Word count: 548
On Monday last week The News & Observer whet its readers’ appetite about the
upcoming hearing involving former UNC-CH African Afro-American Studies
Department chairman Julius Nyang’oro.
The hearing was scheduled to take place on Wednesday, however on
Tuesday, the day prior to the hearing, the media (mainly McClatchy newspapers
which are obsessed with bashing the reputation of Nyang’oro) announced that
Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall was having second thoughts about
following through with the felony criminal prosecution of the former professor
because he had been so cooperative with the investigation into the
athletic-academic scandal lodged by Kenneth Wainstein.
Although the UNC system under President Tom Ross
prides itself in recouping the $12,000.00 paid to Nyang’oro for teaching a
summer class which did not physically meet, it promptly set about paying Mr.
Wainstein $990.00/hour and his associates in a range from $440-750/hour to
conduct an investigation into whats/whys/whens/hows of the scandal. This investigation, which has already chalked
up more than four months, has been estimated to last until this fall… and why
not since the attorneys are getting paid by the hour. They’re going to milk this golden cow for all
it’s worth!
Wainstein and his legal comrades evidently assured
the Orange County D.A. Woodall that Nyang’oro was thoroughly cooperating with
the investigation… a disclosure which seemed to shock the district attorney. Had Woodall, or his assistant D.A.s taken the
effort to question the black professor prior to criminally indicting him, then
perhaps Woodall mightn’t’ve been so awed that Nyang’oro’s behavior was
sincerely helpful.
However, in North Carolina it is a common practice
to arrest and even indict African American suspects without bothering to
question them during an initial investigation.
That’s what happened to Crystal Mangum, the Duke Lacrosse victim/accuser,
in the stabbing of Reginald Daye. Bull
City officers did not approach her an ask her for her side of the story
surrounding the early morning physical confrontation. Instead they handcuffed her (arresting her
for assault and battery in the stabbing of Daye), took her to police
headquarters, read her her Miranda Rights, then began to interrogate her. A similar scenario played out in the murder
charge against Knightdale resident Carletta Alston who spent a year in jail for
the murder of her stepfather before being released with the charge dropped and
without explanation.
Now it seems as though Woodall is going to be
forced to drop his ill-advised charge against Julius Nyang’oro… and not for the
reasons touted by the D.A. Woodall could
care less about Nyang’oro’s cooperation with Wainstein. His concern is the unexpected collateral
damage to administrators and others in UNC-CH upper echelon that a criminal
investigation would expose.
The
News & Observer last published that Woodall was in
serious self-deliberation about dropping the criminal charge against Nyang’oro
and that the hearing was still scheduled to take place on Wednesday. However, it was The Herald Sun, a Durham daily that informed the public that the
hearing had been cancelled.
So it appears that this politically charged felony
prosecution to destroy the reputation and life of Julius Nyang’oro (described
by local media as being at the center of the UNC-CH academic scandal) is going
to dissipate with a whimper instead of taking down another innocent victim with
a bang. nn
UNC-CH
Hairston scandal
Word count: 835
As far as scandals go, the one involving the
abhorrent mistreatment of UNC-CH round-baller P. J. Hairston far outweighs that
which was spawned by the media about the African and Afro-American Studies
program that was put in place by powers at UNC-CH to surreptitiously enable
academically challenged athletes to remain academically eligible to compete in
sports… particularly basketball and football.
The real scandal in the latter is that UNC system President Tom Ross is
allowing the private law firm to conduct a worthless investigation at
exorbitant hourly rates… this leading naturally to an increase in student
tuition.
However, the P. J. Hairston saga was without doubt
a tragedy that should never have happened… and one that could have been averted
had the athletic department at UNC had a bulldog-like athletic director from
the mold similar to NC State’s Debbie Yow.
The NCAA wouldn’t dare to pull such shenanigans with State knowing that
Yow would stand up for her players… especially star players the caliber of
Hairston who are capable of bringing championship trophies to school showcases
and meeting incentives that increase her compensation.
As it was, UNC-CH allowed the parasitic,
morally-lacking and avaricious NCAA intimidate it and invoke a season-long
suspension of the Tar Heels’ leading basketball scorer P. J. Hairston. The end result of this ridiculous ruling by
that self-centered organization was that UNC-CH was removed from contention in
the ACC and NCAA tournaments. As well as
the team did without Hairston, it would’ve done a heckuvalot better had he been
on the hardwood. Not only did the NCAA
ruling destroy the Tar Heel season, but it was detrimental to Hairston
himself. Despite being selected in the
first round, his prospects would’ve been much better had he been allowed to
perform during his senior year… possibly propelling him into a top ten
selection. It is apparent that his play
is NBA caliber, but the NCAA and the mainstream media have elected to represent
Hairston as an irresponsible troublemaker lacking character.
