Editors Note: MIZZOU President Tim Wolfe has now resigned! Great job to the MIZZOU team and coaches that walked out and Jonathan Butler we hope you had a HUGE breakfast this AM having ended your hunger strike! NWPR was proud to be a part of this terrific story!
This controversy brewing at University of Missouri should have all of our attention right now. There are significant racial issues, Swastikas, threats and the University appears to be about ready to boil over. In the view of many members of the MIZZOU Tigers football team it is time to take the helmets off and stand with graduate student Jonathan L. Butler who started a hunger strike last week, demanding University President Tim Wolfe’s removal.
Wolfe has admitted that there are racial issues on campus but is seen as paying mere lip service by many and black and white students on campus have had enough citing that the environment is becoming unsafe and one where academic pursuits are no longer free to pursue. One student known as @CS_1950 has taken the fight to get Wolfe out to social media and is gaining major National media attention.
” For the good of the UM System, President Wolfe needs to step down without delay.” @UMPrez https://t.co/0GkwcdxYmJ
— ConcernedStudent1950 (@CS_1950) November 9, 2015
A group of players took the position via Twitter the last couple of days that they would stand with Butler though his Hunger strike and use their position as student athletes to make a difference.
“The athletes of color on the University of Missouri football team truly believe “Injustice Anywhere is a threat to Justice Everywhere,” read the tweet. “We will no longer participate in any football related activities until President Tim Wolfe resigns or is removed due to his negligence toward marginalized students’ experience.”
Wolfe responded by posting some media quotes that indicate he is not going anywhere and the response was standard stuff. All weak language truly. Head Coach Gary Pinkel now has 32 plus players out of action and has decided for now that the team will not practice. He and his Coaches and standing with the striking players.
” For the good of the UM System, President Wolfe needs to step down without delay.” @UMPrezhttps://t.co/0GkwcdxYmJ
— ConcernedStudent1950 (@CS_1950) November 9, 2015
There is a NW Prep Football connection here as former David Douglas Scott (Oregon) defensive end Marcell Frazier is starting at MIZZOU and is one of the striking players. We got to know Marcell very well during his High School career and are very proud of him and the team mates out on strike. They are in fact being threatened by some that they have to go back and play or risk loosing their scholarships. It appears they are in this thing 110% and there will not be any football for them for now.
Marcell Frazier gets after an opponent – Pic by JUCO Foootball Foer
The question now is can football and its players make a difference? Are the players more powerful then an administrator with massive power or will they be compelled to go home, pad up, and shut up?
For Frazier, Butler, and the Tigers we pray things get resolved soon. The students at Missouri need to sort things out and the administration appears to have lost their ability to do so; it seems it may be time for a change.
Stand Up Against Racism With Marcell Frazier and MIZZOU Football
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