Kids Face Racism Too

Kids Face Racism Too

Gary A. House

The recent talk about racism in America has caused resurging memories that have been tucked away in the back of my mind.  Kids too face racism.

I have coached many youth teams and many kids in my 25 years of coaching.  A few incidents have stood out in how kids were treated.

One season I coached a team comprised of five blacks, six whites and one Hispanic.  I did my best to give each kid an equal opportunity to excel.  Some players simply have more talent than others.

One black player was a very gifted athlete but had never played baseball before.  Since he had a canon strapped to his shoulder and was left-handed, I taught him how to pitch.  Pitching is a craft that takes time to develop.  But this kid was catching on very fast.

One game I put this black southpaw on the mound and I penciled in another good athlete who happened to be black in the lineup at first base.  Upon seeing the lineup on the field, a prominent person in our community approached me and told me that the black players should be in the outfield and the white players should be on the infield and pitching.  I was shocked at this statement.  It did not take me much time to respond to this gentleman.  I said “Sir, I am going to put the players in the positions that give us the best opportunity to win.”  I am certain that he was not satisfied with my explanation but he walked away.

After the recreation director told me that he did not expect us to win a game that year, we won six and came in third place in a five team league.  It came time to pick the All-Star team.  Knowing that I would get no more than two players on the team, I nominated my best two players.  One was a white pitcher; the other was a black shortstop and catcher.  The white pitcher made the team with no questions asked.  Even though we played each team in the league at least twice, the other coaches had no idea who the black kid was.  I still wonder to this day how this kid was not noticed.  He was a great defensive player and was my second best hitter.  This kid deserved to be on this All-Star team but, in my opinion, he was left off because he was black.  All other teams except mine placed two or more players on the team.

In another year, I was coaching an All-Star team and the best athlete and arguably the best player that I had was black.  In one game, this player’s arm was sore so I started him at first base to limit the number of hard throws he would have to make.  A parent came to me and said “Why is that expletive even playing.  He can’t throw.”  I said “Sir, I am going to put the players in the positions on the field that gives us the best opportunity to win.”  He walked away.  The truth is we had to have this kid’s athletic ability with his legs, glove and bat in the lineup to have a chance to win. 

But racism in our youth athletics goes both ways.  I remember watching a white girl play her heart out in a recreational softball program.  When it came time to pick the All-Star team, the black coach selected a black girl who had not hit the ball all year to be on the team leaving the white girl wondering what she had done wrong.

I also remember a few white girls playing on a recreational basketball team.  Even with their team in the lead and the score doubled on the other team, the black coach did not enter the white girls into the county championship game until 30 seconds left in the game.  With such a large lead, those girls deserved more than 30 seconds.

Racism works both ways when it should not exist at all.  We need to be color blind when dealing with our neighbors and fellow Americans.  Until that happens, racism will run rampant in our lives and the lives of our children.  We can pretend like it is not there but it is.  It is time for America to grow up and treat everyone equally whether it is a boy on a baseball team, a girl on a basketball team, or a person applying for a job.

Racism in America is kind of like the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s.  We do not know why we are fighting.

Let’s set an example for our children and get along.

Race Relations in Rural NC

Race Relations in Rural NC

Gary A. House

I am 48 years old.  I grew up in the outskirts of Fayetteville and Hope Mills, N.C.  I would guess that the schools that I attended were 60-70% white, 25% black, and the rest Native American, Asian and Hispanic.

Being in the classroom and playing sports allowed me to have interaction with all of the represented ethnicities.  I never remember having issues between any segments of the population.  I always felt like we were brothers and sisters.

Being on the ball field allows you to get past color barriers and allows you to see people for they really are.  Playing sports allowed us to build camaraderie and to learn how to accept those who may not be exactly like us.

I have very fond memories on the fields of Cumberland County.  Those memories are not segregated in black and white.  They are simply memories.  Those memories would not exist if it were not for people like Gerald McDowell who is black, Ernie Privette who is Native American and Mike Thompson who is white.

My adolescent years were formed by people of all races.  In the area I grew up in, there may have been an occasional fight but we were always friends afterwards.

I simply do not remember race wars or being scared to go to school.

Upon graduating, I attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  I found much of the same experiences there.  Everyone got along.  It did not matter what you looked like. 

The only time I felt uncomfortable at UNC was when Arnold Franklin, a huge football player, hosted a small party in dorm room below mine and he turned up the stereo as loud as it would go and played “Burning Down the House.”   Once I realized they were just having fun and the dorm was not going up in flames, everything was alright.

I was exposed to absolutely no racial tension in college or school.

However, I could see racial tendencies in the generation before me.  I always thought that as time went by, racial tendencies would become diluted and even though we may not look exactly alike, equality would prevail.  Racism would simply die out at some point in the future.

I have never really visited the inner city in some of our huge Metropolitan areas even though I got lost in a car in the inner city of Orlando and Atlanta.   I cannot speak for people in those areas.

I was disappointed in the reaction in Ferguson, Missouri.  It is unfortunate that Michael Brown lost his life.  I do think Officer Darren Wilson felt his life was in danger.  Officer Wilson had never fired his gun in the line of duty which shows he was not a rogue cop who shot at anyone who moved.  The Grand Jury reviewed the evidence and chose not to indict him.

