For some former Kentucky stars, policing isn’t an us-versus-them dynamic
Some former Kentucky basketball players can look at protests sparked by the death of George Floyd and not see something easily reduced to us-versus-them.
One of Kenny Walker’s older brothers has been sheriff of Crawford County, Ga., since 2009. Lewis Walker, who is three and one-half years older than the 1986 UK All-American, has worked in the sheriff’s office since 1987.
“People always say I’m a nice guy,” Kenny Walker said. “My brother Lewis is probably nicer than I am. We were raised like that. He gives to the community. I love him to death.
“But with all this stuff going on in this world, I worry about him.”
Lewis Walker, who supervises a staff of 35 (including 10 patrolmen) for a county of about 14,000, is running unopposed for a fourth term as county sheriff this November. He said that the way Floyd died — with policeman Derek Chauvin pressing a knee to the neck for almost nine minutes — is not an accepted procedure in law enforcement.
“Trained nowhere,” Lewis Walker said.
Sean Woods, the point guard among a group of UK players affectionately remembered as “The Unforgettables,” said a brother and a brother-in-law have worked in law enforcement. Woods has asked them a pointed question about the relative silence of Black police in the aftermath of Floyd’s death.
“None of you are coming to the forefront in this deal …,” he said.
To remain silent is to be complicit in wrongdoing, Woods said.
Of the policemen watching as Floyd pleaded for his life, Lewis Walker said, “The other officers standing around (Chauvin), they should have gotten him off him.”
Kevin Grevey, an All-American in 1975, said that two of his brothers-in-law are retired policemen. Seeing the video of Floyd’s death left Grevey “aghast.” It also filled Grevey with questions that he directed at one of his brothers-in-law.
“What the hell?” Grevey recalled saying. “Is that protocol? What kind of hold is that — kneeling on somebody’s neck — is that appropriate? Is that something that is taught in training? How often does that happen?
“I was throwing all these questions at him. Where did he learn that?”
Grevey’s brother-in-law told him that kneeling on a person’s neck is an action of last resort.
“When somebody is fighting back,” Grevey said he was told. “You feel like you’re out of control.
“But you also have to do it with compassion, knowing this is a last-resort hold.”
Grevey asked his brother-in-law if he ever knelt on a person’s neck.
“Hell, no” was the answer.
“I said, but other officers (in Minneapolis) acted like that was standard operating procedure,” Grevey said. “He said, there’s a problem then in that police force. He said there’s got to be changes made.”
‘Genuine conversation’
The idea of people in this country being stereotyped according to race or ethic background hits home for South Carolina Coach Frank Martin. He is the son of Cuban political exiles. He was born and raised in Miami as Francisco José Martin.
“I think this country puts us all in a box,” he said. “I’m Hispanic-American. You’re African American. You’re Jewish-American.
“You go to France, and there’s a brother walking down the street and you say, what are you? (He says), ‘I’m French.’
“You go to Canada. They don’t say, ‘I’m African-Canadian.’ They say, ‘I’m Canadian.’ So, in this country, we’ve learned to kind of accept being put in a box.”
For Martin, Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the playing of the national anthem to call attention to systemic racism was stepping out of a box.
“You’ve got to have courage,” Martin said. “But when you step out of the box that this country’s putting you in, everyone that doesn’t live in your box, their antenna goes up right away.
“So, you better be ready to represent what you’re stepping out of the box for when you lose your audience.”
Kaepernick lost Martin by later wearing a shirt bearing the likeness of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara.
“The two biggest oppressors of people and the two biggest mass murderers of black people in the world,” Martin said. “And that’s what he’s wearing representing that moment? I’m not saying he lost everybody, but he lost me.”
Martin said he shared his thoughts — pro and con — on Kaepernick with his South Carolina players. He told the players he understood if they wanted to kneel during the playing of the national anthem.
“But I can’t kneel …,” Martin said. “And they understood.
“But that’s part of that genuine conversation that I think we have to have with our players.”
‘Disgusting’
John Calipari has proposed Kentucky’s athletics department start an internship program for minorities. He said he would lead the funding.
Calipari said such an internship program could lead to more access and opportunity for careers in athletics administration. Plus, it was a way he could wield influence, he said.
The UK coach questioned how much influence he had in ending police brutality. But, he said he recognized brutality when he saw the well-circulated video of Buffalo police pushing 75-year-old Martin Gugino, who fell, banged his head on the pavement and then required treatment in an ICU.
“Disgusting,” Calipari said. “I almost punched the TV.”
Kareem’s message
During last week’s “Coffee With Cal” Facebook show, Harvard Coach Tommy Amaker said that Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar spoke at a school assembly.
Amaker recalled Abdul-Jabbar concluding his remarks by telling the audience, “I would encourage each and every one of you in here to try to get to know somebody clearly and deeply that doesn’t look like you.”
The message was well received.
“He got an amazing ovation,” Amaker said. “It was so powerful.”
Quoting Holmes
In expressing his optimism about race relations improving in the future, Tommy Amaker quoted former Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. But, first, he playfully noted that Holmes was a Harvard graduate. This drew chuckles.
The quote Amaker referenced: “Greatness is not in where we stand but in what direction we are moving. We must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it. But sail we must, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.”
Here’s another Holmes quote that seems relevant at this time in history: “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.”
Referees
Referee.com recently conducted a survey on how officials felt about working youth and high school games if play resumed right now (i.e. during the ongoing pandemic). Of the nearly 20,000 respondents, 67.5% said they would be reasonably comfortable. The officials who said they would be uncomfortable included 40% of respondents 65 and older and just 19% of respondents ages 18 through 24.
Breaking it down geographically, the north central part of the country (the Dakotas, Nebraska, Missouri, Minnesota and Kansas) had the largest percentage of respondents comfortable working games now: 77%. The northeast (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland and New York) had the lowest percentage: 59%.
Nationally, 64% of respondents said they would be comfortable staying at a hotel while on assignment, 62% said that they would abide by any new in-game social distancing requirements, only 43% said that a requirement to wear a mask and gloves while refereeing would be reasonable, but 66% said they would wear a mask and gloves if it was required.
For what it’s worth, 74% of respondents said that players wearing masks would hinder player performance.
Happy birthday
To Chuck Hayes. He turned 37 on Thursday. … To Jemarl Baker. He turned 22 on Friday. … To former Vanderbilt and South Carolina coach Eddie Fogler. He turned 72 on Friday. … To Gimel Martinez. He turns 49 on Sunday (today). … To Tim Stephens. He turns 62 on Tuesday. … To Joe Crawford. He turns 34 on Wednesday. … To Immanuel Quickley. He turns 21 on Wednesday.
