Last Vestige of Explicit Racism in Collegiate Sports: Message Board Bigots

December 18, 2014 By delgrecowilson in Uncategorized Leave a comment

Villanova Fan: These idiots would loot and burn sh!t up every day of the week if they could get away with it. Acting out of revenge for the shooting lets them do it for now….
11/25/2014

Villanova Fan: they have no pride in their neighborhoods. that is why inner cities look like they do. if they cared about Ferguson they would have protested peacefully and tried to honor the life of the dead. NAH lets burn our own city to the ground, that will solve everything.
11/25/2014

Villanova Fan: [Officer Darren] Wilson should get a medal. Who knows how many future murders he prevented.
11/27/2014

Temple Fan: North Philly should drop down on their knees and thank God every day for temple. without temple, North Philly would look like it does now west of 18th to 30th and east of 10th to the EL.”
10/27/2014

Temple Fan: [Temple University] should have moved out of the city years ago. Can’t educate a bunch of dumbasses.
10/27/2014

Temple Fan: I am originally from South Philly. Over the last 15 years the blacks forced me out. Guess we are even.
10/27/2014

Alabama Fan: I notice they name Pittsburgh as a prospective team” he wrote. “Pittsburgh has FOUR fine negro players. Other eastern teams have negro players. SO if anything did come-in the way of an invitation we want to be sure to insist that no negroes be allowed in the game. 11/17/1952

From the moment Europeans landed on the the North American continent in the early 1600’s, a majority of them expressed profound and deep-seated hatred of Black people. Over the next 350 years, it was socially acceptable, politically expedient and financially beneficial to express, and act upon, white supremacist and racist sentiments in virtually every area of American life. However, since the late 1960s and early 1970s overt racism has been steadily displaced by more subtly racialized narratives. This process is clearly observable in realm of collegiate and professional sports. In Philadelphia, college sports message boards have emerged as the last refuge for openly racist scoundrels.

Things have gotten better over the past 6o years or so… That fact is undeniable… White supremacist racists used to stand on front porches, in center square, on the steps of City Hall and courtyards of State Houses with megaphones in hand and, from the top of their lungs, call for the exclusion and repression of Black student-athletes.

Georgia Governor Marvin Griffin

On December 1, 1955 Georgia Governor Marvin Griffin threw down the gauntlet when he declared, “The South stands at Armageddon. The battle is joined. We cannot make the slightest concession to the enemy in this dark and lamentable hour of struggle. … One break in the dike and the relentless seas will rush in and destroy us.” Georgia’s governor, a self-avowed white supremacist, proposed to “forbid the athletic teams of the university system of Georgia from participating in games against any teams with Negro players or even playing in any stadium where unsegregated audiences breathe the same air.” Overt, explicitly racist sentiments and formal exclusion of Blacks from competition were rooted in prevailing notions of white supremacy and commonplace within collegiate sports from the turn of the century through the 1960s.

Of course, the north did not escape the scourge of race-based segregation on the courts and fields across college campuses. Philadelphia is a college hoops town. You are literally born into it. Just as the sons of the Confederacy are born into lifelong SEC football allegiances. In the City of Brotherly Love, college football, despite the valiant and long-standing efforts of Temple, Villanova and Penn, just doesn’t resonate. We just don’t care if these programs qualify for the Pat’s Cheesesteak or the Dwight’s Southern Barbecue Bowl games. Those with a passion for college football tend to adopt Penn State, Notre Dame or some other BCS proxy. For the most part, Philly prefers it’s football on Sundays, after several rounds of libations and we’d much rather watch guys that are paid millions collide headfirst into one another on the gridiron.

Big 5 Hoops, on the other hand, is always a major focal point for Philly sports fans. Indeed, many local hoop heads have begrudgingly accepted Drexel, led by Southwest Philly’s Bruiser Flint, as a member of what is now referred to the City 6. Over the past 60 years, Philadelphia’s Big 5, featuring LaSalle, Penn, Temple, Villanova and St. Joseph’s, has evolved into a highly competitive tradition unique to Philadelphia. Every year, for the past sixty years these schools have laced ‘em up and went toe to toe in hotly contested battles for pride and local bragging rights.

Officially introduced to the world on November 23, 1954, the Big 5 was, from the outset, deeply immersed in prevailing notions of white supremacy and the resulting racial discrimination was a prominent stain on Philadelphia’s college basketball culture. Nonetheless, it could have been much, much worse. It wasn’t like Alabama, Mississippi or Johannesburg.

At the dawn of the Big 5, Apartheid-like Jim Crow segregation reigned supreme across the American South. However, in the Northern and Western parts of the country there were a few limited opportunities for Blacks at some major predominantly white colleges and universities. At the professional level, African-American athletes were just beginning to gain access in the major sports. Overall, 167 years after the Founding Fathers set out “to form a more perfect union” White supremacy based racial discrimination was very real.

LaSalle University, 1954 NCAA Champions

The Philadelphia Big 5, like most U.S. institutions and organizations privileged white people over African-Americans, peoples from the Americas, Asia and the Arab world. Under the prevailing white supremacist system, white privilege and racial oppression were two sides of the same coin. This, unfortunately, was the American way.

For some, college basketball resides in realm of recreational activities and is generally considered to be far removed from real world issues and their often ugly consequences. Nonetheless, Big 5 basketball programs grew in popularity across racial and ethic boundaries in last half of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century. In some important ways, racial developments within Big 5 programs mirrored the altered rhythms of everyday life as Philadelphia grappled with vexing issues of racial inclusion and pronounced demographic shifts.

LaSalle University, 1955 National Finalist, 1st year of the Big 5

As Philadelphia’s social, racial and political order shifted and changed over time, explicit racism within Big 5 basketball waned. I have been privileged to gain insight into the racial dynamics of the Philadelphia basketball community from those who stood on the front line. Every November through March from 1979 til 1983, I spent at least 2-2.5 hours, six days a week, in the gym with Big 5 Hall of Fame member Alonzo Lewis. Pictured above, Alonzo was the only Black man on some of great LaSalle teams of the mid to late 1950s. He was one of the first Blacks to play in the Big 5. Mr. Lewis was my teacher, my coach and, became after graduation, my friend.

Unlike Philadelphia schoolboy legends, John Chaney and Claude Gross, who came along 3 and 4 years prior to him, Lewis was given an opportunity attend and play at one of the local white colleges. Chaney and Gross, despite the fact that both were named MVP of the Public league in 1951 and 1952, respectively, didn’t get a sniff from the Philly schools. They were victims of Affirmative Action and rigidly enforced racial quotas. Philadelphia college programs were either all-white or had maybe one Black player. Talented players like Chaney and Gross were routinely passed over in favor of lesser white players. Like the old American Express tagline, “Membership has its privileges.” Gross, along with the legendary Wilt Chamberlain, was an important part of the first all-Black YMCA national championship team in 1953 (pictured below).

The 1953 National YMCA Championship Team from Philadelphia

Years of listening, listening, listening and a little discussion with Lewis and Gross, has helped shape my understanding of the role of sport in Philadelphia’s racial relations. They provided two distinct perspectives, one “made it” to college and the other a victim of staunchly enforced racial quotas (90-100% white males). Form them, I learned that athletic achievement has very real social consequences. For a Black man, status as a star athlete provides a certain level of respect to which most Blacks, and other suppressed minority groups, aspired. Black athletes are considered, more or less, full citizens. This understanding of citizenship helps explain why so many Black parents continue to have faith in the transformative possibilities of athletics, despite numerous setbacks over the years. Through basketball, Black boys can become somebody.

For the past three or four decades watching increasingly integrated Philadelphia college basketball… in reading the accounts of Dick Weiss, Bill Lyon, Dick Jerardi and the under-appreciated Donald Hunt about the games… and in discussing the performances of Gola, Rodgers, Kennedy, Anderson, Goukas, Durrett, Brooks, Simmons, Macon, Nelson, Lowry, Galloway and Wyatt afterward, Philly sports fan drew tremendous entertainment value from Big 5 competition.

Of even more significance is the fact that Philly sports fans of all races and ethnic backgrounds have also used local college basketball as a shared cultural language to help them understand their world.

This was not always the case.

Temple University, 1938 NIT Champions

Over time, Philadelphia’s Big 5 has been an agent for positive social change. Over time, playing field has become fairer. . . the Big 5 has helped break down social divisions and boundaries.

Over the past six decades things have changed considerably. As you can see on the above picture, Temple has gone from an all-white basketball program to virtually all-black.

Over the past half century, while the rosters of college football and basketball programs experienced profound demographic shifts, the frequency and intensity of overt racism in most public spaces has decreased significantly.

Some shit you just can’t say publicly anymore. Despite the hue and cry from critics of political correctness, that’s a good thing. White supremacy needed to be reigned in.

In 1958, defeated Alabama gubernatorial candidate said, “You know, I tried to talk about good roads and good schools and all these things that have been part of my career, and nobody listened. And then I began talking about niggers, and they stomped the floor.” Four years later, Wallace was sworn into office while standing on a gold star marking the spot where, a century earlier, Jefferson Davis took his oath as president of the pro-slavery Confederate States of America. During his inaugural address, Wallace proclaimed the following:

“In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.”

Governor Wallace proved to be an extremely astute observer of white American voters during this period. Keeping his promise to “never be outniggered again”, he swept into office with 96% of the vote in the 1962 general election.

Since then, things have changed considerably. Retribution for openly racist public statement is swift and harsh. This is especially the case in the world of college and professional football and basketball where the overwhelming majority of participants are Black men.

A litany of cases have established a very clear precedent. Keep that white supremacist racist shit to yourself. The general public doesn’t want to hear or read it.

Howard Cosell

In 1983, legendary sportscaster Howard Cosell was dismissed from Monday Night Football for referring to Black players as “monkeys”. Referring to Redskins receiver, Alvin Garrett, Cossell said “That little monkey gets loose, doesn’t he?” He used also used the same monkey allusion when he said “Look at that monkey go,” with respect to the Washington Redskins wide receiver Art Monk.

Al Campanis

In April 1987, Dodgers executive Al Campanis was fired for telling Ted Koppel that he thought blacks “may not have some of the necessities to be a field manager or general manager” in baseball and articulating doubts as to whether blacks even desired management positions in the sport.

Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder

Eight months later on January 16, 1988, Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder was fired by CBS for publicly stating that Blacks were naturally superior athletes, at least in part, because they had been bred to produce strong children during slavery:

“The black is a better athlete to begin with because he’s been bred to be that way, because of his high thighs and big thighs that goes up into his back, and they can jump higher and run faster because of their bigger thighs and he’s bred to be the better athlete because this goes back all the way to the Civil War when during the slave trade… the slave owner would breed his big black to his big woman so that he could have a big black kid …”

Marge Schott

In November 1992, Charles “Cal” Levy, a former marketing director for the Reds, stated under oath that he’d heard then Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott refer to then-Reds outfielders Eric Davis and Dave Parker as “million-dollar niggers.” Schott scknowledged the “million dollar niggers” comment and said she was joking. Around the same time she stated that she felt that Adolf Hitler was initially good for Germany and indicated that she did not understand how the slur “Jap” could be offensive.

During the same season, a former executive assistant with the Oakland A’s, Sharon Jones, said she heard Schott state: “I would never hire another nigger. I’d rather have a trained monkey working for me than a nigger,” before the start of an owners’ conference call. On February 3, 1993, she was fined $250,000 and banned from day-to-day operations of the Reds for the 1993 season. Donald Sterling

More recently, in April 2014, then Clippers owner Donald Sterling was banned from the NBA for life and fined $2.5 million by the league after private recordings of him making racist comments were made public. Sterling was forced to sell the franchise after recording were made public in which he stated to his girlfriend, “It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people”, and, “You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want”, but “the little I ask you is … not to bring them to my games”.

Danny Ferry

In September 2014, it came to light that Atlanta Hawks General Manager Danny Ferry described Luol Deng in the following manner: “He has a little African in him. Not in a bad way, but he’s like a guy who would have a nice store out front but sell you counterfeit stuff out of the back.” Ferry implied that all persons of African decent are two-faced liars and cheats. He was placed on an indefinite leave of absence by the Hawk organization.