What is sad is the phony reasons given for
demeaning this student-athlete (who attended classes) and did everything he
possibly could to appease the NCAA and be allowed to play his final season on
the Tar Heel team he loved. Evidently
the NCAA was not impressed and imposed the season-long suspension for the
following: 1) an arrest during a traffic
stop for possession of marijuana (the charge later being dropped); 2) driving a
rental car which is considered by the money-crazed NCAA as being a dreaded
impermissible benefit; and 3) speeding.
Can you believe that? What a
joke!
The media is now trying to justify Hairston’s NCAA
suspension by writing that he’s owning up to his mistakes. A recent headline on the sports page of The News & Observer reads, “P. J.
says he’s a better person: Hairston says
mistakes are in the rear-view mirror.”
What’s the big revelation about that?
Face it, everybody makes mistakes.
I made plenty of mistakes when I was younger… and with time, I matured…
somewhat. Driving a rental car paid for
by someone else and speeding are not what I would consider serious violations
worthy of draconian punishment meted out by the collegiate athletic overseer. The action taken against Hairston by the NCAA
was arbitrary, baseless, and cruel.
The same newspaper of June 28, 2014, contained
another article titled “Manziel won’t tone it down,” in which Johnny Football,
the star quarterback from Texas A & M, was unapologetic about his off-time
weekend drinking and partying. He
claimed he was going to live life to the fullest.
NCAA parasites went easy on Manziel when it was
disclosed that he had signed sports memorabilia and earned a reported
$7,500.00. For this violation he was
suspended the first half of the first game of his last college football season
at A & M. Part of the laxness of his
punishment might have been due to the fact that the NCAA was making big bucks
off of selling Manziel’s jersey on its online site… a lucrative business
transaction which it apparently stopped after it was revealed in the
media. But, that’s the creed of the NCAA
– it’s okay for the NCAA to make big bucks off of Manziel, Hairston, and other
college athletes but it would be considered an illegal impermissible benefit
for the athletes themselves to do so.
I believe that the all colleges and universities
would be better off by kicking the NCAA to the curb and building from scratch
its own regulatory agency… one that would have the best interests of the
athletes in mind and one that would do away with the “impermissible benefits”
concept which is ethically conflicted.
Also, I believe that some of the enormous profits generated by college
sports programs should go towards compensating those responsible for it… the
athletes.
Unfortunately, under the NCAA, P. J. Hairston and
subsequently UNC-CH’s basketball team needlessly suffered. Even media articles directed towards
justifying the barbaric treatment of Hairston by the NCAA cannot conceal that
fact. nn
Change
the name!
Word count: 399
Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder has been
unyielding in his determination to retain the “Redskins” name for his NFL
professional football team. And it seems
as though he has picked up a few supporters including former Redskins manager
Joe Gibbs who claims the name has been positive for him. In an Associated Press article by Gary B.
Graves, Gibbs is quoted as saying: “Never once did I hear anybody ever say
anything negative about the name Redskins.
It was always prideful, it was courage involved. We have a song, ‘Hail to the Redskins,’ and
so everything, everything, about that name has been positive for me and my
past.”
Also circling the wagons around Snyder on this
issue are three Virginia legislators (Sen. Chap Petersen, Delegate Jackson
Miller, and Delegate David Ramadan) who are forming a “Redskins Pride
Caucus.” What a pathetic waste of time
and effort… sounds like something North Carolina legislators might do.
The majority of civilized America, including a
vast number of politicians and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office find that
the Redskin name is disparaging to Native Americans and should be changed. Most important, Native Americans find the
name to be demeaning and offensive.
What the Native Americans believe is
overwhelmingly what should be taken into consideration. What Joe Gibbs thinks is irrelevant as he is
not a Native American. So what if he finds
the name Redskins to be prideful…? Who
cares? And the three member Redskins
Pride Caucus, to my knowledge, is not comprised of any Native Americans. But this threesome professes to be standing
for the all-important principle of “commercial freedom”… which in a
capitalistic society readily trumps morality, compassion, and common
sense. Again, I say who cares what the
Redskins Pride Caucus thinks. It is
without Native American representation and therefore its position on the issue
is irrelevant.
What I would propose to Mr. Snyder is changing the
name from “Redskins” to “Warriors.”
Washington Warriors… that has a catchy sound, and it would enable the
team to retain its current logo. It is
the word “Redskins” after all that is problematic, and a reasonable person
would be able to understand that. Being
an African American, I am naturally more empathetic with the Native Americans’
position than is Mr. Snyder… however, it’s past time for him to walk a mile in
someone else’s moccasins and re-evaluate his stubborn position. nn
