players meeting to discuss ways to affect change

[aubiefifty 16,807]

al.com

 

Auburn players meeting to discuss ways to affect change

By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

5-7 minutes

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Auburn linebacker Chandler Wooten holds up his sign as he marches with his teammates from Toomer's Corner to the Auburn police station during the Protest for Black Lives in Auburn, Ala. on Sunday, June 7, 2020. (Photo by Giana Han)

Owen Pappoe is hurting. So are his Auburn teammates.

The Tigers’ sophomore linebacker is tired of logging on to social media and seeing one social justice atrocity after another — from the May killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police that sparked a summer of nationwide protests, to the deaths of Breonna Taylor and Elijah McClain from undue police brutality, to the most recent senseless act of police violence in Kenosha, Wisc., where Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by a police officer.

Frankly, it has become exhausting for Auburn’s players to watch unfold in real time.

“It’s just ridiculous the stuff that’s going on,” Pappoe said. “It’s sad to see that, every other week, you turn on Twitter and see all the social injustices that’s going on. It’s sad.”

In the wake of the most recent events — the police shooting of Blake, as well as the shooting deaths of two protesters and the injuring of another at the hands of 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha — NBA players went on temporary strike Wednesday in the midst of the playoffs to further protest social injustice. WNBA players followed suit, postponing their scheduled games Wednesday. Multiple MLB teams did the same, and five MLS matches were also postponed. Several NFL teams have also cancelled practices in response to the shootings.

The social injustices against the Black community—and lack of justice upon those inflicting them — remained a topic among Auburn players this week, though the Tigers had no talks about scheduling their own practice walk-out during the second week of fall camp. Instead, players have planned a team meeting for Thursday to discuss what has been going on in Wisconsin, across the country and the sports landscape, as they attempt to figure out actionable steps they can take as a football team to effect societal changes.

“We walked downtown before, and we’re going to keep talking about it,” redshirt senior wide receiver Eli Stove said. “… We’re going to do something about the movement. There’s a lot of stuff going on, so we want to be involved as much as we can.”

Auburn players have not been shy in recent months about speaking up on social issues, and many have found their voices on the matters and have used their platforms as student-athletes and well-known figure in the community to express their thoughts on issues. As a team, Auburn players and coaches attended the June 7 march and Protest for Black Lives through downtown Auburn, and head coach Gus Malzahn has encouraged players to speak out on issues as well while continuing to listen to their concerns on matters beyond the football field.

Linebacker Chandler Wooten, who is one of three Auburn players to opt out of the upcoming season, has been one of the most vocal on social media, though he is not alone. Defensive back Traivon Leonard, another opt-out, has done the same. Senior defensive back Jordyn Peters was particularly active online Wednesday and Thursday, while linebacker Zakoby McClain, defensive lineman Derick Hall, offensive lineman Kam Stutts, defensive tackle Coynis Miller Jr., running back Mark-Antony Richards, offensive linemen Jalil Irvin and Keiondre Jones, and linebacker O.C. Brothers have been among the many voices to express their frustrations on the issues in the last 24 hours alone.

They’re all demanding justice, touting the value of Black lives and showing that they are more than just athletes. They’re not going to shut up and play; they’re human beings who are outraged by what they have seen happen in the world and what many have experienced throughout their lives while witnessing oppression of Black people and minorities in this country and the systemic problems that are at the root of these injustices.

And that is just from the players who have taken to social media to speak out. Others who may not be as vocal online are privately hurting, too.

“I have had conversations with numerous players and what’s going on and how all this stuff affects them and their families,” Stove said. “Everybody is hurting in different ways. People just have to change. We all have to come together.”

Auburn players will do that today when they convene for their team meeting. Voicing their opinions and coming together as a team are just the first steps, though.

What will come from that meeting — what comes next and the actionable steps the team can take to make an impact, even at a local level — remains to be seen, but the players’ desire sparked by their outrage is certainly there.

“We’re just trying to plan something to make change,” Pappoe said. “Really don’t know exactly what it’s going to be yet. But we definitely want to do whatever we can in our power to help make a difference in the world. Everything that’s going on in the world right now, it’s crazy. And I think that change has to come from within people’s hearts… We’re going to try to do whatever we can in our power to help make a change.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde

[aubiefifty 16,807]

i sure hope auburn fans are classier than kaintuck fans. kentuckys whole team walked out today and stoops did not know about it until they were leaving but he gave his blessings and from what i understand they will be back tomorrow at practice getting after it. i could not believe some of the comments some kentucky fans made. wow. yes it was the rant but still. i hope we never get like that or at least that bad. we can do better i think. and some are but some are not.

[auburn61 6]

Seems more of a political forum topic. Could we try to keep these separate? I don't post much I know, but dang there is no escape from the madness.