Now, I have no way of knowing whether they saw all the evidence or heard all of the witnesses.  I do know three of the jurors were black and nine were white.  Was that a fair breakdown?  I don’t know based on the demographics of the area.  I do believe anyone who sits on a Grand Jury knows how serious the task at hand is.  I still believe in the inherent goodness of people including the Grand Jurors and Officer Wilson. 

Even if Officer Wilson made a grave mistake, burning down the property of innocent people and looting innocent businesses is not the way to protest.  Americans should be beyond that.  Yes, I said Americans not Black Americans.  It is time to stop with the labels and just be Americans where we care about each other. 

It tears me up to see the violence in my home country.  I want to return to the days of my youth when we were all friends.  The day that I can get an assist to Tony McKoy, throw a touchdown to Michael Foster, or compete with Gerald McDowell and we all be friends afterwards.

All of us need to open our hearts and be friends like in the days of my youth.  Opportunities need to exist for every one.  We need equality in America.

Dear God, bring back the path that I was on in the days of my youth and spread it across American soil and beyond.  Let us be like Rural NC.

We just ALL want to get along.

The Plight of Michael Brown and Officer Darren Wilson

The Plight of Michael Brown and Officer Darren Wilson

By Gary A. House

Michael Brown.  Officer Darren Wilson.

There is not too much that can be said about these guys from Ferguson, Missouri that has not already been said.

The media and social media have sensationalized this story about a black teen-ager and a white police officer so much that we may never know the truth.

I am not here to judge Michael Brown or Officer Darren Wilson.  I do not know all that happened just like you do not know.

I have read every article that I could find on this subject.  I have not read the grand jury report.

Michael Brown reminds me of another black teen-ager Michael Oher, who now plays for the Tennessee Titans.  When Oher was a teen-ager, he was basically on his own.  His mother was strung out on drugs and alcohol.  Oher was a good kid.  One night Leigh Anne Tuohy, who was white, came across Oher on the street and asked him if he had a place to stay.  Oher was going to stay in the gym that night.   Tuohy along with her husband Sean brought Oher back to their home for the night.  Oher moved in with the Tuohy’s.  I am certain friends of the Tuohy’s were judgmental of a large black teen-ager living in the white Tuohy’s house along with the Tuohy’s teen-age daughter and young son.

That did not matter to the Tuohy’s.  There were obviously color blind and saw Oher simply as just Big Mike.  Oher with the Tuohy’s encouragement later earned a college scholarship and now plays professional football.

I am in no way comparing Michael Brown and Michael Oher.  I know neither of them.  The path Oher could have ended up on without the Tuohy’s intervention shows that with the right influences Brown could have been a productive citizen in society.  I do not know whether Brown’s mother and stepfather provided the influences Brown needed or not. They very well may have.

I am not certain Brown robbed that convenience store, beat Officer Wilson in his car, reached for his gun, refused to get out of the street, and charged at Officer Wilson like a football player.  I guess none of us will know for sure. 

We have to rely on the grand jury looking at the evidence and doing its job correctly.  Personally, I have witnessed some cases in court where the judge/judges, in my mind, ruled the wrong way.  I am not saying the grand jury that was made up of citizens made the right or wrong decision.  But they reviewed the evidence and I did not.

I am sure we all have run into the small minority of law enforcement officers who are arrogant and power hungry even on routine traffic stops.  I do not know if Officer Wilson falls into that small category or not.  However, I believe that Officer Wilson used his handgun for the first time in the line of duty and he was not a rookie cop.  That tells me that he was not a rogue officer who goes around firing at anything that is black and is moving.

I am sure Officer Wilson is tore up about taking the life of another human being.  Whether he shot Brown twelve times, I do not know.   I do know Brown was a very large teen-ager.  If Brown was coming at Officer Wilson, it could have taken multiple shots to bring him down.  Once Brown reached the 8 to 10 foot distance from Officer Wilson, he entered the kill zone.  If he entered the kill zone, Officer Wilson would have shot to kill as he was trained to do.  I have not studied any of the forensic data and do not know if he was in the kill zone.

I know events like this happen fast with a lot of stimuli in the environment.  That causes memories to be fuzzy, with things remembered differently than they occurred.   That is true for the witnesses and the police officer.

It is a shame that a life was taken.  Lives are taken every day that should never be. 

I do not believe that white police officers feel they have the right to shoot black citizens without cause like I do not believe that black police officers feel they have the right to shoot white citizens without cause.  The fact is people of all races kill people of all races including their own, which must stop. 

We do need more black and Hispanic officers on our police forces.  The problem at least in my home county is the large majority of law enforcement graduates are white.  We have very little minorities to choose from.  I do not know but I bet Ferguson, Missouri is in the same boat.

My point to this blog is that we are Americans first.  Race should not matter.  We need to treat everyone with respect.

Perhaps we should follow the lead of Leigh Anne Tuohy and her family and become color blind. 

