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mia

(8,361 posts)
Mon Sep 14, 2020, 06:59 AM Sep 2020

Dear White Clemson Fan




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....

Black Lives Matter! Go Tigers!

SEPTEMBER 12, 2020

https://www.dantecstewart.com/blog/dear-white-clemson-fan


24 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Dear White Clemson Fan (Original Post) mia Sep 2020 OP
The racists LakeVermilion Sep 2020 #1
Wake up White America oswaldactedalone Sep 2020 #2
"... ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have." mia Sep 2020 #3
And the shattering of that myth Roc2020 Sep 2020 #8
That is brilliant. Freedomofspeech Sep 2020 #4
the real racist in chief is limbaugh, who has been doing for 30 years certainot Sep 2020 #19
No truer words have ever been spoken. Thank you, certainot! BComplex Sep 2020 #22
today the motherfucker blamed BLM protestors for shooting the cops, certainot Sep 2020 #24
Spot on rant! Duppers Sep 2020 #5
Some fans criticized Clemson's social justice helmet stickers. Dabo responds. mia Sep 2020 #6
K and R Ferrets are Cool Sep 2020 #7
K&R for visibility. nt tblue37 Sep 2020 #9
Dabo is one of those bible thumper Trumpers. Screw Clemson. Funtatlaguy Sep 2020 #10
Dabo supports Clemson's social justice helmet stickers. mia Sep 2020 #12
Because he'd get killed in recruiting otherwise. His heart is all Trump. Research it. Funtatlaguy Sep 2020 #13
Researched it and agree with you about the coach. mia Sep 2020 #15
Well said! ewagner Sep 2020 #11
Great letter malaise Sep 2020 #14
clemson broadcasts on 2 racist limbaugh stations. so while certainot Sep 2020 #16
+1000 mountain grammy Sep 2020 #18
I am also a former Clemson football player. spike jones Sep 2020 #17
Too many Americans require someone to look down on and hate dlk Sep 2020 #20
A Change is Gonna Come. mia Sep 2020 #21
Yes dlk Sep 2020 #23

LakeVermilion

(1,041 posts)
1. The racists
Mon Sep 14, 2020, 07:11 AM
Sep 2020

are certainly a selfish bunch.

President Lyndon B. Johnson once said, "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

mia

(8,361 posts)
3. "... ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have."
Mon Sep 14, 2020, 07:24 AM
Sep 2020
...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....

https://www.dantecstewart.com/blog/dear-white-clemson-fan

Freedomofspeech

(4,225 posts)
4. That is brilliant.
Mon Sep 14, 2020, 07:48 AM
Sep 2020

I am so sick of these racists and now they are loud and proud thanks to the racist in chief.

 

certainot

(9,090 posts)
19. the real racist in chief is limbaugh, who has been doing for 30 years
Mon Sep 14, 2020, 10:01 AM
Sep 2020

they turned 100s of radio stations into KKK stations and hundreds of them depend on college and pro athletes and schools like clemson to keep broadcasting sports on them!
(87 unis that broadcast on 260 limbaugh stations)

many or most limbaugh stations would have to dump him and their other racist blowhards - hannity, levin, savage, beck etc - if those schools and pro teams forced management to look for non-racist radio stations. those stations are basically modern KKK.

and it wouldn't take many to start a cascade.

BComplex

(8,053 posts)
22. No truer words have ever been spoken. Thank you, certainot!
Mon Sep 14, 2020, 12:22 PM
Sep 2020

It's the absolute truth. And it has enabled the nazis.

mia

(8,361 posts)
6. Some fans criticized Clemson's social justice helmet stickers. Dabo responds.
Mon Sep 14, 2020, 08:39 AM
Sep 2020
Prior to Clemson’s season opener Saturday night at Wake Forest, the Clemson football Twitter account revealed that players would wear helmet stickers with different social justice messages on them against the Demon Deacons.

Clemson posted pictures of four helmets. Three of them had individual phrases — “LOVE,” “EQUALITY” and “BLACK LIVES MATTER.” The final helmet had several phrases, including “BLACK LIVES MATTER” and “PUT A STOP TO RACISM.”

“I support my guys,” Swinney said. “Not everybody’s going to think the same. And that’s never going to be the case. But these are young people that have been challenged with a lot of things. They’re developing young people. They came up with several different things. They got together as a team on what they wanted to do, just like all the teams are doing. I support them in all that they’re dealing with and trying to figure out and trying to navigate at this time.”