Clearly, social norms have emerged whereby it is inappropriate to make explicitly racist statements within sports centered contexts. The aforementioned racist statements and the swift severe consequences are indicative of informal understandings that have emerged to govern individuals’ behavior within the world of sports.

However, norms running counter to the behaviors of the larger American society are still being transmitted and maintained within small subgroups of message board participants. More specifically, within the Philadelphia college basketball community, the internet appears to be an exception where explicit racism continues to proliferate. Online message boards dedicated to Philadelphia collegiate programs are sites where groups dominated by white male users discuss the performances and lives of young, primarily Black student-athletes.

These postings of these “fans” run counter to the progress Philadelphia’s colleges and universities have made in the area of inclusion and diversity, especially in athletics. Jay Wright, Fran Dunphy, Phil Martelli, John Giannini, Jerome Allen and Bruiser Flint run programs that are beyond reproach in this regard. Each program prominently features Black players on a regular basis. These young men are often touted as the face of the Athletic programs and in some cases become representatives of the institution as a whole.

The overwhelming majority of fans support and embrace the players as Owls, Explorers, Hawks, Quakers, Wildcats and Dragons. Nonetheless, there remain a few holdovers from a much darker earlier time in American history. For the pointed white hood is no longer needed to preserve anonymity. The most vile posters use pseudonyms to protect their anonymity.

So what can be done?

The prominence of racist discourse on Temple and Villanova fan message boards suggests that this is unlikely to change for the foreseeable future. Therefore, the athletic departments need to engage with football and basketball supporters and work with them to reduce an anachronistic anti-other that retains a place in the everyday discourse for some of the alums and supporters. Cultivating a respectful and tolerant attitude toward Blacks and Black communities will likely present a challenge when confronted by subgroups of racist white male sports fans that continue to find outlets to express racist discourse overtly and covertly.

Some might feel that such an approach is an encroachment upon the free speech of racists. So what, let them continue their mean spirited divisive rants against Black athletes and Black communities. What’s the worse thing that could happen?

Well… we don’t have to imagine. We can just take a quick stroll through the not-to-distant past….

Patrick Ewing, Georgetown

In January 1983 at the Palestra, Villanova fans held up several similar signs. One bedsheet read “[Patrick] Ewing Is An Ape.” One Villanova fan wore a t-shirt that read, “Ewing Kant Read Dis.” While Ewing jogged on the court for pregame introductions, another Villanova fan threw a banana peel on the court. That’s where this kinda shit ends up. It needs to cease.

How should Black collegiate and professional athletes respond to racial taunts and epithets?

I’m not saying they should go all Ron Artest on ’em… But, I would understand.

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So, when did you fall in love with the Big 5? Alton McCoullough to Temple, 1978!!

December 15, 2014 By delgrecowilson in Uncategorized Tags: AAC, African-Americans, Big 5, College Basketball, Grassroots Basketball, Jim Crow, Philadelphia basketball, Philly Hoops, Temple Basketball Leave a comment

Guy Rodgers (center), Naismith Hall of Famer

For me it was 1978. College wasn’t the norm around my way. I grew up in the southern section of Darby Township, PA a small rigidly segregated town bordering Southwest Philadelphia, about 2 miles from the Philadelphia Airport. In the mid to to late 1970s, the southern end of Darby Township consisted of a cemetery, three traffic lights, Eddie’s Hot Dog stand, about 7 or 8 churches, 2 bars and a populations of around 3,000 sports crazed Black people. Demographically similar to nearby Philadelphia and Chester, PA with an Apartheid-like political and social structure straight out 1960‘s small-town Mississippi, Darby Township was a wonderful place to grow up if you enjoyed sports. For most, however, the athletic journey ended with high school.

Looking back, it seems we punished opponents on fields and courts, at least in part, because we exercised very little political, economic and social power in Delaware County. The Northern, predominantly white, section of Darby Township held, and continues to hold, political power through a permanent 3 (white) -2 (Black) representative structure on the Township Commission. The political deck was and is stacked against Blacks in the southern end of Darby Township. However, within the athletic realm, more or less, the playing field was fair.

In September 1977, I was 12 and like virtually every one of the other 200-225 boys in Darby Township Junior-Senior High School, I wanted to play for one of the Darby Township Eagles varsity squads. That was the long-term goal. There wasn’t much else to do other than march with drill teams or go to bible study. Being rhythmically challenged and a certified sinner, I chose basketball. This was before the advent of personal computers and home video games. There was no cable television. Cell phones were something on the Jetson’s cartoon. Crack cocaine had yet to be invented and disseminated within poor and working class Black communities. There was no AAU circuit. No programs sponsored by sneaker companies. It was truly a different and far less complicated time.

Jim Williams, Led Temple in scoring and rebounding from 1963-66

For most boys, there was but one outlet. In Darby Township you went to school and after school you went to practice. Then, when you came home, you played some more. Finally… when the games came around, you tried to punish the opposition. That’s all I knew. I didn’t realize that Darby Township, along with Chester and Darby-Colwyn were considered to be on the lower-end of the county’s socio-economic scale. I just knew when the horn blew, Darby Township came to play. Expectations were high and justifiably so.

In 1975, when I was 10 Darby Township won the State Class A Basketball title. Two years later in 1977, an undefeated Darby Township squad was knocked out of the PIAA playoffs by eventual state champion Elk Lake. That spring, DTHS finished second in the PIAA small-school track championship.

In the fall of 1977, I entered the Darby Township Jr-Sr High School. I was truly blessed. This was the Golden Age of Darby Township Athletics. A period when Darby Township produced some of the greatest scholastic teams and individual performances in Delaware County history. This was time when the dream of college became a reality for me and so many of my teammates and classmates.

John Chaney

One of the first things I noticed upon entering the building was Cardall Baskerville. While the rest of the nation beyond Darby Township focused on Walter Payton, Franco Harris and Tony Dorsett, Baskerville was my football hero. In my mind, he was the greatest running back on the planet. He averaged 6.9 yards every time he toted the rock. You had to see it in person… He would run through a lineman and linebackers like they made of goose feathers and popsicle sticks. Once beyond the line of scrimmage, he would cut sharply, start running upright, change gears and leave defenders smelling fumes for huge chunks of yardage. Damn… He was good!

How good was Cardall? Darby Township’s coach, Alonzo Covert, said at the time, “He has everything a coach could ask for in a running back.” Covert coached the Eagles to the school’s first undefeated, untied season that year. Baskerville’s exploits were recognized throughout the area. The Philadelphia Eagles Alumni Association named Baskerville Delaware County’s Player of the Year. On December 18, 1977 during halftime of the Eagles vs. Jets game at Veterans’ Stadium Baskerville was introduced to 56,000 fans. In my 12 year old mind, this was huge… I thought the whole world knew about Cardall.

Every day, I would be in awe just watching him walk through the halls. The future seemed so secure. Surely he would go to college and then off to the NFL. Shit… I knew he would win the Heisman like Bonner’s John Cappelletti and go on to NFL glory. He was the best in Darby Township, that meant he had to be better than a guy from Bonner. There were no naysayers… There was no doubt that he was good enough… “This is just the beginning of what Delaware County is going to hear about Cardall Baskerville,” said Covert. “I have received many inquiries about him from colleges that play major college football. They always ask if he can be a Class A college player. I tell them he can be a Class A-plus player. I believe that he could play for Nebraska or Oklahoma or Southern Cal and I’m talking about next year.” You would hear whispers that Syracuse and Penn State were in the school to see him… Man, I was impressed.

Unfortunately, his football career ended at Darby Township High School. Like so many extremely gifted, record setting, young Black Darby Township athletes, Baskerville did not qualify academically to play collegiate sports. He never played beyond scholastic level. To this day everyone that saw him play remains convinced that the nation was cheated because Cardall didn’t get to keep toting that rock at the collegiate level. His life would end tragically when he committed suicide a few years later. It didn’t make sense… How could he be that good and NOT go to college?

Mark Macon

That really shook me up. How could the best player on the best team in the area not go to college. I tried unsuccessfully to make sense of this situation… I was young, impressionable and did not possess adequate analytical tools… All I knew was… Nobody could stop him. They never lost a game. This didn’t make any sense. Was the system rigged? I had no understanding of SAT exams and the college admissions process. It just didn’t seem fair… He was better than everybody. I felt doomed. If Cardall couldn’t make it, I had absolutely no shot!

Could anyone actually make it out and play in college out of Darby Township? At 13, I knew a couple of DTHS alums like Leroy Eldridge (Cheyney St.) and Chris Arnold (Virginia St.) had went on to star at historically Black colleges, but even they were very few and far between. Moreover those guys graduated in the 60s and were pretty far removed from me… What about the guys I went to school with? Was college a possibility?

Alton McCoullough and Vince Clark, Baskerville’s extremely talented running mate, would answer those questions for me when they enrolled in Temple University in 78 and 79 respectively.

A key player on the undefeated 1977 Darby Township basketball that lost to Elk Lake in the Final Four, McCoullough led Darby Township to the State Championship game in 1978 where they lost to Father Geibel.

But most importantly, Alton went onto Temple University. At that point in Darby Township, this was a gigantic accomplishment. A kid from Darby Township was playing basketball at the highest collegiate level. While we were all from the “wrong side of the tracks”, “Big Al” was from the “Center.” The Center is a Delaware County Public Housing Development… It’s what some call “the projects.” At the time, my family was living in another subsidized housing development a few blocks from the Center.

Aaron McKie and John Chaney

If “Big Al” could go from the Center to Temple, we all could go to college. Immediately, I loved Temple. I spent the next four years buying newspapers just to see the box scores. There was no ESPN, no Comcast Sports, if you wanted to follow college sports you had to exert a little effort. Big Al went on to have a very solid career at Temple. Over four years (1978-192) he would score 1,051 points and grab 673 rebounds while playing on one NCAA tournament team.

However, his biggest accomplishments, his most important feats did not take place in McGonigle Hall. They took place down the Center court.

In a way, I’m sure he never fully understood, Alton brought Temple University to Darby Township and influenced a generation of young Black boys. He didn’t bring the bricks and mortar. He didn’t bring the books. He brought the “idea” of Temple to Darby Township. Al and his teammates were real live Temple ambassadors in Darby Township.

Every summer, Al would bring Rick Reed, Kevin Broadnax and Neil Robinson to play in the Darby Township Summer League. While Lynn Greer, Sr., Leroy Eldridge and other highly regarded players competed as well, the buzz was most intense when Big Al and the boys from Temple were up next. I was never disappointed. It during those moments that I began to grasp the difference between high school and NCAA Division 1 athletics. Broadnax was the first person I ever saw extend his arm parallel to the court while dunking with enormous force. He jumped that high. Robinson was one of the tallest players in the league and one of the better ball-handlers. This did not make sense to my 13 year old mind. Rick Reed was just the man. I remember it like it was last week. Temple Basketball was part of Darby Township, Darby Township basketball was Temple basketball as long as Al was on the team.

The games were played at the “Center” court. This court was a “bottle throw” away from the projects. I know this because my man “Peep-Sight” proved it when he hurled 4 or 5 beer bottles from the projects into the jump circle from the projects during one hot summer night when they wouldn’t let him play.

They simply swept up the glass and kept it moving… Darby Township had it’s share of “issues.”

The college boys from Temple, for me, represented what was possible. They let me believe I could overcome the whatever issues presented themselves. They gave me hope. Al and the other Temple players were incredibly accessible. They spent hours hanging and talking with the younger guys and, of course, made time for the young ladies that gathered on the fringes of the court every night. Temple, from 1978 to 1982, became Darby Township’s team. One of my friends and teammates, Robert Carter, became so enamored with Rick Reed’s game that he literally adopted the moniker “Rick Dunk” which stuck throughout his own illustrious playing career.

Temple University gave young Black boys in this small community hope. By adopting Alton and Vince, Temple let us know that we were good enough. Temple wanted us. Temple respected us.

Eddie Jones

In 1979, Baskerville’s running mate, Vince Clark, would set a state single game rushing record by piling up 438 yards against Yeadon. Clark, like McCoullough the year before, would accept a scholarship to play at Temple. He would go on play two years seasons for the Owls carrying the ball 35 times and gaining 167 yards. That same year Jim McGloughlin from neighboring Collingdale also agreed to play at Temple. St. James’ Donny Dodds would also join the Owls shortly after.