Only when we all become color blind will there be forgiveness in our hearts, racism goes out the door, and we will be accepted into heaven.

Tommy Burns is Gone

Tommy Burns is Gone

By Gary A. House

I was the deciding vote to bring Tommy Burns to Harnett County as County Manager.

Mr. Burns was simply the most qualified candidate that made the final two cut.

Commissioner Jim Burgin had talked for many months about bringing Mr. Burns in as county manager when and if Scott Sauer left.  After Mr. Sauer was terminated, Mr. Burns still appeared to be Burgin’s man.

In the month prior to the Board actually picking a replacement, Commissioner Burgin started making subtle hints that he may want Interim County Manager Joseph Jeffries to be the new county manager.  I think the world of Mr. Jeffries and I personally do not know anyone else that does not feel the same way.

When it came to picking the new county manager, it was clear that Mr. Jeffries may not have enough votes.  Commissioner Springle chimed in and said that education does not matter.  Mr. Burns has advanced education in public administration.  Mr. Jeffries does not.  That seemed like an effort to persuade the Board to Mr. Jeffries and away from Mr. Burns.

Commissioner Burgin then chimed in and said that Mr. Jeffries had three months of county manager experience and Mr. Burns did not have any.  Mr. Burns had been the town manager in three municipalities in his career.  Mr. Jeffries was a planning director and interim county manager for three months.  There was no question in my mind that at this time in their careers, Mr. Burns was more qualified.

After seeing that Mr. Jeffries did not have the votes, Commissioners Springle and Burgin voted for Mr. Burns in open session.

Even after Mr. Burns was hired, he often told me that Springle and Burgin did not have much to do with him.  They most often called Joseph Jeffries, our new deputy county manager.   Commissioner Burgin talked our Board into creating this position for Mr. Jeffries to give him some experience in management before our other deputy county manager, Tony Wilder, retired.

Mr. Burns came to me several weeks back and told me he had a job offer in Wayne County as Assistant County Manager.  I hated to lose Mr. Burns in Harnett County.  But Mr. Burns had been hearing the same rumors that many of us had been hearing for the last year.  He feared that he would be terminated when the new Board took over in December of 2014.   Knowing that Mr. Burns had not been treated quite like a county manager should be treated by two commissioners and they would have even more power when the new Board took over, I told Mr. Burns that he had to do what was best for him and his family.  I know that it is a terrible feeling not having job security and being anxious about going to work every morning. 

Eventually Mr. Burns decided to take the job opportunity in Wayne County.  I often used Wayne County as a benchmark to Harnett County because of its similar size to Harnett County.  It does have more of a commercial and industrial base than Harnett.  Mr. Burns is stepping into a good position in Wayne County.  The County Manager there will retire in a few years and Mr. Burns should be groomed to step in without missing a beat.

Soon after announcing his plans to go to Wayne County, the old Harnett County politics kicked in and someone made a call to a Commissioner in Wayne County telling the Commissioner that Mr. Burns had insulted Representative David Lewis at a recent Harnett County Board meeting.  Mr. Burns did in fact call Representative Lewis a coward for trying to hide House Bill 1108 from Harnett County when it affected Harnett County.  Representative Lewis tried to slip the bill through the General Assembly without telling us.   The Commissioner in Wayne County apparently demanded that Mr. Burns apologize to Representative Lewis.  It seems ironic that Springle and Burgin showed up at Mr. Burns’ office a few months before making the same demand.

If any apologies should be made, Representative Lewis should apologize to the County Board and School Board for trying to slip a bill through in such a clandestine manner.  Seven of the ten members of the county board and school board opposed Harnett County being included in House Bill 1108---The ones who supported it were Bill Morris, Burgin and Springle.

My point is Mr. Burns stood up and said something that needed to be said and no one else had the guts to say it.  Because he took a stand, someone in Harnett County is trying to punish him in Wayne County before his first day of work.  I guess you see how Harnett County politics work.  If you stand up, they go after you.

I called the folks in Wayne County and told them they were getting a good man in Tommy Burns.  The County Manager said “I know.  I checked him out thoroughly.”

Wayne County is getting a terrific, intelligent manager.  And Harnett County is losing the future I prayed we would have.

Tommy you have my upmost respect and I wish you well my brother.  I am sorry it did not work out for you here in Harnett County.   You are our loss.

Yesterday the new Board of Commissioners again made Joseph Jeffries interim county manager.  Even though he has stated that he has no interest in being manager, I believe there is a distinct possibility that the new Board will force him to become manager by eliminating the deputy county manager job that he now holds.

I expect the new Board to make massive cuts.  Yes, those rumors have been going around too.  The Board could save over $100,000 by eliminating the deputy manager position.   Even if it is not eliminated, I expect there will be a massive reorganization but there is no way that the rumored amount of cuts would ever be possible.

The county budget has been balanced on the backs of the employees for several years.  There are massive needs in the school system that some do not appear to recognize.  There is a property tax revaluation coming up soon which may not increase the property values, which may mean no more property tax revenue.

I ask that you watch what happens in Harnett County in the next few years and make sure you have the representatives in place that will work for your interests, not their own interests or the interests of others.