“Nobody’s going to ever fully agree on certain things. But hopefully people can respect our young men and what they believe in and what their different causes are that they want to bring awareness to or support or whatever that may be, through whatever platforms that have been made available to them,” Swinney said.


https://www.thestate.com/sports/college/acc/clemson-university/article245710220.html

mia

(8,361 posts)
12. Dabo supports Clemson's social justice helmet stickers.
Mon Sep 14, 2020, 09:08 AM
Sep 2020
“I support my guys,” Swinney said. “Not everybody’s going to think the same. And that’s never going to be the case. But these are young people that have been challenged with a lot of things. They’re developing young people. They came up with several different things. They got together as a team on what they wanted to do, just like all the teams are doing. I support them in all that they’re dealing with and trying to figure out and trying to navigate at this time.”

https://www.thestate.com/sports/college/acc/clemson-university/article245710220.html

mia

(8,361 posts)
15. Researched it and agree with you about the coach.
Mon Sep 14, 2020, 09:37 AM
Sep 2020

I hope you got a chance to read what Dante Stewart wrote. My sister was one of his professors at Clemson. She passed his story to me. Today he's coming back to campus as a guest speaker.

 

certainot

(9,090 posts)
16. clemson broadcasts on 2 racist limbaugh stations. so while
Mon Sep 14, 2020, 09:40 AM
Sep 2020

the athletes take aa stand the school supports 2 stations that constantly excuse racism and deny systemic racism. all limbaugh stations are pro trump and were used to call mike brown and trayvon martin thugs, excuse their murderers, and taint jury pools.

limbaugh was the one, not trump, who got colin kaepernick blacklisted, making sure team management knew all his dittoheads were going to go after any team that hired him.

a couple of weeks ago limbaugh claimed biden was trying to "foment a race war" and then the next day claimed BLM protestors "executed a trump supporter" and "cheered and danced"

of the 18 NBA teams that started in the bubble 13 support 32 racist trump republican talk radio stations and 16 of those headline limbaugh

all those stations have been attacking immigrants for at least 20 years to help republicans pass voter suppression legislation

clemson is one of 87 major unis that broadcast on 260 limbaugh stations and if one started looking for non racist alternatives many others would follow. advertisers would head for the hills on all republican talk radio stations and the biggest propaganda operation in US history would fall apart

spike jones

(1,679 posts)
17. I am also a former Clemson football player.
Mon Sep 14, 2020, 09:49 AM
Sep 2020

At Clemson University in South Carolina, a main administration building is named after Ben “Pitchfork” Tillman who said this: “We have done our level best [to prevent blacks from voting]...we have scratched our heads to find out how we could eliminate the last one of them. We stuffed ballot boxes. We shot them. We are not ashamed of it.” A few years ago, a group tried to get the name changed, but failed.

Regarding military appreciation day at the football game. Several years ago, during the ceremony of the people joining the military at the part where they swear to obey the president of the US, the Clemson fans in the stadium booed because the POTUS was Obama.

Also a few years ago the student VP, a black guy, was impeached because he refused to stand for the national anthem.

I am also a former Clemson football player (1963-1965). I got kicked off the team because of my long hair, if you can believe that in light of today’s team. When Clemson won a national championship and was fed hamburgers at the Whitehouse by Trump, it was funny because when I was there many of the other students referred to the football players as hamburgers.

dlk

(11,566 posts)
20. Too many Americans require someone to look down on and hate
Mon Sep 14, 2020, 10:04 AM
Sep 2020

Last edited Mon Sep 14, 2020, 10:47 AM - Edit history (1)

The very fact some are responding in this hostile manner demonstrates facing the truth makes them uncomfortable and makes living in their fictional world more difficult. We must continue to challenge them or nothing changes.

mia

(8,361 posts)
21. A Change is Gonna Come.
Mon Sep 14, 2020, 11:50 AM
Sep 2020



A Change is Gonna Come

I was born by the river in a little tent
Oh, and just like the river I've been running ever since
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gon' come, oh yes it will

It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die
'Cause I don't know what's up there beyond the sky
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gon' come, oh yes it will

I go to the movie and I go down town
Somebody keep telling me don't hang around
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gon' come, oh yes it will

Then I go to my brother
And I say, "Brother, help me please."
But he winds up knockin' me
Back down on my knees

There been times that I thought I couldn't last for long
But now I think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gon' come, oh yes it will
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