For young kids, Black and White, from the “wrong side of the tracks” Temple University seemed like the only place that would welcome us. In retrospect, once Alton and Vince “made it” to Temple, one could sense a change among young poor Black boys in Darby Township. College was now a very real option. The question was no longer if, but where, would you go.

I fell in love with the Big 5 basketball and Temple University in 1978 when Alton McCoullough enrolled at Temple University. That love was reinforced in 1979 when Vincent Clark moved to North Broad Street. Until then, I really didn’t know anyone other than my teachers that had attended college. By embracing Alton and then Vince, Temple broadened my horizons. By bringing Temple basketball to Darby Township every summer, Alton provided a lot of guys with role models, inspiration and a a clear example of what was possible.

Doug Ambler and Rick Pergolini were young guidance counselors at Darby Township during this period. They often cite the period of 78-82 as the Golden Age of Darby Township Athletics. According to them more Black boys from Darby Township went on to college during that era than at any other time in the history of Darby Township. It all started with Big Al going to Temple.

I know that idea of college wasn’t “real” for me until I saw Big Al, Reed, Broadnax and Robinson playing ball down the “Center.” If those guys could make it to Temple, I knew I was smart enough to go to college.

Ten years later, I had fellowship offers from schools like Michigan, Ohio State, California-Davis, Delaware, and Maryland-College Park. They wanted to pay my tuition and pay me to attend their respective graduate programs. Not bad for a kid raised by a single Mom on the “wrong side of the tracks.” Not gifted enough to be a Division 1 athlete, these schools were recruiting me to “study and perform research.”

The idea, the notion, the thought that I could really attend college grew from seeing Alton McCoullough and Vince Clark, my DTHS heroes go on to attend Temple University.

Mark Tyndale

Since then, I have followed Temple basketball closely. I appreciate how Temple continues to provide young poor students and student-athletes an opportunity to improve their life opportunities.

For a quarter century, I watched John Chaney carve out a Hall of Fame coaching career at Temple’s, all the while loudly proclaiming that he was giving opportunity to the less fortunate among us. I bore witness to the example Coach Chaney set by confronting racial discrimination in a most direct and forceful manner. For instance, in January 1989, Coach Chaney emphatically declared, “The NCAA is a racist organization of the highest order… On this day, it instituted a new punishment on black kids who have already been punished because they are poor. Any time the NCAA, which is 90 percent white, considers the youngsters in Division I basketball and football, it discriminates, because 89 percent of the kids are black… I wonder what message they are sending. It’s another hardship for black kids made by white folk.”

That, for me, is Temple University.

Throughout my lifetime, Temple has represented the vanguard for racial equality and opportunity for advancement for Blacks in college sports.

Temple hired an African-American football coach when people were still wondering if we could play the quarterback position. Temple gave Dawn Staley, a product of the Raymond Rosen Housing Development in North Philly and her first opportunity to coach at the collegiate level. Right now, Temple has one of a few major college athletic programs headed by an African-American.

More than any other University in the region, Temple has provided opportunities for young poor and working class Black students and student-athletes.

Dionte Christmas

It’s hard to understand how Temple alums that came of age during the aforementioned eras allow a handful of alums and Temple sports fans to publicly spew bitter and racist vitriol aimed at the community surrounding Temple and it’s residents. That’s NOT the Temple way.

Temple featured a Black back court of Guy Rodgers and Hal Lear in the mid-1950s. Jim Williams led Temple in scoring and rebounding in 1963-64, 1964-65, and 1965-66. John Baum did the same in 1967-68 and 1968-69. Ollie Johnson starred for the Owls throughout the early 1970s.

In 1978, Temple reached out grabbed a poor Black boy from Darby Township and gave him a chance to perform on the big stage. As a result, the rest of the town embraced Temple and scores of young Black boys would go on to play sports and graduate from college. At 13, I old took notice and embraced the dream of attending college and beyond. Throughout my twenties and thirties, I wholeheartedly embraced everything John Chaney and the Temple basketball program represented.

As I approach 50, it pains me to see some Temple alums adopting perspectives that would have absolutely killed the spirit of that impressionable 13 year old boy.

But what hurts even more is the apparent unwillingness of the majority of Temple alums to confront racist, bigoted and homophobic statements in a way that affects change. It needs to cease.

Hopefully, good will prevail and those articulating negative ideas will be made to feel uncomfortable.

One can only imagine what would have been written on a Temple message board when Rodgers and Lear played in the 1950’s. Would Temple fans support the aforementioned position and statements of Coach Chaney? I prefer to believe that the Temple community, as a whole, would have embraced their Black students and student-athletes. After all, that’s the image Temple has cultivated over the course of it’s distinguished history. It’s a legacy that is both admirable and valuable.

To a large extent, the impressions of contemporary high school students and student-athletes have of colleges and universities are driven by television and social media. Thirty-seven years ago, my understanding of what Temple University represents was forged by extensive direct contact with and first hand observation of young men from the University’s athletic department. I wanted to be like those guys. I wanted to play college basketball. As I got older, I wanted to follow the example set by Coach Chaney and confront bigotry, racism and discrimination head on. I remain committed to that task.

To me… that’s the Temple way of doing things. Maybe things have changed more than I thought on North Broad Street.

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Are These Racist Statements?

December 14, 2014 By delgrecowilson in Uncategorized Tags: College Basketball, Grassroots Basketball, Jim Crow, Racism in College Sports, Temple Basketball, Temple Basketball Recruits, Temple Football, Temple Football Recruits, Temple Sports Fans Leave a comment

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White Supremacy, Mike Brown and the American Legal System: An Apology to Young Black Males

November 27, 2014 By delgrecowilson in Uncategorized, Urban Education Tags: African-Americans, Black America, Ferguson Riots, Jim Crow, Mike Brown, Police Brutality, White Supremacy Leave a comment

“Good gracious. Anybody hurt?”

“No’m. Killed a nigger.”

“Well, it’s lucky because sometimes people do get hurt.”

Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn (1884)

Dear Young fella:

It’s confusing… it’s scary… it makes you want to lash out out. You feel like hurting someone… You feel like burning this muthafucka down! Shit ain’t right… Time after time… Day after day… You see the same thing. The images are displayed over and over on a multitudinous array of cable news networks.

Participant in Ferguson Rebellion

By now the script has been etched in your brain, “young Black male killed by police, no charges will be filed against officer.” Over and over again, we see unarmed Black males gunned down in an instant. There’s never any doubt about what happened. White police officer killed the unarmed Black male.

How the fuck are these assholes NOT charged, prosecuted and convicted?

The problem young fella… what you have a hard time understanding… what is causing you to feel the way you feel is the fact these acts are not “crimes” in America! Whites killing unarmed Black males, like YOU, while enforcing the “rule of law” has always been encouraged and rewarded. The “law” in the United States of America was NEVER intended to protect YOU young fella. The fact that you are frustrated and surprised by the manner in which the legal system dispenses “justice” in these matters is prima facie evidence of your mis-education.

I apologize… I’m truly sorry… I have complicit in this mis-education. As a teacher, mentor and adviser I have failed to arm you with an adequate understanding of where you live and how the legal system was designed to work. I have failed to clearly illustrate and explain how deeply ingrained the “legalization” of Black suppression is in American history. Like so many in my generation, I have allowed you to grow up believing that the phrase “Equal Justice under Law” applies to you.

For that, I apologize… I sincerely apologize for allowing you to actually believe that the high-minded ideas put forth by America’s Found Father’s actually guide the American legal system as it relates to you. That was a very big mistake on my part.

I promise from this moment forward to be brutally honest with you… Young fella, from it’s inception, the American legal system has adjudicated and upheld racial deprivation. For well over two centuries, the language of the “law” has shielded the consciousness of white Americans from the plight of Black human beings subjected to inhumane, brutal yet perfectly “legal” and acceptable behaviors of white “law enforcement” officials.

Same shit… Different day…

Mike Brown, Eric Garner and Oscar Grant are merely some of the latest victims of America’s inhumane and immoral law enforcement and legal processes. They are among the latest links in a chain of legalized oppression and brutality that stretches back to colonial America.

Young fella… when it come to protecting the rights of Blacks against oppressive, brutal and even murderous police behaviors, American laws ain’t SHIT! They have NEVER been fair… The American legal system was NEVER been designed or intended to protect your right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

George Junius Stinney, Jr. age 14, the youngest person executed in the USA in the 20th century

Truth be told young fella, you need to completely disregard the phrase Equal justice under law engraved on the front of the United States Supreme Court building in Washington D.C. Trying to bring that ideal in line with the actual experiences of your fellow Black males across this nation only causes confusion and deeply seated angst.

The racist oppressive patterns on display in contemporary America and the possibilities for your children and grandchildren are buried in the American past. It is here that you must begin your attempt to understand what just took place in Ferguson, Missouri. Unfortunately, none of the mainstream – white controlled – media outlets and very few teachers have the fortitude required to provide you with the tools necessary to uncover this past.

As a result, you don’t know… you are lost… you have been mis-educated.

Please allow me to introduce you to the American legal system. More than any other legal system in the modern world, with the possible exception of Apartheid South Africa, the United States has devised and implemented a legal system which is simultaneously racist, brutally oppressive and committed to the protection of white individual and property rights: a white supremacist/democratic legal system.

Let’s take cursory look at some of the ways the American legal process was developed to establish, protect and enforce the rights of individual whites, whites as a group and white institutions while simultaneously imposing restraints on Blacks. As you struggle to digest and comprehend the failure of the system to hold Mike Brown’s killer accountable, it is a perfect time to assess the historical trajectory of the interrelationship between race and the American legal process.

It pains me to watch you trying to make sense of the racial dynamics playing out in police stations and courtrooms across America. The time has come… Youngfella… you must face the truth of the white supremacist foundations and origins of America’s legal system with YOUR eyes wide open. Only then will the lack of significant legal consequences for the killings of unarmed Black men at the hands of “law enforcement” officials begin to make sense. Only then will you understand how such horrific actions are fully compliant with the “rule of law.”

For centuries… “law enforcement” officials have had license to kill YOU. Despite what YOU have been taught, the rights afforded to American citizens have never been fully extended to Blacks, especially males.

This fact is indisputable.

All you have to do is place YOURSELF in American society at any point in America’s history and you will begin to understand that George Junius Stinney, Jr., Emmett Till, Mike Brown and Eric Garner are inextricably interrelated.

Emmett Till, Murdered at 14 in Mississippi. White Supremacist killers confessed after being acquitted during a trial

Young fella… I must warn you… Since YOU have been taught to think of the law as a neutral instrument serving the entire community, it will be disconcerting to see that American laws were written and enforced in the most blatantly racist manner, favoring whites over Blacks. The American educational system is incapable of speaking truth to power. Only Blacks with awareness and knowledge can impart it to you.

Let’s go back to the very beginning… This problems you see in Ferguson and New York existed before the States were united.

In 1755, Colonial Georgia passed laws entitled “An Act for the Better Ordering and Governing Negroes and Other Slaves in This Province.” Ponder, for a moment, the following question: How were the rights of people like YOU protected under these “laws”? Place yourself, a young Black man, in Colonial America. Take a minute… Imagine YOU simply could no longer continue living as the equivalent to a mule, cow or pig… Imagine YOU wanted to find your Momma, you long for your Dad, you want to find your sister, you need to be reunited with your wife and your children that had been sold and shipped away… Suppose you decided to leave your “home” and set out in search of your family and/or your freedom… What did the “law” say about your right to do so?

According to the prevailing “law” in Colonial America, there was no prohibition for killing YOU. In fact, your killer would be rewarded. According to the “law,” a “law enforcement” official was given one pound sterling for presenting YOUR “scalp with two ears.” That’s right… As they say the “law” is clear… YOUR “scalp with two ears” attached to it could be submitted for remuneration.

Your “scalp with two ears” could be exchanged for cash.

I know… I know… That’s not the way the story is told in American movies and literature. In the old cowboy westerns they constantly talked about Native Americans “scalping” innocent white people. Scalping is always associated with the “savage” Native Americans. In reality, however, white Americans were rewarded for scalping Black men with the temerity to actually desire freedom.

