment a “bad joke," according to Kiaku.
Kiaku did not identify the assistant coach in the post. Alabama’s gymnastics staff is led by head coach Dana Duckworth and since the 2019 season has included assistants Bill Lorenz and Ryan Roberts. Kiaku said on Twitter that the assistant coach who made the comment is still involved with the program.
“We are limited by law on what we can speak about regarding equal opportunity matters, however we can elaborate on what steps were taken," Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne said in a statement released to AL.com on Wednesday. "When the complaint was received, it was immediately reported to the Office of Equal Opportunity and Title IX Programs on campus as well as the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. From there, an investigation, completely separate from athletics, took place. Once the Office of Equal Opportunity and Title IX Programs gathered all of the facts, an outcome was determined, reported back and action steps were taken. We are a department that is committed to providing a just and inclusive community for all of our student-athletes, coaches and staff, operating with integrity and respect.”
Kiaku, a North Carolina native, transferred to Alabama for the 2019 season after spending her freshman year at Ball State University.
Her social media posts Tuesday did not specify when the assistant coach made the comment or when she left the program. She was listed on the Tide’s online roster as recently as early January but was not listed in the program’s 2020 media guide. Alabama began its gymnastics schedule January 10.
Here is the text of Kiaku’s Instagram post in its entirety:
"Do we stand together? Why not use this opportunity to be transparent? I would be remiss if I didn’t take the opportunity to address a very disturbing and grave incident that occurred last year while I was on the Gymnastics team at the University of Alabama. During a practice, only the three African American girls (including myself) just happened to be on vault drills together. While practicing, one of the black gymnasts said “look all the black girls are all on the same event” responding to the statement, the Assistant Coach walked over and said “What is this, the back of the bus?”.
"Something that seems like a very inappropriate (racist) statement to me was just deemed as a very bad joke by Alabama! That doesn’t seem to be a joke that’s appropriate, especially in a professional team setting. I have seen a myriad of news stories of Coaches saying inappropriate/racist statements such as this who are no longer in a leadership position. Additionally, words such as “*****” (whether one thinks it’s funny or not), implicit biases, stereotyping, grouping terminology, and statements with underlying racism should NOT be tolerated from anyone. In fact, it should be unacceptable across the board!
"If #WeStandTogether, let’s truly stand together and address inappropriate issues that are happening inside programs like the University of Alabama. It is very unfair to isolate or exclude athletes because they take a stand! After much consideration, a lot of thought, lots of crying and even some tough/hard discussions with the Head Coach and some of my team mates, I decided to walk away from the team and the University. It has been hard.
“So what I will say is.....if the University, the Director of Athletics and Alabama’s Gymnastics program wants to take a stance on diversity and racism, they need to be transparent. These injustices are happing right in the middle of Alabama’s gymnastics team and they did very little about it. So how are we standing together? It’s so disheartening to know that there will be other black woman, like myself, to walk through Alabama’s doors and they pose the risk of going through the same things I went through!..."
On Twitter later Tuesday, Kiaku shared a text conversation with teammates in which one, whose name was redacted, wrote “I’m tired of literally feeling like the back of the bus ya feel me."
The school released a statement Wednesday attributed to “Alabama gymnasts” in response.
“We can think of no better term to describe Alabama Gymnastics than, ‘One heart,'" the statement said. "This is a group of amazing individuals with varying backgrounds that come together to form an incredibly special team. We stand by each other, and we love each other. None of us are perfect. We’ve all made mistakes, and we continue to learn from each other every day. We support one another, from our teammates to our coaches to our support staff, and we are proud to be student-athletes at The University of Alabama.”
Kiaku also directed tweets at the gymnastics program and Byrne questioning them over the incident. Byrne was among Alabama leaders who issued statements earlier this week amid anti-racism protests in the country.
https://www.al.com/alabama/2020/06/f...t-comment.html
Justin Fields didn't have to sit out because a fan....yelled a racial slur.
Can you fire someone for using language that is commonly used on the same practice field by others? The courts can't uphold that.
The only way would be if the use of a certain word were to be banned for everyone involved. No hard A, Soft A, shortening, etc. Prohibited is prohibited. You use it, you are fired, kicked off the team, no second chances. You don't get to write it in a tweet, you don't get to play your favorite rapper who is saying it 30 times a song. You don't get to call your homies by it. You don't get to get mad and call a teammate the word. Prohibited.
If they fire that assistant coach, I have to believe that he is going to be a very wealthy man. What say the lawyers?
Papa John is eating at CiCi’s now, so.....
When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home. -Tecumseh-
If they can, then I feel like throwing up every time I see or hear Ray Tanner's name. I demand justice...
What we have gotten away from is the old saying I learned in the 70's.
Sticks and stone may break my bones but words will never hurt me.
Today it seems everyone is so concerned about hurting someone's feelings, having your feelings hurt because someone called you the opposite of honky, and you're a racist if you don't do this or if you so that.
The black community should also own it and stop with the Ninja name calling. Just cause you're black doesn't mean calling another person of color a ninja is ok.
This is what I read into coach Pearman was trying to relay to his players. Could me off base but doubtful.
Started yesterday looks like....daaaaaang
Put the bottle down, do it for your family.
The Truth shall set you free.
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