[GoAU 1,600]

I agree.  I dont think we want to take the Football forum down the political path.  Nothing good can come of this.  

[DAG 33,995]

Thanks for posting this, @aubiefifty . I for one think this absolutely should stay on the football forum as the majority of this team is made up of black young men. You can try to run from it, but you cannot separate the two, especially in athletics. 

[autigeremt 6,643]

Too late. AUFamily on Facebook decided to promote Black Lives Matter tonight. It’s over now. It’s been a lot of fun but Auburn football is now heading down the path of division. Society is too lazy to address issues as they come and emotions are now ahead of thought and purposeful action. 

[CMRVHS 52]

I'm not sure of your meaning of your post autigeremt. I'm pretty sure a Venn diagram has "Black Lives Matter" encompassed within the "All Lives Matter" bubble, similar to "Save the rain forrest" is encompassed by the "save all forrest" bubble. Saying you support the inner bubble doesn't mean you don't support the entire bubble, just that it might need some extra attention at the moment.

WDE

[TD1 227]

I'm proud of them for using their voices. As a black graduate of Auburn, it's sad (but not surprising) reading some of the comments being left under the AUFamily's IG post. 

[BigBlueWDE 1,136]

The comments section is horrible. I am really disappointed.

[Tigerpro2a 5,650]

1 hour ago, CMRVHS said:

I'm not sure of your meaning of your post autigeremt. I'm pretty sure a Venn diagram has "Black Lives Matter" encompassed within the "All Lives Matter" bubble, similar to "Save the rain forrest" is encompassed by the "save all forrest" bubble. Saying you support the inner bubble doesn't mean you don't support the entire bubble, just that it might need some extra attention at the moment.

WDE

I definitely agree. I also would add that I personally  think the majority of people who are upset about this definitely support the idea of black lives matter and care for people as a whole, but do not support the organization BLM. Just because someone doesn't support BLM the organization doesn't mean they do not support black people. 

[Mikey 16,625]

6 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

most recent senseless act of police violence in Kenosha, Wisc., where Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by a police officer.

Blake: He's a convicted felon who was wanted for sexual assault. (alleged rape of a 14 year old girl) He resisted arrest and was reaching into his car for a weapon when shot. Senseless act? It will come back as justified police action. Here's just one account of Blake's many run-ins with the law.https://lakecountygazette.com/stories/549300062-jacob-blake-man-shot-in-kenosha-had-long-history-with-lake-county-law-enforcement 

He's a dead-beat dad, among other fine attributes. It's not police brutality every time some criminal resists arrest and gets himself shot in the process.

[Rednilla 5,391]

1 hour ago, Mikey said:

It's not police brutality every time some criminal resists arrest and gets himself shot in the process.

So resisting arrest (while not fighting against the officers) is grounds to be shot 7 times? Really?!?

[mustache eagle 2,406]

1 hour ago, Rednilla said:

So resisting arrest (while not fighting against the officers) is grounds to be shot 7 times? Really?!?

Yes 

In your opinion what is the acceptable number of times he should have been shot?  Should the officer wait until the unknown weapon is pointed at him before shooting the acceptable number of times?

[gr82be 14,433]

31 minutes ago, mustache eagle said:

Should the officer wait until the unknown weapon is pointed at him before shooting the acceptable number of times?

So far this year there has been 29 law enforcement officers who have possibly waited until the weapon was pointed at them. These 29 lost their lives to gunfire. It's a situation that so many of us would freak out in that the typical citizen can't comprehend what must be going through their mind. Then you factor in what's going through the suspect's mind and you wind up with the tragedies that we are seeing. I have and will continue to have immense respect for law enforcement officers and I have a family member who is one. I pray she is never in the position that could lead to a death, any death. I am not smart enough to know the right thing to say about much of this but for some reason, while I can't personally justify shooting someone seven times in the back, I also can't compare it to what happened to George Floyd. Having someone die while already in custody is on a different level than having someone die while trying to apprehend them when you don't have complete control. In both cases what happened to the victim didn't have to happen but in one case it could have been avoided. It's the cases like what happened to George Floyd that has prompted the reactions that we are seeing daily, not a case like Jacob Blake's. I'm not meaning to imply that Jacob Blake doesn't matter as much as Floyd either. I'm just saying that the two are very different to me. Officer Chavin was not in potential danger any longer. That's what people are fed up with. 

[DAG 33,995]

4 hours ago, Tigerpro2a said:

I definitely agree. I also would add that I personally  think the majority of people who are upset about this definitely support the idea of black lives matter and care for people as a whole, but do not support the organization BLM. Just because someone doesn't support BLM the organization doesn't mean they do not support black people. 