Young fella… This is a clear example of how Colonial American legal systems dealt with YOU. In some ways, barbaric Colonial laws such as this foretell contemporary events. Over the past couple of years, George Zimmerman “presented” local officials in Sanford and state officials in Florida with Trayvon Martin’s corpse. He was rewarded with donations totaling at least $314,099.17 to his legal defense fund. Officer Darren Wilson “presented” official in Ferguson with Mike Brown’s corpse and in excess of $432,000.00 was donated to his legal defense fund.

Think about that young fella… think about that… Understand the beast YOU are dealing with…

You have been taught that the Founding Fathers devised the preeminent example of modern liberal democracy. You have been repeatedly told that they developed a government based on popular consent with respect for the equal rights of all.

Young fella you were mis-educated!

You were intentionally deceived. The standard story of America’s formation is deceptive because it is too narrow. They were teaching you the history of relationships among a small minority of Americans. They were focusing exclusively on relationships among wealthy white men of predominantly northern European ancestry.

A truer telling of America’s history would place white male supremacist ideologies at center of the plot. It would go something like this: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of White Supremacy…

The narrative would spell out the racist and sexist practices that defined the relationships between this relatively small white male minority with the overwhelming majority of the population constituting the subjugated groups (Blacks, Native Americans and women).

Young fella… When these white supremacist, racist, sexist elements are kept in plain view the history of America’s legal system looks quite different. My aim here is to help you understand that the historical frame of reference and the analytical tools provided to you in school are inadequate. The experiences of your ancestors have been, more or less, written out of the script. As such, the tools provided by the American educational system are simply inadequate form performing the task at hand. Greater understanding of contemporary legal proceedings and racial strife can be achieved by replacing the narrowly circumscribed lessons they teach in school with a more realistic view of America.

Southern Chain Gang, circa 1903

So young fella… at it’s founding in 1787, how did the United States, legally speaking, deal with YOU? How were Black men taken into account? For purposes of taxation and representation, the “Founding Fathers” determined that YOU would count as 3/5 of a human being. You were considered about 60% of a human being. The importation of captured and enslaved Blacks from Africa was given constitutional protection for another twenty years. Also, enslaved Blacks who escaped from one state to another had to be delivered to the original owner upon claim, a provision that was UNANIMOUSLY adopted by the “Founding Fathers.”

The Three-Fifths Compromise, is located in Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3 of the Constitution. It reads as follows:

“Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.“

Moreover, from the moment of inception, US constitutional and legal processes continued and further perpetuated the racial injustice and oppression that prevailed in Colonial America.

When white males of northern European descent set out to “form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity” they did not include YOU the the equation. YOU were most likely enslaved and they intended for you to remain enslaved for the duration of your natural life. More specifically, the federal “law” they developed expressly forbade YOU from changing your status by escaping to another part of the country.

The Founding Fathers inserted the following in Article IV, Section 2:

No Person held to Service or Labour in one sate, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.

Youngfella… YOU had no rights in America upon it’s founding. If you were taught otherwise in school you have been hoodwinked… you have been bamboozled.

Seventy years later, the US Supreme Court would make YOUR legal standing painfully clear. Unfortunately, it seems that many Americans, in general, and teachers, in particular, would rather distort the history of this nation than face the extent to which the American legal system was designed and intended to uphold and strengthen the concept of white supremacy. Nonetheless, in a rather remarkable moment of clarity and honesty the nature of the American legal system was laid bare for all to see… if they are willing to look.

Dred Scott

In 1857, the Supreme Court handed down a monumental decision in the case Scott v. Sanford. Dred Scott was an enslaved Black man whose owner had taken him to live in free areas of the country. Having witnessed freedom, having smelled freedom, having tasted freedom, having touched freedom, Scott longed for it to such an extent that he took dramatic steps to attain it. Scott sued for his freedom on the grounds that living on free soil rendered his “enslaved” status null and void. He tried to utilize the American “legal system” to gain control of his destiny and his labor. Scott sought recognition of his basic humanity in the courts.

Like so many Black Americans today, Scott didn’t fair very well in the courts. Youngfella… This is what Chief Justice Roger B. Taney wrote in response to Scott’s claim:

“It is difficult at this day to realize the state of public opinion in regard to that unfortunate race which prevailed in the civilized and enlightened portions of the world at the time of the Declaration of Independence, and when the Constitution of the United States was framed and adopted; but the public history of every European nation displays it in a manner too plain to be mistaken. They had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations, and so far unfit that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”

Hold up… Hold up… Let’s take our time and review the core of the Supreme Court ruling again…. Blacks have “no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”

That, young fella, was the law of the land as interpreted by the US Supreme Court.

America’s educational system, with its’ extensive focus on white male political actors and their conflicts with one another, has failed abysmally to teach YOU (and white for that matter) how the rights of Blacks have been systematically suppressed through the legal system. Every day in classrooms across America, “certified” teachers fail to help Blacks understand how the “rule of law” has been very effectively used as a weapon in the hands of those committed to maintaining white supremacy in the United States of America.

In this subtle and nuanced way, white males have been “rioting” in American legislative houses and courtrooms for more than three centuries.

Following a brief period of enlightenment (1865-1877) at the end of the Civil War, white supremacists, once again, utilized the American legal system to systematically deprive Blacks of the most basic rights and protection from abuse. Beginning in the 1870’s Jim Crow “laws” started to emerge across the American South. Through these laws, YOU were separated from whites is areas of public life. YOU were relegated to inferior accommodations on trains, in depots and on wharves.

Jim Crow Drinking Fountain county courthouse lawn, Halifax, North Carolina, 1938

The Supreme Court, once again, affirmed YOUR lack of legal standing by outlawing the Civil Rights Acts of 1875. In an instant, you were effectively banned from white hotels, barber shops, restaurants and theaters. Across much of the country, there “laws” were enacted requiring separate schools.

In 1896, the Supreme Court upheld, sanctioned and formally legalized Apartheid-like segregation is the form of the “separate but equal” principal in the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling. With that ruling, the American legal system entrenched a white supremacist caste system that perpetuated the racial exploitation and financial super-exploitation of individual Blacks and Black families families for the better part of the next century.

Legally sanctioned American Apartheid would reign supreme for the next seven decades.

Like YOU today, Blacks at the turn of the 20th century searched for answers… They tried to figure out the best way to deal with white supremacy and the racist dynamics of the American social/economic/political/legal systems.

By 1920, many Blacks were searching for an escape from the explicitly white supremacist, rigidly racist and profoundly oppressive American social order. Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) attracted millions of followers. The UNIA was an ambitious organization of people of African descent which encouraged people of color to look to Africa both as an ancestral homeland and a hope for a future. Garvey claimed over 2,000,000 UNIA members by 1919. A year later, he claimed over 4,000,000 had joined the movement.

By 1921, Garvey was the leader of the largest Black organization of its’ type in American history. Frustrated Blacks flocked to the UNIA. As of August 1921, there were 418 charted division and another 422 awaiting charters. If one factors in another 19 chapters, there were a total of 859 UNIA branches.

By 1923, Garvey was convicted of mail fraud. Young fella… The American “legal” system was the means by by which the Garvey movement was destroyed.

Marcus Garvey, 1924

This how American “justice” worked for Garvey. In a memorandum dated 11 October 1919, J. Edgar Hoover, the future Head of the FBI wrote: “Unfortunately, however, he [Garvey] has not as yet violated any federal law whereby he could be proceeded against on the grounds of being an undesirable alien, from the point of view of deportation.” They were not investigating any criminal activity. Clearly, Hoover explicitly acknowledges that Garvey wasn’t engaged in any criminal activity. The aim… young fella… was to deport Garvey and eliminate him as a threat given his proven ability to mobilize Black Americans. The “law” would be used to suppress his “Back-to-Africa” movement.

Toward this end, in November 1919 an investigation was begun into the activities of Garvey and the UNIA. Toward this end, Federal “law enforcement” agencies hired James Edward Amos, Arthur Lowell Brent, Thomas Leon Jefferson, James W. Jones, and Earl E. Titus as its first five African-American agents.

On January 12, 1922 Garvey was arrested for alleged mail fraud. In 1923 he was convicted. In February 1925, his appeals ran out and he entered the federal penitentiary at Atlanta. In 1927 his sentence was commuted and he was deported to Jamaica where his ship landed on December 10, 1927.

From the perspective of a white supremacist government and legal system, the mission – deportation of Garvey – was accomplished.
White supremacy was firmly entrenched.

Slowly, beginning in the 1940’s organizations led by men such as A. Phillip Randolph began to slowly chip away at the edges of white supremacist hegemony. A significant factor allowing this progress was attempt by the century’s greatest white supremacist, Adolph Hitler, to subjugate the European continent. Fully engaged engaged in World War II, the US government desperately needed Black soldiers in the arena and Black labor in the factories. Recognizing the increased leverage they possessed Black leaders pressed for increased opportunities in the workplace.

The fierce opposition faced by Blacks seeking gainful employment provides a stark illustration of the depth and breadth of white supremacist ideologies and patently racist practices in cities like Philadelphia, Pa.

First black motormen for Philadelphia’s transit system

On August 1, 1944, eight Black men began training for trolley car driver jobs within the Philadelphia Transit Company (PTC). These were solid relatively well-paying jobs. White PTC workers refused to work alongside Black trolley drivers. Thousands of racist whites chose to shutdown the entire public transportation system rather accept eight Black men into their ranks. On the first day of the strike, 3,000 PTC workers gathered in a trolley car barn and made clear their determination to remain off the job until the Blacks were removed from trolley car driver positions.

Once the strike was underway, fueled by white supremacist notions, PTC workers began to “wild out.” Immediately, it became unsafe for African Americans to travel in predominantly white sections of the city. A group of whites driving through black neighborhood shot a 13-year-old African American girl without warning. There were other instances of racially motivated – white on Black – violence in the city the night after the strike began and the following morning.

The racist PTC workers impacted the war effort. After one day of striking, U.S. Army production of war materials in Philadelphia was cut in half due to the transit stoppage, and Navy production diminished by 70%. War workers could not get to their jobs. On a daily basis, the PTC carried 300,000 war workers.

On Friday, August 4, the committee representing 6,000 PTC employees on strike met for the third day and unanimously approved continuing the strike until PTC revoked its decision to promote the eight African American workers.

Young fella… 6,000 white Philadelphians were striking, engaging in terroristic violence and, as a result, holding up war production in Philadelphia because they did not want eight (8) Black men to work as trolley car drivers.

White supremacy is a muthafucka…

However, they miscalculated President Roosevelt’s resolve. On Saturday, August 5, President Roosevelt sent 5,000 heavily armed soldiers into Philadelphia to crush the strike by whatever means necessary. The Army set up encampments in Fairmount Park and brought in ammunition, including machine guns.

The strike, which was the largest racially motivated strike of the World War II era and led to the loss of over 4,000,000 man-hours in war production factories, ended on the morning of Monday, August 7, 1944. By September 1944, all eight African Americans were driving PTC trolleys.

Young fella… It literally took 5,000 armed federal troops, at the height of WWII, to integrate 8 Black trolley car drivers into the Philadelphia Transit Company.

That’s American history… That’s Philadelphia history… Your teachers do not cover this…

I know you have learned about Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Right’s Movement of the 1950s and 1960s… Those lessons are taught ad infinitum for 28 days every February…

Your ability to understand the rampant killings of unarmed Black men would be greatly enhanced by greater awareness of manner in which the white supremacist ideas have persisted throughout US history. YOU would recognize immediately that Black corpses have long appeared after visits from US “law enforcement” agents.

By the late 1960s, the Black Panther Party had more or less succeeded the Dr. King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) as the most influential Black organization in America. By the end of 1968, the Panthers had chapters in several dozen states and a membership in excess of 5,ooo.

By the end of 1969, the Black Panthers had been targeted by 233 separate “law enforcement” actions by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover. This was fifty years after Hoover initiated his effort to neutralize of Marcus Garvey. That year 27 Black Panther Party members were killed by local, state and federal police. Another 749 were jailed or arrested.

