"Rock Bridge High School Football Fields" seem sufficient to me.
Commodifying our public school facilities with the names of living people is just pathetic. Wayne Sells has both some intellectual and historical maturing to do. He neither understands the Black Lives Matter movement nor the historical and ongoing political protest against serial police brutality.
The message from our community needs to be "Racism is UnAmerican"
This ridiculous conflating of kneeling to demand justice as somehow an offensive gesture to veterans is a bunch of made-up gobbledygook out of white ignorance and fear. Until Sells recognizes the racist ideas he is propagating are contrived from his own socialization based on ignorance and white racial resentment, he’s incapable of apologizing.
What should happen is authentic recognition and acknowledgment of his racist ideas, alongside authentic public atonement and reconciliation. His response (that blasphemous letter) was self-centered, petulant and arrogant; and altogether irrelevant. He needs to sign up for some Black Studies, Women and Gender Studies classes at MU! Hell, even Sociology will undo historical misinformation. Kristin Kopp teaches a fabulous class in the Spring called the History of Blacks in Germany.
The message from our community needs to be Racism is UnAmerican. Mr. Sells believes Black Americans should not protest or demand any kind of justice. This is a sickness that forgiveness and apologies can not cure. It requires action on behalf of the person with racist ideas and antiracist white people who need to hold him and his insufferably racist friends accountable. In the name, honor, and memory of Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsberg I pray...
Referenced or Related Articles
McKinney, R. (Sep 16, 2020). Columbia schools move to rename football field after ‘racist’ Facebook post. Columbia Tribune
McKinney, R. (Sep 17, 2020). Sells asks to remove his name from Rock Bridge field in apology letter. Columbia Tribune
Pettigrew, J. (Sep 17, 2020). Local donor sends apology to CPS for explicit Facebook post. The Missourian.
Staff (Sept 16, 2020). Wayne Sells sends letter to CPS on possible renaming of Rock Bridge High School football field. ABC 17 News
Post Image: Dakow, J. (Sep 18, 2020). Welcome to BLM Field. The Missourian.