People need to use their heads than and understand that BLM does not equate to the BLM organization. Many of the young men speaking about BLM probably do not even know a thing but the group. 

[Gowebb11 9,330]

5 hours ago, Mikey said:

Blake: He's a convicted felon who was wanted for sexual assault. (alleged rape of a 14 year old girl) He resisted arrest and was reaching into his car for a weapon when shot. Senseless act? It will come back as justified police action. Here's just one account of Blake's many run-ins with the law.https://lakecountygazette.com/stories/549300062-jacob-blake-man-shot-in-kenosha-had-long-history-with-lake-county-law-enforcement 

He's a dead-beat dad, among other fine attributes. It's not police brutality every time some criminal resists arrest and gets himself shot in the process.

Was he resisting arrest (and what for) or refusing to get on the ground spread eagle simply for being black? If the cops knew of the outstanding warrant and were there to arrest him for it, the Police Chief should have released that information to the public immediately. Why would he not? That is not classified information and is very relevant to share with the public immediately in this time of unrest. If they were there as reported for a disturbance and didn’t know of his criminal past, his record is irrelevant as far as the shooting is concerned. It is reported there was a knife in the car, but one has to wonder with multiple cops on the scene armed with guns if he was trying to reach for a knife, or trying to get into his car and leave. I reserve judgement until ALL of the facts come out.

On a separate but related note, why are cops armed with multiple non-lethal weapons increasingly not able to gain control of suspects, even when they outnumber the suspect 2 or 3 or 4 to 1. Unlike Flowyd, this was not a large guy.  Something needs to be done in their training to correct that. 

[TigerTale 357]

2 hours ago, DAG said:

People need to use their heads than and understand that BLM does not equate to the BLM organization. Many of the young men speaking about BLM probably do not even know a thing but the group. 

This is where te rub is often seen. Many of us believe that black lives matter, but don't won't anything at all to do with the actual BLM organization. I am able to understand that the two don't equate. However, I don't know the intentions of others.

If many of the young men speaking about BLM do not even know a think about the group, it would be very helpful for them to learn about the organization and decide if their values line up with the values of that group.

[TD1 227]

1 hour ago, TigerTale said:

This is where te rub is often seen. Many of us believe that black lives matter, but don't won't anything at all to do with the actual BLM organization. I am able to understand that the two don't equate. However, I don't know the intentions of others.

If many of the young men speaking about BLM do not even know a think about the group, it would be very helpful for them to learn about the organization and decide if their values line up with the values of that group.

See, I disagree. I don't think that they have to differentiate between the two. Simply saying "Black Lives Matter" should be enough.

 

When I say BLM, I'm not necessarily saying that I support the organization. I'm simply saying that my life matters. It's very frustrating for me to see fans praise these young men every Saturday during the fall. When these young men want to be vocal about the racial discrimination they're faced with these same fans respond with "I've lost all respect for Auburn" or "they're no longer getting any of my money". 

[WarDamnEagleWDE 12,737]

9 hours ago, autigeremt said:

Too late. AUFamily on Facebook decided to promote Black Lives Matter tonight. It’s over now. It’s been a lot of fun but Auburn football is now heading down the path of division. Society is too lazy to address issues as they come and emotions are now ahead of thought and purposeful action. 

Really? Wow. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

9 hours ago, CMRVHS said:

I'm not sure of your meaning of your post autigeremt. I'm pretty sure a Venn diagram has "Black Lives Matter" encompassed within the "All Lives Matter" bubble, similar to "Save the rain forrest" is encompassed by the "save all forrest" bubble. Saying you support the inner bubble doesn't mean you don't support the entire bubble, just that it might need some extra attention at the moment.

WDE

Yup. Another interesting Venn diagram would be various alt-right, white supremacist, militia and other domestic terrorist groups compared to all Trump voters. Because that is exactly the logical fallacy that many people are making with regards to BLM.

 

[McLoofus 35,182]

27 minutes ago, TD1 said:

When I say BLM, I'm not necessarily saying that I support the organization.

Sadly, anyone who actually wants to understand already does. The rest will go on choosing not to.

 

[WarDamnEagleWDE 12,737]

9 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Yup. Another interesting Venn diagram would be various alt-right, white supremacist, militia and other domestic terrorist groups compared to all Trump voters. Because that is exactly the logical fallacy that many people are making with regards to BLM.

 

Your wrong but it's your right to be wrong. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

8 minutes ago, WarDamnEagleWDE said:

Your wrong but it's your right to be wrong. 

Big if true.

*You're

[ellitor 33,104]

I don't see how this is not political or will jump down that rabbit hole at warp speed so moving it to the political forum. If I'm wrong another Mod or admin feel free to move it back.