Hoover was particularly concerned with an extremely bright, articulate and politically astute young Panther from Chicago. Fred Hampton was 19 years old when the FBI opened on him in 1967. Over the next twenty four months, Hampton’s FBI file expanded to twelve volumes and over 4000 pages. The Feds placed a tap on Hampton’s mother’s phone in February 1968. By May of that year, Hampton’s name was placed on the “Agitator Index”, and he would be designated a “key militant leader for Bureau reporting purposes.”

Fred Hampton, Black Panther Party

In late 1968, the FBI’s Chicago field office brought in an individual named William O’Neal. In exchange for having felony charges dropped and a monthly stipend, O’Neal agreed to infiltrate the BPP as a counterintelligence operative.He joined the Party and quickly rose in the organization, becoming Director of Chapter security and Hampton’s bodyguard.

On the evening of December 3, 1969, O’Neal slipped a powerful sleep drug into a drink that Hampton consumed during the dinner. His aim was to incapacitate Hampton so he would not awaken during the subsequent police raid. O’Neal then left Hampton’s apartment. Around 1:30 a.m., Hampton fell asleep in mid-sentence talking to his mother on a wire tapped telephone.

At 4:00 a.m., the heavily armed police team arrived at the site, divided into two teams, eight for the front of the building and six for the rear. At 4:45 a.m., they stormed into the apartment. O’Neal provided the FBI with a detailed map of Hampton’s apartment.

Map of Hampton’s Apartment provided by FBI Informant William O’Neal

Once the raid ensued Mark Clark, sitting in the front room of the apartment with a shotgun in his lap, was shot in the heart and died instantly.His gun fired a single round which was later determined to be caused by a reflexive death convulsion after he was shot. By all accounts, this was the only shot the Panthers fired. The police fired between 82-99 shots.

Fred Hampton’s mattress and bullet holes in wall

The police showered the head of the south bedroom where Hampton slept with automatic gunfire. Hampton was heavily sedated and unable to awaken as a result of the barbiturates O’Neal had slipped into his drink. He was lying on a mattress in the bedroom with his pregnant fiancée, who was eight-and-a-half months pregnant with their child. Two police officers discovered him with a severe wound in his shoulder. Another Black Panther Harold Bell reported that he heard the following exchange:

“That’s Fred Hampton.”

“Is he dead?… Bring him out.”

“He’s barely alive.

“He’ll make it.”

Fred Hampton’s dead body on floor of his apartment

Two shots were heard, which it was later discovered were fired point blank in Hampton’s head. According to Johnson, one officer then said:

“He’s good and dead now.”

Youngfella… despite all of this evidence… The federal grand jury did not return any indictment against anyone involved with the planning or execution of the raid. Just like Officer Darren Wilson in the Mike Brown case, the killers of Mark Clark and Fred Hampton were NEVER held accountable for their actions. They walked… Just like Darren Wilson, the officers involved in the raid were cleared by a grand jury of any crimes.

The FBI snitch, William O’Neal, killed himself in 1990 after admitting his role in setting up the assassination of Hampton.

Young fella… As I said at the outset… Whites killing unarmed Black males, like YOU, while enforcing the “rule of law” has always been encouraged and rewarded. The “law” in the United States of America was NEVER intended to protect you youngfella. The fact that you are frustrated and surprised by the manner in which the legal system dispenses “justice” in these matters is prima facie evidence of your mis-education.

I should’ve told you how they do us…

Sincerely,

Delgreco K. Wilson

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“You Treated Fairly?”: Open Letter to Philly’s Grassroots Hoops Community

November 1, 2014 By delgrecowilson in College Athletics, Urban Education Tags: A10, A10 Basketball, AAC, AAU Basketball, ACC Basketball, African-Americans, Atlantic 10, Big 10 Basketball, Big 5, Big East, Black America, CAA, CAA Basketball, College Basketball, High School Basketball, NCAA APR, Philadelphia basketball, Scholastic Basketball Leave a comment

The 1st hoop for many, many Philly ballers!!

If you ain’t ever been to the ghetto
Don’t ever come to the ghetto
‘Cause you ain’t understand the ghetto
And stay the fuck out of the ghetto…
“Ghetto Bastard” Naughty By Nature

Basketball is THE inner city game. It is the game played in the ghetto, ‘round the way and in the ‘hood. Every year black communities and neighborhoods many consider off-limits to outsiders are invaded by representatives of multi-million dollar college athletic departments. Wave after wave of college coaches regularly venture into places most white people avoid after sundown. The trained eye can spot ’em a mile away. You see ‘em roll up in rental cars fresh off the private jets looking lost in public housing developments. The team logo and that of their shoe company sponsor featured prominently on a new golf shirt or sweater if it’s a lil’ chilly outside. The over-sized Conference Championship ring is dripping with ice.

Across America in cities like Philly, Motown, NYC, Chi-town, LA, B-more, DC, ATL, and H-town representatives of America’s increasingly wealthy athletic departments come in search of beautifully sculpted Black bodies. They are looking for the young men that will lead them to the “promised land” or at least the “Sweet 16.” This search brings to them to the projects, Section 8 homes and other low-income Black neighborhoods one after the other. Representatives of the Math department, Chemistry department and History departments never seem to make their way down. In much of the non-sports mainstream (mostly white) discourse, urban centers are derisively described and as isolated pockets of dysfunction, deviance and despair to be avoided and in some case obliterated, if the opportunity for gentrification presents itself.

The athletic department reps, the coaches, the recruiters are there for a very specific purpose.

These colleges and universities are vying explicitly to extract a valuable resource from these impoverished communities. They want young athletic Black bodies. They want to co-opt the labor of our young men and use it to increase the economic status of the University President, Athletic Director and Basketball coach and other athletic department employees. They want our Black boys to serve as cheap labor in the multi-billion dollar enterprise known as collegiate athletics. Now, it should be noted that along the way he may earn or be awarded (see recent UNC scandal) a degree in some obscure major with limited earning potential.

As bad as this situation sounds, it’s infinitely better than being one of the 72% of Black boys that fail to graduate from HS on time every year in places like Philly and NYC. These young men are headed for a lifetime of low wage earning or they will participate in the extra-legal ‘hood economy and likely end up in prison. In the ‘hood, collegiate athletics is a possible way up and out of poverty. But having dealt with college programs over the years, you know others benefit to a much larger extent. The fates of the gifted low-income urban Black male athletes and wealthy white university athletic department employees are inextricably intertwined.

A situation has emerged whereby Black boys and the struggling grassroot basketball community from which they emerge are dependent upon billion dollar sneaker companies and college athletic programs with $100-$150 million dollar athletic budgets. The existing situation breeds economic success and financial security for Presidents, AD’s and coaches. In many ways, the existence and sustenance of grassroots programs is dependent on the their connection to college programs and the college program’s continued economic gain in dependent upon struggling grassroots basketball programs. Born out of this arrangement is a sort of mutual dependency.

Julius “Dr. J” Erving in a Harlem, NY Playground

High skilled urban Black male basketball players sell their athletic labor in return for athletic scholarships while the college athletic programs generate millions of dollars selling their performance to alums and the general public. Coaches are paid million in salaries, bonuses and perks.

As the heads of the AAU/grassroots “farm system,” what are you getting? Are you treated fairly? Do the coaches, boosters and fans respect you? Over and over, I hear that you guys are “killing” amateur basketball. It’s bullshit. AAU/grassroots basketball long ago superseded scholastic basketball as the premier development arm for collegiate hoops.

In Philadelphia, basketball is king among amateur sports. College basketball occupies a unique space in Philadelphia’s sports milieu. There are six (6) NCAA Division 1 Basketball programs in the Philadelphia area representing some highly competitive conferences. Villanova (Big East), Temple (AAC), St. Joseph’s (A10), LaSalle (A10), Drexel (CAA) and Penn (Ivy) all play in tough leagues with nationally recognized competitors.

Anyone that watches the games will notice some common themes regarding these teams and others in their respective conferences. A significant percentage of revenue is generated by basketball programs with a high percentage of urban Black male athletes. The boys from ’round the way are getting it in. North Philly’s DJ Newbill is the star at Penn State. Jabril Trawick, hailing from the Westside, is the headliner for Georgetown. Another North Philly native, Rysheed Jordan in manning the point guard spot in Madison Square Garden for St. John’s. Chester’s Rondae Jefferson is back for a 2nd and perhaps final season at Arizona. Black males from ’round the way are making a lot of money for these schools.

The over-representation, employment and production of Black males in revenue-producing sports (basketball and football) is well documented. Black males represent a mere 5.8% of the total U.S population. Black males comprised 45.8% of major college football rosters and 61% of major college basketball rosters in the 2009-2010. The numbers for the pros are even higher. Over 67% of NFL players are Black and 78% of the NBA in 2011-2012. Collegiate and professional football and basketball organizations consistently scour the ‘hood when seeking talented players. In many cases, you stand ready and willing to serve your players up to the hunters. I want ask you some important questions.

Are your AAU/grassroots programs sufficiently benefiting? Do you feel like college programs respect the role you play? Do college coaches and fans appreciate your tireless efforts getting these guys ready for the next level?

Is it enough for these programs to just come year after year and take the most talented and highly gifted without considering the plight of those left behind?

Do the City 6 programs work with you when your kids can’t afford the $200, $300 or even $400 price of their camps? Do they give you balls? Do they donate equipment? Do they make sure you “eat” when you bring your players to visit their campuses? Do they provide tickets to your organization so the younger kids can see the older kids play “live”? Or, do they just come through, pick the ripest fruit and get back in the German luxury sedan?

Puttin’ in work…

Let me know… I’m really curious. Remember, you have leverage.

If they tell you the kids have to “pay” full price, let everybody know… Tell the other AAU/grassroots coaches how you were treated… Share information about your experiences…. In my opinion, Black boys have already paid. Let me show you how.

Young men from the ‘hood currently participating in revenue-generating sports (football and basketball) far exceed their white counterparts and other races. Keep in mind football and basketball make virtually all the money supporting all the other white dominated collegiate sports. Think about this fact, less than 1 percent of the total collegiate student-athlete population generates more than 90% of NCAA revenue during “March Madness.” Of the 1 percent, well-over half were Black young men from ’round the way.

Over the past decade (2004-2013), the NCAA men’s basketball tournament has triggered more than $6.88 billion of national TV ad spending from 269 different marketers. Ad revenue in 2013 was $1.15 billion, up 3.8 percent from the prior year. Less than 1% of college student-athletes generate this staggering amount of revenue, the overwhelming majority are young Black men from the ‘hood.

Guys from the ‘hood played, started and produced more than their non-Black teammates. Locally, Black players scored 73.9% of Temple points last year. Blacks accounted for 83.5% at St. Joseph’s, 87.3% at Villanova, 98.3% at Drexel, 87.1% at LaSalle and 65.7% at Penn.

The 1953 Christian St YMCA, National Champions, featuring Philadelphia school boy legends Wilt Chamberlain (standing center) and Claude Gross (seated 2nd from right)

The local colleges and universities want and need Black athletic talent. Their labor is undeniably needed to sustain massive inflows of revenues in athletic departments. Make no mistake colleges, universities, Presidents, Athletic Directors and coaches are making money off the labor of young men plucked from the ‘hood. The players get an “opportunity” to earn a college degree as long it doesn’t conflict with their athletic obligations. Alums, boosters and fans root for and are entertained by the performances of these young men.

Ask yourself: How do the university’s alums and fans really feel about the young men in the ‘hood? I know they shake your hand after your boy gets get 20 points and grabs 10 rebounds against a rival. I know they cheer loudly and passionately for your boy when you’re seated next to them at the Wells Fargo Center, Liacouras Center, Hagan Arena and Gola Arena. But, how do they really feel about you and yours? How do they talk amongst themselves?

Do fans of the local schools respect the communities that spawn the athletes that help them win games? How do they refer to the neighborhoods that border their respective institutions? You have been there your entire life. They are guests passing through while pursing a college degree.

