Another diary on this subject was taken down, but it seems like a legit story. Desmond Clark, who played tight end for twelve years in the NFL, the bulk of which with the Chicago Bears, turned himself in on a charge of disorderly conduct stemming from an incident at his son's high school. His wife was also charged with disorderly conduct and assault.
Sun-Times
Fox News Chicago
Video
Apparently his son was in trouble for a so far undisclosed issue. His son was part of a lip-sync team that was participating in a competition. It seems he was not able to participate in the competition because of his transgression, but the team wanted to recognize him anyway. A school administrator, however, denied him even that in a publicly demeaning way. He called his father, who came to the school along with his wife. Mom was pissed, got in the administrator's face, and Desmond made an "impassioned speech" (his words) about the series of racial incidents his son has faced at Vernon Hills High School. A few days later, they found out the school was pressing charges for, well I don't really know why they pressed charges. Being an angry mom is criminal behavior? Being a large black man speaking loudly and (I'm assuming) using some salty language is criminal behavior?
From what I can tell, we are only getting one side of the story so far. But this Facebook post, which was on the local Fox affiliate's website I linked to earlier, tells that side pretty well and demands some answers:
RACISM IS ALIVE AND WELL BUT SOME OF US ALREADY KNOW THIS.
-In 2012 My son is called a nigger at school
-In 2013 he is told by a student his family hangs from trees.
-The next year he is single out of a crowd at school and asked his purpose for being on campus after hours
-2015 my wife is called a nigger bitch and provoked into a fight and then the perpetrator maliciously pursues charges because she lost the fight. (She even says in her statement that she called my wife a nigger bitch because she has freedom of speech)
- Last Saturday my son is again singled out and is implicitly called a bad student and a criminal
ALL OF THIS IS DOCUMENTED!!!!
Well the first three incidents we only asked the school to let’s have a conversation and move on. On the last two we had had enough, particularly the last one.
The injustice here is, we asked for the school to call the police to protect us from systematic racism we were already facing and now we are being investigated for criminal charges after only going to defend our son. After releasing my frustration verbally the entire school clapped for the words I spoke for my family.
THEY HAVE THE VIDEO!!!!
The Vernon Hills police department has refused to listen to our side (THREE VISITS TO THE POLICE DEPARTMENT) and our lawyers have to move at the speed of the law, which is to slow.
Vernon Hills high school initially would not let our family participate in senior night but eventually told us we can come take the photo with our son but then had to immediately leave the game. And we could come only if we had security escort us. (MY WIFE WAS TO EMOTIONALLY DISTRESSED TO ATTEND)
From what we gathered the Vernon Hills police department has been in constant communication with the school which we believe prompted the school and the lady who verbally assaulted my son to pursue charges against us. I CAN PROMISE YOU WE DID NOTHING WRONG.
We’ve been dealing with this blatant, institutional, and systematic racism for 4 years. Now the police department and the school have turned their back on us. I actually volunteered as a coach the previous two years at VHHS and had routinely played basketball with their a lot of their staff every Tuesday and Thursday morning and have forged great relationships there.
We have been the victims but Vernon Hills has made us the defendants.
WE ARE ONLY LOOKING FOR JUSTICE. WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!!!!
NO ONE IN MY FAMILY HAS EVER HAD RUN INS WITH THE LAW AND WE ARE ALL GIVERS OF OUR COMMUNITY.
Emphasis mine. His son was called nigger, told his family hangs from trees, and was aggressively confronted for being on school property when he had every right to be there. And Clark took the high road, had conferences, and got apologies. He didn't get anyone kicked out of school, he didn't get anyone fired. He tried to address the issue in a civil way. Not so sure I would have been so magnanimous.
From the Sun-Times story:
“I have not faced racism my entire adult life,” he said. “My mom was in law enforcement. She worked for the Florida Highway Patrol. I have never been in trouble before. Now mom has three to six months on Earth. She is dying of cancer. You talk about stress levels. But I can’t see my mom because I have to be with my family here. It’s very hard.”
Am I missing something here? Why is the only reason I know about this story is because I happened to stumble upon a diary at 3:30 in the morning that was promptly deleted? Cause this looks like a bunch of racist bullshit to me.