Now that a little time has passed since all the goingson at the University of Missouri, I would be remiss if I didn’t offer my opinion and perspective on the situation. One of my co-workers and I were talking about the conflict and she is from Missouri and support all things Univ. of Mizzou; but we talking about how the reality of the situation is that if it wasn’t for the football team stepping up to support the cause and the young, Black student who was spearheading the peaceful protest, this would have gotten very little traction and you would have likely seen even similar to that in other parts of the country when there has been racial prejudice and injustice.

My honest opinion is that if it would have been the drama club or some other campus organization that was not a big time revenue generating group, then this protest would have lasted a lot longer and all the high profile resignations would not have occurred so quickly. It still remains a fact that one, Black folks are still considered second class in certain parts of the country and money will always talk. This is a lesson in peaceful protesting, but also just how powerful a football program, that generates large dollars for a school, can be when they decide to band together for a cause.

I am very proud of the actions of those athletes and of the other students in the school who stood up for what was right in the face of adversity, fear and danger to themselves. I am so excited to see that we could gather together and show the world that not only do we know how to burn shit down to get our point across, but we still know how to organize and rally support. We know how to come together and articulate ourselves, and show everybody that we aren’t second class and we’re not just to be used for our physical gifts.

But one glaring thing is still very obvious, and that is that we are still second class in the eyes of so many. Why is that in 2015 are we still having to deal with the prejudices of College or University presidents and administrations because of their beliefs that we aren’t still equal to our white counterparts. It is a very sad commentary on this country, that as much as people like to stick their chests out and say we’re post racism when you look at all the very public racial incidents within the past couple years, it’s very apparent that we have a long way to go.

Thank you Missouri students, and the football team is included in that students. Remember they are student athletes. What are your thoughts. Lets talk.