One way you can get a feel for this is by perusing the local team message boards. It’s an absolute must for those desiring a peek behind the curtain of cordiality extended to your face during actual games and “official” visits to campus. There behind the veil of a screen name, keyboard tough guys unleash their true feelings about the ‘hood and those who hail from there. They are talking about your Grandmom that refuses to move from the house she paid off years ago. They are talking about your cousin that is struggling to work 2 jobs to pay that Catholic school tuition. They are talking about your homie that’s remodeling the house his parents left him in their will. They talking about your Aunt with those hot ass plastic furniture covers on her “good” living room set. They are talking about your uncle in the halfway because the police lied and fabricated evidence against him.

What are they saying? Far too often, they say “Fuck the community!” Far too frequently, they argue that they should “bulldoze your family’s homes!”

Turn of the Century “Minstrel” Poster

Then 10 minutes later they argue that your son, grandson, godson, nephew, or youngbuck averaging 32 ppg for the public school ‘round the way should come to their school. They call President Obama and Attorney General Holder “minstrels.” Meanwhile, the same person puts forth an argument why “Junior” should come, bust his ass and sack quarterbacks for their alma mater next year. It’s a truly weird dynamic to observe. They make no apologies. Indeed, the proudly claim they are speaking “truths”. Many of them despise and hate the ‘hood, while simultaneously yearning for the big beautiful Black bodies walking down it’s narrow avenues.

I say Fuck ‘em!

I say keep track of these public discourses and hold the programs accountable. I say ask the coaches and athletic directors to disassociate themselves from the most egregious offenders. If they choose not to, I say educate our young men from the ‘hood about the way SOME of the alums feel about them, their families and their neighborhoods.

Let’s not ignore those that wish you and yours harm. Of course, MOST alums and fans are respectful and always decent in public and behind a screen name. I say call on them to check the racist tendencies of the vocal minority within their family. These boards have moderators. If offensive language it left up, one can safely assume is is acceptable within that cyber-community of the school’s alumni.

Read for yourself. View this stuff for yourself. Make sure you let young people understand the parameters of public discourse surrounding their families and their neighborhoods.

The time has come to make sure our young people and their families are fully informed before they make the very important decision to earn money for a particular university. If one or more of the local schools is offering your players a scholarship he will likely have other options. If he doesn’t hit me up and I’m sure we can find a school that will pay his bills.

If you feel disrespected, if you feel unappreciated by local programs and their followers and they are offing your players scholarships you have options. Exercise them. Buyer beware!

It should be noted that it’s a very specific segment of the largely white male middle class fan and alumni base making the most vile statements.

Message boards are largely populated by white male alums of the schools. Recent surveys have identified the characteristics of message board posters. The data indicated that the vast majority of message-board users were male (87.8% of total, 92.2% of subscribers), White (90.8% of total, 92.4% of subscribers), and married (62.1% of total, 63.0% of subscribers); had least an undergraduate degree (76.0% of total, 79.3% of subscribers); and were current residents of the United States (97.4% of total, 98.1% of subscribers). Most respondents indicated that they were alumni of their message board’s school of focus (59.0% of total, 60.6% of subscribers). A total of 77.4% of survey participants indicated they were at least 30 years old, with subscribers tending to skew slightly older than non-subscribers. Also of note was the finding that 25.5% of all users were age 50 or older.

Let’s not send our young men where they aren’t welcomed and embraced. These are the internet addresses of message boards for the City 6 basketball programs.

St. Joseph’s Basketball – http://saintjosephs.scout.com

Temple Basketball & Football – http://temple.scout.com/

LaSalle Basketball – http://explorertown.proboards.com/

Villanova Basketball & Football – https://villanova.rivals.com/forum.asp

Drexel Basketball – http://www.caazone.com/boards/forums/drexel-dragons.7/

Penn Basketball – http://boards.basketball-u.com/showforum.php?fid/43/

Judge for yourself.

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Philly Pride & Triple Threat is Focused on Education

October 30, 2014 By delgrecowilson in Uncategorized Tags: Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Big East, Catholic Education, College Basketball, Faith in the Future Foundation, Philadelphia basketball, Scholastic Basketball Leave a comment

(L to R) Kamal Yard, Philly Pride & Triple Threat, Bill Gibson, Chief Enrollment Manager for Secondary Schools, Nick Regina, Deputy Secretary for Enrollment Management and Eric Worley, Philly Pride & Triple Threat

Philly Pride & Triple Threat (PPTT) is committed to serving youth in and around the Philadelphia area in three distinct arenas; Education, Athletics, and Life.

Educationally, members of the foundation receive the necessary academic incentives and support to assure success in the classroom. Athletically, members of the foundation compete on a well organized basketball team and are involved in other basketball related activities. The two main goals athletically are; development of fundamental skills and exposure to college coaches. From a Life standpoint, participants are coached and mentored by high character and quality individuals with the primary goal of instilling appropriate life lessons in the individual students.

Eric Worley and Kamal Yard are diligently working together to inspire promising inner city youth to be leaders, champions and student-athletes as well empowering them to be successful in high school, college and life.

Specifically, these gentlemen use basketball as a “hook” to engage young men and women in the program. The larger, more important objective is to help Philadelphia area youth access high quality educational opportunities, internalize positive value systems and refine life skills that will prepare them for the day the ball stops bouncing.

Their track record is extremely strong.

Rysheed Jordan, St. John’s University, Philly Pride & Triple Threat Alum

Well over 30 collegiate athletes have come through the program. St. John’s Rysheed Jordan and DePaul’s Brittany Hrynko are both projected to go in the 1st round of the NBA and WNBA draft respectively. The PPTT program has developed some of Philadelphia’s most talented players in recent years. Many have prospered in some of the most academically challenging independent and Catholic high schools in the area. Recent Temple University commit Levan Alston (Haverford School), St. Joseph’s University commit Chris Clover (St. Joseph’s Prep), Tony Carr (Roman Catholic), Sean Lloyd (Mt. Zion Prep, MD), Josh Sharkey (Archbishop Carroll), and Lamar Stephens (Haverford School) have come through their ranks. In each case, the young men were well-prepared for the rigorous academic programs they encountered.

Philly Pride & Triple Threat is, clearly, one the leading youth sports development programs in the Greater Philadelphia region. They take the responsibility of preparing students very seriously. Over the past couple of years, Philadelphia’s public schools have faced unprecedented budget problems and experienced massive teacher and counselor layoffs. An already under-served group of urban students have found themselves virtually abandoned. As a result, the roles of Worley and Yard have evolved and expanded.

They have become de facto school counselors for a significant portion of the 500 or so students in their program. More and more, they have been asked to help guide more students from poor and middle-class families to the area’s top middle and high schools. By default, Philly Pride & Triple Threat has been providing students with the kind of personalized counseling that students from more affluent families tend to get from private counselors or their school-based guidance counselors in the suburbs. They have worked tirelessly to establish relationships with Independent and Catholic Schools in Philadelphia out of necessity.

Brittany Hrynko, Depaul University, Philly Pride & Triple Threat Alum

As noted earlier, Philadelphia is the midst of an unprecedented series of budget cuts. The cuts were to the bone!! In 2013, the Philadelphia school system laid off 3,783 employees, including 676 teachers and 283 counselors. Along with teachers and counselors, those losing their jobs included 127 assistant principals and 1,202 aides who monitor the cafeteria and playgrounds. Most recently, The SDP raided the The existing Philadelphia Federation of Teachers Health and Welfare Fund, which has about $40 million built up in it. The future for Philadelphia’s public schools is very bleak.

Nonetheless, every day Yard and Worley work with students and parents hungry for good school placements. They recognized that they needed to become much more knowledgeable about the application and financial aid process at tuition-based schools. Toward that end, they recently met with Nick Regina, Deputy Secretary for Enrollment Management and Bill Gibson, Chief Enrollment Manager for Secondary Schools for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Yard says, “Mr. Regina and Mr. Gibson made us feel that our students would be welcomed in Catholic schools. I learned some important things that I can’t wait to share with our families.” He gained a better understanding of the processes in place within Catholic High Schools. According to Yard, “The Catholic high schools are very real options for our kids, we’ll make every effort to link our parents with admissions staff in several Archdiocese schools.”

Worley, a former teacher and principal in Philadelphia’s public and charter schools was also excited. According to Worley, “Catholic high schools are accessible and affordable for many our kids. I know first hand, how frustrating it can be for parents seeking a better school placement for their child. I look forward to helping our students access and navigate the application process.”

Yard and Worley also have a PPTT High School Assist Project, which will help sixth through eighth grade student-athletes succeed in middle school and leverage that success to gain admission to excellent college preparatory high schools. The HS Assist Project will offer academic instruction/tutoring, homework help, life skills development and test preparation for sixth through eighth graders.

The PPTT College Assist Project, will continue to provide high school student-athletes with the individual support necessary to be successful in high school and to prepare for college. College Assist Project support includes SAT and other test preparation, high school counseling, application/financial aid workshops, college visits and NCAA eligibility and recruiting guidance.

If you want see the fruits of Yard’s and Worley’s labor just peruse the rosters of Inter-Ac and Catholic High School teams or check your TV listings and find some Big East games, women or men.

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About Independence Mission Schools: An Open Letter to “Good” Parents

October 27, 2014 By delgrecowilson in Urban Education Tags: Catholic Education, Faith in the Future Foundation, Independence Mission Schools Leave a comment

Hey Mom… How you doing Dad?… Grandmom and Grandpop I need to bend your ear… I just want a few minutes of your time. I know time is a precious commodity and you don’t have a lot to spare. But I want to share some important information about urban educational opportunities for your children and grandchildren. So while I know you’re busy, please take a few moments and consider what I’m about to say…

Every day you worry. You’re afraid. You’re always anxious. Will today be the day? Will the school call and inform you that something bad has happened to your child? You watch the news… You see the sexual assaults… You read about staff members being knocked unconscious… You see kids protesting just to keep basic amenities in place…

You have been diligent about instilling the proper values in your child. I know you don’t play games when it comes to raising your child. Honesty, compliance with rules, sensitivity to the feelings of others, control over impulses and acceptance of responsibility for his/her behavior have been reinforced from the moment they entered this world. You are a good parent. You take it very seriously. It shows. Your child follows rules and meets behavioral expectations in the home, school and community on a consistent basis. He/she has never exhibited any illegal or antisocial behaviors. Your child is a good kid. Yet, you worry.. all day, every day.

More than anything else, you seek an educational setting where your child can focus on attaining and maintaining a level of academic performance that is commensurate with his/her intellectual ability. You understand the need for a positive and safe educational environment. With that in place, your child will flourish. However, finding (and affording) such a placement has been difficult.

In many ways, you feel trapped… You love the city. You live in West Philly… You live in North Philly… You live in South Philly… You live in Germantown… You live in Mount Airy… You work hard to make sure your kids are well-fed, well-clothed and the bills are paid. However, sometimes it feels like your walking up a down escalator. Every time you get paid, you see where the City of Philadelphia has taken nearly 4% of your money. Every time you spend some money you see the City of Philadelphia has taken another 2% of your money, on top of the 6% that goes to the State of Pennsylvania.

It’s enough to make you want a drink or smoke… But they will get you at the register, yet again, if those are your vices… When you buy that glass of wine, cocktail or beer, the City of Philadelphia takes another 10% of your money. If you buy a pack of cigarettes, the City of Philadelphia takes another $2 of your hard earn funds. It feels like you can’t win…

It’s tough to make it in Philly. In fact, like most of your friends and neighbors you are working 1.5 or 2 two jobs just to make ends meet. I get it.

More than anything else, you would like to find a safe high quality school setting for your child. You want to feel good about dropping your child off every day. For those 7 or 8 eight hours, you want to feel they are safe and sound. You need a school that maintains a healthy balance between accomplishing academic goals and meeting your child’s social and emotional needs. Despite the high cost of living in Philadelphia such schools are very few and far between.

I may have found an answer to some your prayers.

Independence Mission Schools (IMS) is a non-profit organization managing a network of 15 Catholic elementary schools across the city of Philadelphia. These schools, formerly run by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, are beacons of hope to their communities; they provide a high-quality, low-cost education to more than 4,700 children of all faiths from many of the City’s most under-served neighborhoods, delivering opportunity to these children and their families.

Some of you may already know about these shining lights of hope in the midst of our rapidly decaying urban educational system. The Independence Mission Schools have seen an increase of approximately 1,000 students over the past 12 months. So, clearly the word is slowly getting out amongst our folk. But for the most part, they have relied on parents talking to other parents and alums sharing their positive experiences. Word of mouth has been their most effect marketing strategy.