[Zeek 16,657]

I hope my fellow Auburn fans can remember the important idea that we can disagree and still be friends. Please read my entire post or don't read it all. Partially reading it will likely lead to a misunderstanding. 

Black lives matter. Yes, this statement in it's literal sense is clearly true. The group that has been parading under the BLM label is closer to a fascist terrorist group looking to control through fear, intimidation, and violence. Unfortunately my first thought when I see a BLM picture tweeted out isn't "Equality for all" but instead it's that they're okay with these violent rioters who have killed more people than unarmed black people have been killed. Sometimes livestreaming the killing like they think it's acceptable.

There is a legitimate case to be made that black people are not treated correctly by police. Years of bad history and a past of systematic racism still seep into some areas today. If the movement focused more on inequality instead of the "murders" I think it would gain more support from both sides.

Unfortunately,  if you protest after every single incident before the facts come out... eventually it starts to lose meaning and alienate others. There are zero attempts by these protestors/rioters to reach across for support. They literally think it's okay to surround Republicans in mob like mentality and assault any police officers simply there to keep the peace.

This most recent incident isn't remotely making sense to me. Here we have a man with priors of brandishing a gun he illegally possessed, he was a domestic abuser, he had a warrant out for rape, he stole his girlfriends car keys, he repeatedly disobeyed officers and resisted arrest. Then, for some reason, he thinks it's okay to march angrily away from police officers with their weapons drawn and reaches into a car where they can't see. My father who grew up in the projects and myself will tell you we were constantly harassed in our own neighborhood for being outside too late or walking at a certain time. It's a class problem as much as anything. Still, if you've ever watched any police training it's frightening how quick you can die if someone reaches in, turns around, and shoots.

Let's talk statistics. A police officer is substantially more likely to die at the hands of an armed black male than the other way around. It's something like 18x more likely. In 2016 2,500 or more black individuals were murdered by another black individual.

There have been 474 abortions per 1,000 live berths in the black community. Not only are these lives lost but they also hurt the community in other ways. Having a much higher rate of abortion means their percentage of the population struggles to grow. Less representation in voting and lowers the likelihood of there being even more black representatives in politics. Not to mention Planned Parenthood was made to be an attractive option by a racist who wanted to use this strategy to lower the number of black people by placing these centers in predominantly black areas and promoting them. Look it up it was a literal attempt at eugenics. 

So I believe ALL Black Lives Matter. I believe in waiting for more information before burning down local businesses and killing people in the streets or who attempt to protect their livelihood.

Stop making martyrs out of George Floyd (died from massive amounts of drugs in his system and the full video makes it very clear the police officers accommodated him routinely). If anything they should have been less accommodating and taken him away. Maybe they would have realized he was drugged up and then he could have received medical treatment.

Don't make a martyr out of a child rapist, who illegally brandished a gun before,  was a domestic abuser, physically resisted officers, marched away from them even knowing their weapons were drawn, and then reaches into a car where the officers can't see.

Don't make a martyr out of someone who was attacking a police officer and was actively trying to take the officer's gun from him.

Let's wait for facts and by all means let's peacefully protest against racially-motivated murder and unnecessary force. Let's make the pay for police officers competitive enough that they're not desperate for employees but instead they're selective. Let's make sure they have more training than a few hours a year in hand-to-hand combat and de-escalation. As a former college wrestler I watch them trying to grapple and it's painfully bad. Most in these scenarios look like middle school kids tussling in the court yard over who gets to use the good ball.

I love all of you but I want to have honest and genuine dialogue. Not platitudes and echoing whatever some media tells us. Let's look at issues wholistically and actually discuss potential solutions instead of "this is wrong get rid of it." Let's work on emphasizing the importance of a nuclear family, importance of completing at least a high school education (stop cutting pay from underperformed schools they won't get better with less pay it makes no sense), and let's learn from greats like MLK. Instead of saying "f@#$ you give me what I demand" and using violence... instead the goal should be to work together for positive change.

Stop using the fallacy of attacking someone's character for not agreeing with you.

I've been sat in a restaurant, brought water, and then never served realizing I was the only one of my race there and (it took me a while) but finally noticing the ugly looks shooting my way.

I had people in college come up to me and my girlfriend at the time and say to her that she was a race traitor. People she thought were her friends would say it to her face with me right there. 

I've been denied access into a branch of my former college that stated GPA was their only determiner (they could only take 23 per semester so they stated they'd take the best GPA and then count down to 23) but later people of different a different gender and race are admitted with substantially lower GPAs.

I'm for true equality and equity for all let's just be genuine about what we're doing. Love you all and I'm sorry for the rant but watching teams copy each other one after one without really saying anything substantial has me craving actual dialogue.