I’m a firm believer in “catching” people doing “good things.” Positive stories deserve at least as much attention as the negative tales that bombard us on a daily basis.

Over the past couple of years, local print and television media have focused their sights, almost exclusively, on school violence, cheating scandals, poor test scores crumbling facilities and an unprecedented budget crisis prompting massive teacher and counselor layoffs. Relying solely on “mainstream” media outlets, one gets the sense that there is no hope for urban education. The prevailing narrative would have you believe that we’ve abandoned all hope for adequately educating low to moderate income inner-city Black and Brown kids.

Meanwhile, in neighborhoods all across the city Independence Mission Schools have been delivering high quality educational services to an overwhelmingly African-American, Latino and Asian cohort of high achieving and well behaved students.

Over the past week, I have visited four Independence Mission Schools. Al Cavalli, the President of IMS, invited me to visit schools in different parts of the city. I toured St. Rose of Lima near the Overbrook section, St. Martin de Porres in North Philly, Our Mother of Sorrows/St. Ignatius (OSSI) in West Philly and St. Thomas Aquinas in South Philly. At each school, the Principal set aside over two hours out of their busy schedules to provide me with a detailed background of the mission and workings of their respective schools.

I was introduced to every teacher and every class in these schools. The students in these schools are representative of the neighborhoods in which they are located. St. Rose, St. Martin and OSSI are 99%-100% African-American. St. Vincent’s student body reflects the tremendous diversity prevailing in a reinvigorated South Philadelphia. There are Black, Vietnamese, Chinese, and White students learning together.

The children, without fail greeted me with welcoming smiles. In unison, each class said ”Good morning Mr. Wilson, welcome to St. Rose/St. Martin/OSSI or St. Thomas… God Bless you!” They were attentive and fully engaged in the lessons. Their eyes were bright. They were learning! The young boys, without fail, initiated the “pound hug” – a stylized version of the handshake, almost exclusively performed between two Black males, that consists of a combination of a handshake and one-armed hug. Needless to say, I was impressed. I respected these boys and they respected me.

The level of technology in these schools is a well-kept secret. Every class featured a state of the art “smart board.” Computers and IPads were everywhere. In classroom after classroom I experienced the feeling of seeing the “light-bulb go on” in the minds of these young scholars. IMS is empowering educators and inspiring life-long learners. Vince Mazzio, Principal at St. Thomas kept reiterating his belief that he is preparing kids for “jobs that don’t exist yet.” We all know he is right. Rarely does one encounter urban educators that are actually “walking the walk” and not just “talking the talk.”

IMS has created transformative urban learning environments, for today and tomorrow. Upon entering these schools, one immediately realizes they are truly different. We all know the extent to which most Philadelphia public schools are characterized by a persistent pattern of acting out, disruptive or negative attention seeking behaviors.

The social setting in Independence Mission Schools is conducive to learning. Of course, these schools are tuition-based. The cost is approximately $4,000 per year. According to Cavalli, the overwhelming majority of IMS families receive financial assistance. Moreover, payments are spread across 10 months. The typical family pays somewhere between $100-$300 per month.

My question to you is: What is peace of mind worth? I know it’s tight. It won’t be easy. But, let’s keep it real… I see young Black boys walking to and from dysfunctional public schools wearing $150-$250 sneakers every day. I see young girls do the same with $200-$400 hair weaves flowing down their backs. What’s more important? What truly matters? I guess what I’m asking is: Will it be consumption or investment?

You are a good parent. You care. I know how much your child’s future means to you. I can help you find a good school for your child. Feel free to contact me via email at delgrecowilson@aol.com. I look forward to helping you lay the foundation for a bright educational future.

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Remembering the “Gentle” Big Man: Lari Ketner

October 20, 2014 By delgrecowilson in Uncategorized Leave a comment

Lari Ketner and Bruiser Flint, Umass Basketball

Twenty years ago, Lari Ketner pumped in 20 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks to lead the Roman Catholic Cahillites to the Catholic League Championship in the historic Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. The 1993-94 Roman Catholic team is widely regraded as one of Philadelphia’s most talented scholastic teams over the past twenty-five years. According to LaSalle University legend, Donnie Carr, “Lari was the best big man I ever played with.”

Ketner served as an anchor in the paint for Roman Catholic teams that featured Donnie Carr, Arthur “Yah” Davis, Eugene Small, Tamir Harbin, R.C. Kehoe, Ronnie Conway, Will McKnight, Chris McNesby and John Atkinson. The following year, Roman would reach the final again. This time, Roman would lose to Archbishop Carroll. That loss in the Championship game ended a streak of 20 consecutive playoff victories.

Lari would go on to play at UMass where he was recruited by John Calipari who left after Ketner sat out his freshman year. Playing for Bruiser Flint, Lari frequently displayed astonishing athleticism for man standing 6’10” and weighing 280 lbs. After three solid seasons, he was drafted into the NBA where he played for three teams in two seasons.

Lari and Aquarius Ketner

Earlier this month, Lari passed away after a long battle with a rare form of colon cancer. His passing has deeply impacted his Philadelphia family members and friends. Donnie Carr remembers Lari as “A great person. He was ‘too nice’ at times. Lari was truly a gentle soul and above all else he was a great friend.”

A celebration of Lari Ketner’s life will be held on November 2, 2014. All of his Philadelphia family members, friends, teammates and the entire Philadelphia basketball community will pay their respect to the “gentle” Big Man.

A Tragedy in Song: “Hot Nigga” by Bobby Shmurda

October 17, 2014 By delgrecowilson in Uncategorized Leave a comment

Very insightful!!

M.B. Watson

About a week ago, as I enjoyed abnormally slow Starbucks Wi-Fi, two young women walked up to my friends and me. They had a question that I did not expect until after it was asked. It was a cultural question composed of so many layers that I doubt they understood. I’m sure they failed to understand ONLY through lack of trying. That one question opened my already ponderous mind to a sea of worrisome thoughts. What was this awful question?

“Hey, can you guys teach us the Shmoney dance?”

Now, before (or after) you chuckle at how ridiculous my predicament was, understand that the song “Hot Nigga” had been on my mind for awhile. Not only because of how catchy it was or how infectious the featured Schmoney dance is. See, the song had plagued my thoughts because I couldn’t help but view it differently that most of the 8,000,000+…

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Sex, Black Male Athletes & The Responsibilities of Ol’ Heads

October 14, 2014 By delgrecowilson in College Athletics Tags: African-Americans, Black America, College Basketball, Grassroots Basketball, High School Basketball, Jim Crow, Public Schools, Scholastic Basketball 1 Comment

Young fella… Let me holla at you for a minute…

I see what’s going on… She’s cute… not what you are used to… not “thick” like the girls from ’round the way… but cute nonetheless… Moreover, she’s always around… after practice… after dinner… outside study hall… in the lobby of the dorm. She always speaks first. She’s thirsty. She’s trying real hard to get your attentions. Seems like her wardrobe consists solely of yoga pants. You’ve noticed and she knows you’ve noticed. It’s just a matter of time ’til y’all hook up. Growing up you were never really interested in dating white girls, but DAMN it’s so many of them hanging around the team… You’re curious.. You’re thinking about it… Be careful young fella.

It’s a tough balancing act. You came to college to play ball first and foremost. Everything else is secondary. Academics? Yeah… the coaches talk about studying hard, but you (and everyone else for that matter) know their main concern is your development as a ball player. You are there to win games. Being a scholarship athlete is a job.. A full-time job… You are evaluated based on your performance on the court and on the field. Besides, if you take the classes they’ve lined up for you and work with your academic advisers you’ll be fine. You will graduate in four years.

But what about the blonde in the yoga pants? Let’s call her Becky. There’s no adviser to guide you through that situation. Young fella you are on your own. You have to rely on your own judgement. After a while, you decide to “hang out” with her. She has a BMW 3 series… nice… She has a credit card with what seems like no limit… Pizza? She’s got it… Wings? She’s got it… Movies? She’s got it… $50?… Yeah, she’s got that to…

Never, throughout all of your years in the “hood,” have you encountered a girl like Becky. You have no frame of reference for this type of “relationship.” It really doesn’t make sense to you… She’s not your lady… She’s not your girlfriend… but… you like it. You really like it. You’ve been conditioned to like it. When they recruited you, they put about 4-5 girls just like her in front of you for the entire weekend. These girls looked like Becky and they were ready, willing and able… You smashed. It was all good. You committed… “Coach, I’m coming to BIG State!”

So now you’ve been on campus for a few weeks, it’s Friday and there’s no practice tomorrow. A rare day off. You can’t believe coach actually has nothing planned in the morning. So you, two teammates and your boy from home decide to head over to a keg party at a nearby apartment complex. Soon as you enter the door, there she is… Becky… Y’all lock eyes… It’s a wrap, she’s by your side for the rest of the evening. You playfully flirt. You test the limits… How far will she let me go? You grab her ass, she’s ok with that… You kiss her, she’s ok with that.

After a 7-8 drinks things start to get a little “loose.” Y’all decide to slip off to the bathroom. You close the door behind her and she gets on her knees. The effort is there, but the constant knocking at the door is really distracting. After 10 minutes or so y’all decide to go back to your room. This poses problems for your boys. You’re the “man,” everyone knows you, not them. They are just dudes at a party. Your friends don’t like their chances of “hooking up” if you aren’t there with them. Everybody decides to leave. You, your crew and Becky head back to your dorm.

Michael Jordan’s Son, Marcus and friends

Upon arriving back at the dorm, it’s on. You and Becky immediately disrobe and engage in consensual sex. Very good consensual sex. So good, your boys have been listening at the door the whole time. As a result, they are drunk and horny. These guys are in a frenzied state of mind. When you leave to clean yourself in the bathroom, your teammate decides to enter the room. We have just entered the danger zone. Young fella… Make no mistake… Lives are about to change forever.

Becky sees him taking off his pants and gets worried. She didn’t sign up for this. She let’s him know she doesn’t want to have sex with him. He totally disregards her protestations. He’s gonna take it. He grabs her, places his forearm across her chest and pins her down on the bed. In a matter of seconds, Becky knows she has no options. It’s total mismatch. He’s 6’4” and 245 lbs. She’s 5’3” and about 120. Your boy… your buddy… your homie… forcefully spreads her legs and penetrates her vagina. He’s not wearing a condom. After a few minutes he lifts her up, flips her over and forces himself into her anus. Becky is crying. Her spirit has literally left her frail body. She has given up on physically resisting. She’s just hoping that this ordeal will soon come to an end. It doesn’t.

After wiping yourself down, you re-enter the room. The other two guys are on your heels. You see what is happening. Your boy is ravaging Becky. You know it’s not right. You know it’s foul. But you don’t take a stand. You are now complicit. Unfortunately, you are “down” – legally and in a fraternal sense – with your boys… You’re weak and you allow Becky to be raped. It unfolds right in your face. Your boy from home forces his penis in her mouth while your teammate continues to assault her from the rear. Your other teammate whips out his cell phone and starts recording the incident. Becky has become an inanimate object, she exists solely as a means of pleasuring the young men. No one give any thought to her feelings, her pain, her humiliation. Eventually, her crying becomes overbearing and y’all decide to cease. You throw her a towel, a rag and a hoodie. You and your homies retreat to the living area leaving her lying is a pool of sweat, tears and semen.

After a about 10 minutes, you ask her if she’s “alright.” Becky’s eyes are open, but she is unresponsive. It’s as if she comatose. She has just been subjected to a brutal felony gang rape. But in a haze of ego and displaced loyalty to your friends, you convince yourself somehow, someway that she wanted it. You have absolutely no idea how much trouble you are in. Back in the living area, your boy has already forwarded the video and pics to several other friends. Your dumb ass then shares it with other players on the team.

Becky is devastated. She is bleeding. All sorts of thoughts are running through her head. “Do I have a disease? Herpes? Aid? Am I pregnant?” Blaming herself, she wonders what she could have done differently. Yes, she wanted consensual sex with YOU. The key words here are “with YOU”. She didn’t want to be tossed around and shared by a group of strange men. Unbeknownst to you and your friends, Becky has just endured life altering physical and psychological trauma. Even though you don’t yet realize it, your athletic careers are already in jeopardy and your reputations will never recover.

Different versions of this episode are playing out on college campuses all across the country. Young Black college and professional athletes are literally “wildin’ out” on campuses and in hotels across the country. Of course, white athletes are wildin out too. But, I’m not concerned with Ben Rothlisberger, Christian Peter and other white athletes right now. Young fella, I am worried about you. With alarming frequency, the media provides us with detailed accounts such as the one above.

Even casual fans can recognize that Black college and professional athletes such as yourself are increasingly involved in “alleged” sexual assaults. When not substantiated, these allegations, nonetheless, linger. They permanently stain the reputation and decrease the earning potential of guys like you. You do not want to be forever linked to the words “sexual assault” and “RAPE.” If substantiated, athletes face immediate repercussions meted out by the criminal justice system and living their remaining years as a registered “sex offender.” Either way, the social and financial costs of sexual assaults are extremely high and should be avoided at all costs.

But how do you learn to deal with these situations? Who will demonstrate and model more appropriate ways to engage in sexual relationships with females, especially female “groupies”? I know you don’t really have a relationship with your father. Who can help save you from yourself?

My contention here is that your Ol’ Heads have to do a better job preparing you for the complex and often confusing social circumstances awaiting elite basketball and football players on college campuses. It ain’t enough to just deliver you to a Nike, under Arnour of Adidas school. Ol’ Heads have to do more. They are the ones in a position to make a difference. Ol’ Heads have earned your respect and that of young Black males. They are youth coaches, high school coaches, AAU coaches, mentors, teachers or any older gentleman that demonstrates a willingness to impart knowledge. Ol’ Heads know exactly how these scenarios can play out.

Young fella, if you truly don’t understand how you ended up arrested and charged with rape, your Ol’ Heads failed you.

I’m gonna always try my best to give it you raw and uncut. Young fella, I have to speak TRUTH. Take it however you want, but here it is.

Some things have been issues from the moment Black men set foot on Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. Since then, their place in the fledgling society has been an issue of vital concern to dominant white males. Very early on it was decided that Black males would be subjugated and relegated to far less than second class status. By 1640, at least one African had been declared a slave and formally ordered by the court “to serve his said master or his assigns for the time of his natural life here or elsewhere.” Your Ol’ Heads understand that Black male sexuality and the Black penis have been viewed as major threats to the established social order by successive generations of white Americans over the past 370 years. Your Ol’ heads know that Black male interactions with women, especially white women, throughout American history have been aggressively policed and excessively punished. Ol’ Heads tend to understand this instinctively even if they are not familiar with the ugly, horrific details of manner in which American society has interacted with Black male genitalia.

The problem, as I see it young fella, is that collegiate sports has become such an integral and important part of American culture that many Ol’ Heads think that these historically observable dynamics no longer apply to elite athletes such as yourself. And, to certain extent, they are not wrong. They are just shortsighted. As long as you are performing in sanctioned contests that generate approximately $900,000,000 annually for the NCAA, they will let a LOT of shit “slide.” Up to and including sexual assaults…

However, when you are no longer eligible to play or become ineffective at toting the rock or dunking a ball… When you can no longer contribute to victories and earn $$$$ for BIG state, the reality of America’s long standing fear of Black sexuality will rear its’ ugly head. You will quickly come to understand the extent to which America continues to be fearful of the Black penis.

Young fella… Let me give you a quick history lesson on this subject. They have always reserved the “legal” right to cut your dick off for that same shit y’all did to Becky. In 1769, Colonial Virginia established a law which “authorized the castration of any slave who attempted to have sex with a white woman,” but it had no similar provision when white men attempted or in fact ravished black women. Young fella… pay attention… In 1775, Colonial Georgia formally enacted the prohibition against teaching a slave to read or write. The penalty for violating this prohibition was set at fifteen pounds sterling. That fine was was 50% larger that that for willfully castrating a slave or cutting off a limb. That means the penalty for cutting off your balls was only half as much as the fine for teaching you to read. I know what you are thinking: “I would have escaped, I would have run off…” You had better make to freedom if you tried. In Colonial South Carolina, a third attempt at escaping to freedom warranted castration. This mysterious fascination with and simultaneous fear of Black penises was not limited to the South. In Colonial Pennsylvania, all Black males, free and enslaved, found guilty of attempts to rape a white woman were castrated. The macabre behavior continued, in extra-legal forms well after independence from England.

In his recent film, Quinten Tarantino captured the essence of the issue at hand when Django was hung naked upside down in a barn while he awaits castration. The white man longing to execute the job, Billy Crash, one of the overseers, delighted in the thought of cutting off Django balls. But, young fella, I don’t have to rely on cinematic fiction to illustrate how this is part of America’s DNA.

Throughout American history, when Black males were lynched the murderers would routinely cut off their penises. Sometimes, Black dicks were kept as souvenirs in pickle jars. In other instances, they were shoved into the mouths of the victim as he dangled from a tree. Eighty years ago, on October 26, 1934 Claude Neal was lynched in Marianna, Florida for having an affair with Ms. Cannidy, a young white neighbor.

A member of the lynch mob described the gruesome episode in great detail:

“After taking the nigger to the woods about four miles from Greenwood, they cut off his penis. He was made to eat it. Then they cut off his testicles and made him eat them and say he liked it. Then they sliced his sides and stomach with knives and every now and then somebody would cut off a finger or toe. Red hot irons were used on the nigger to burn him from top to bottom.” From time to time during the torture a rope would be tied around Neal’s neck and he was pulled up over a limb and held there until he almost choked to death when he would be let down and the torture begin all over again. After several hours of this unspeakable torture, “they decided just to kill him.”

The mob of angry whites tied Neal to a rope at the rear of an automobile and dragged over the highway to the Cannidy home. Somewhere between 3000 and 7000 fervent whites from eleven southern states were excitedly waiting his arrival. When Neal’s corpse arrived, it was immediately mutilated by the onlookers. It was then taken back to Marianna, where it was hung to a tree in the courthouse square. Young fella, pictures (see below) were taken of the mutilated body and hundreds of photographs were sold for fifty cents each. Neal’s fingers were sold as souvenirs.

Claude Neal, Marianna, Florida 1934

In some important ways, times have changed significantly. Think about it young fella. For the better part of four centuries, brutal lynchings and castrations accompanied even the slightest thought of engaging in sexual relations with white women. Yet, today young Black men are engaging in sexual relations with white women on college campuses in Florida, Texas, South Carolina, Kentucky, others states throughout the former Confederacy and all across the country. Even when white women cry “rape” the cases are frequently made to go away.

By now Young fella… I know your asking: How does this make sense? What is going on? What changed?

Incredibly, at this historical juncture, it is apparent that many white police and University officials place more value on the alleged Black perpetrator’s athletic services than they do on the “honor” of the putative white female victims. The investigative reports are there for all to see.

Most recently, mainstream media outlets like ESPN, the New York Times and the Washington Post reported that white males in positions of authority are hindering investigations of Black males suspected of sexually assaulting white women. University presidents, athletic directors and coaches are routinely siding with prominent young Black athletes and questioning the accounts of alleged victims.

Young fella, you wanna know what’s really going on?

In the immortal words of Raekwon, Inspectah Deck, Method Man and the rest of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan, “Cash Rules Everything Around Me” C.R.E.A.M./Get the money; dollar, dollar bill, y’all. The fear of Black male sexuality still exists, but it has been overridden by naked greed. Elite collegiate athletes generate huge sums of money for their respective institutions.

Young fella , as soon as you are no longer a substantial source of revenue, the fear will become readily apparent.

Your Ol’ Heads understand this innate fear. Unfortunately, truth be told, just like the white males cashing in at the colleges, a lot of Ol’ Heads have been blinded by greed. Hoping to cash in if you make it, many Ol’ Heads are not willing to impose behavioral expectations on guys like you. They are afraid of being cast out of your inner circle. They are worried that you will make it to the NFL or NBA and they won’t be around to share in your success and reap financial rewards.

In short, the game is fucked up!!

Fearful of losing access, Ol’ Heads fail to provide guidance for dealing with these situations. You have never been subjected to logical consequences for your negative behaviors. As a result, you have no idea how the larger society views these types of sexual escapades. Because you can ball, people have been letting you get away with all types of transgressions since you were 10 or 11 years old. Young fella you have been socialized to believe you are above the rest of society. You are part of a generation of gladiators incapable of consistently exhibiting socially appropriate behaviors in all settings.

Far too many of today’s Ol’ Heads view their role as making problems go away. In the past, Ol’ Heads prepared youngbucks to deal with a complicated, confusing and discriminatory society. These days, Ol’ Heads just say, “Don’t worry ‘bout it, I’ll fix it.”

That is extremely unfortunate. Your generation is paying a high price for this. More than anyone else, Ol’ Heads are in a position to spell out the truth. Ol’ Heads know their youngbucks. They know if y’all are capable of assaulting or raping women. They have spent countless hours in cars, gyms and classrooms with youngbucks. In many instances, they have diffused sensitive situations involving inappropriate behaviors with girls and young women. The responsibilities of Ol’ Heads are much deeper than the responsibility of college coaches, given the unique relationships and access that Ol’ Heads enjoy.

Ol’ Heads also understand the dynamics of race as they have historically applied to Black athletes. From 1905 through the early 1970’s, major NCAA college basketball and football programs fielded teams that were predominantly white. In the south, “Affirmative Action” was firmly entrenched in the recruitment process. Participation in major college athletics was exclusively (100%) the preserve of white males for these seven decades. Highly skilled and supremely gifted Black athletes were barred from participation and lesser white athletes were awarded scholarships.

After explicitly denying Black males an opportunity participate for seven decades, the pendulum has swung entirely in the other direction. One watching two top SEC teams on television today could easily envision the same game taking place between Grambling and Southern in the mid 1960’s. Outside an occasional center or quarterback, dominant college teams are predominantly African-American.

The money has really changed things young fella… The rise of the Black athlete and the accompanying exponential growth in revenues has led us a point where many white fans, boosters, coaches, administrators and even law enforcement officials value winning college athletic contests (and the generating millions of dollars) more than they fear Black penises.

But… youngfella… please… please… Don’t be fooled, it’s all about the money.

Let’s look at the investigation of a rape allegation against the reigning Heisman winner and quarterback of the national champion Florida State football team. This incident and the ensuing actions on the part of authority figures provides a clear picture of just how far the pendulum has swung.

On Jan. 10, 2013, a female student alleged that Jameis Winston has raped her about a month earlier and reported him to the Tallahassee police. According to a statement released by the university, senior athletic department officials met with Mr. Winston’s lawyer, Mr. Jansen, within days of his identification as a suspect and quickly concluded that “there were no grounds for further action.” The accuser’s former lawyer, Patricia A. Carroll, said the department did not contact her at the time to get her client’s side of the story.

What the fuck is up with that? Fifty years ago a mob would have tried to drag Winston out of his home and hang him up on a tree a few feet from the courthouse steps.

Young fella… If we remember what Wu-Tang tells us, that “cash rules everything around me” then things start to make sense. On the field, Winston is a dynamic force and a dominant leader. Florida State has yet to lose a football game in the in year and a half he has been the starting quarterback. Wins translate into dollars. County officials estimate that home games generate anywhere from $1.5 million to $10 million into the local economy, depending on the quality of the opponent. Last year Florida State reported a football profit of $20 million, which covered much of the expenses for other sports teams while also helping the athletic department contribute $2.6 million back to academic programming on top of athletic scholarships.

The New york Times has reported that the police investigator who handled the case, Scott Angulo, “has done private security work for the Seminole Boosters, a nonprofit organization, with nearly $150 million in assets, that is the primary financier of Florida State athletics, according to records and a lawyer for the boosters.”

As long as he has eligibility left, FSU and the authorities in Tallahassee will continue to let a LOT of shit slide. Winston as of October 14, 2014 is 19-0 as the starting QB. He also has a Heisman trophy and a National Championship in hand. You… young fella… you ain’t Jameis Winston.

Act like you got some sense!!

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The Black Cager

A Black Perspective on Collegiate Athletics

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