• Advertise
  • Donate
  • Subscribe
    • Become a print subscriber
    • Sign up for e-Newsletter
    • e-Editions
Thursday, September 28, 2023
No Result
View All Result
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
  • News & Features
    • National
    • Local
    • Special Editions
      • MLK Legacy
      • Black History Month
      • The MSR Celebrates Women’s History Month
  • All Sections
    • Opinion
      • Mellaneous by Mel Reeves
      • Word on the Street
      • Reaching Out From Within
    • Health + Wellness
      • Women’s Wellness
      • Parenting Today
      • Minnesota Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Sports
      • Timberwolves/NBA
      • Lynx/WNBA
        • 20 in 20
      • Twins/MLB
      • MN Wild/NHL
      • Vikings/NFL
    • Business
      • Small Business Month Celebration
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
    • Arts + Culture
    • Photo Galleries
      • Photo of the Week
    • MSR Forefront Digital Roundtable Series
      • MSR Forefront Highlights
    • Go Green
    • Education
    • Bulletin
    • Jobs & Notices
      • Legals
      • Announcements
  • Events
    • Submit an event!
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • e-Editions
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
  • News & Features
    • National
    • Local
    • Special Editions
      • MLK Legacy
      • Black History Month
      • The MSR Celebrates Women’s History Month
  • All Sections
    • Opinion
      • Mellaneous by Mel Reeves
      • Word on the Street
      • Reaching Out From Within
    • Health + Wellness
      • Women’s Wellness
      • Parenting Today
      • Minnesota Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Sports
      • Timberwolves/NBA
      • Lynx/WNBA
        • 20 in 20
      • Twins/MLB
      • MN Wild/NHL
      • Vikings/NFL
    • Business
      • Small Business Month Celebration
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
    • Arts + Culture
    • Photo Galleries
      • Photo of the Week
    • MSR Forefront Digital Roundtable Series
      • MSR Forefront Highlights
    • Go Green
    • Education
    • Bulletin
    • Jobs & Notices
      • Legals
      • Announcements
  • Events
    • Submit an event!
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • e-Editions
No Result
View All Result
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
No Result
View All Result

When a wrestler’s haircut is really about a race

by Mel Reeves
January 4, 2019
8
SHARES
164
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on LinkedIn
Photo: Courtesy of the Johnson Family Andrew Johnson

Peace, goodwill, and good tidings this holiday season were interrupted by the outrageous violation and public humiliation of a Black New Jersey high school wrestler. Andrew Johnson, a student at Buena Regional, was forced to cut off his dreadlocks so he could compete in a wrestling match late last month.

No, it was not another incidence of police or racist violence, but it nearly equaled it for its sheer degradation and temporary emasculation, along with the accompanying sense of powerlessness.

Prior to the match, referee Alan Maloney informed Johnson that he could not wrestle because of the length of his locs. When the wrestler sought to comply with the rules by offering to cover them, the cover was unacceptable to the referee. He was faced with a choice: Either cut his hair or forfeit the match.

Truth is, there was no choice to make. Andrew’s hair is a part of him, a part of his identity. How could he part with it without giving up a little piece of himself, of his dignity, of his worth as a human being?

Anger and outrage have been repeatedly voiced on social media by those who viewed the short video of the young man publicly having his hair chopped off. It has been viewed over 14 million times across the globe.

- ADVERTISEMENT -

The wrestler’s mother, after watching the video of the event, said, “It was the hardest thing I have ever seen.”

It was a difficult thing to watch for anyone with any amount of sensitivity, compassion, and empathy. There was even a large show of support among Whites, particularly women. The mother’s note was in response to a parent of one of her son’s teammates who was congratulating her for her son’s sacrifice for the good of the team. But, some sacrifices are too big to make and in the end are not worth making!

As the website Sputnik insightfully reported, “Bits of him were chopped off.” His shoulders slumped as a trainer chopped away his hair. He was helpless against a system that said he must comply or not be a “team player.”

Ironically, the news of this outrage was not initially reported as the disgusting racist misuse and abuse of power that it was.

Mike Frankel of the South New Jersey Today News initially tweeted that the wrestler was the “epitome of a team player. It was either an impromptu haircut or a forfeit. He chose the haircut, then won…to help spark Buena to a win.”

- ADVERTISEMENT -

Frankel’s tweet was the epitome of cluelessness, as he missed the real story, which was an injustice of the highest magnitude: a young person being forced to comply with an adult’s unreasonable request, apparently invoked by his racism.

Frankel, however, was unable to see a racist decision, the torrent of Black pain, or a gym full of people complicit in the injustice.

It didn’t cross his mind until it was brought to his attention by many outraged Twitter readers. Frankel later apologized but backtracked, tweeting, “In my mind, it was ‘just’ the ultimate sacrifice by a high school athlete,” he wrote. “According to many of you, I missed the correct ‘framing.’”

In other words, he is still not convinced he got it wrong. But, how else could it be framed? How would he have framed it if little Susie had been forced to shave her head in order to compete? Would he have framed it as “little blonde-haired Susie took one for the team?”

But we get it. Johnson being publicly violated is really not that big a deal. Sometimes you gotta take one for the team, or the school, or the company. “Stop complaining so much,” they say. “It’s not that bad. I don’t see it as racist. Stop playing the race card.”

- ADVERTISEMENT -

The rights of the individual only apply to White people. In U.S. society, people of color, especially Blacks, have historically been asked to bury their grievances for the good of the country. Black people are expected to grin and bear indignities. “They just do not feel pain like everyone else.”

In essence, Johnson was bullied, picked on, and picked out to be humiliated and singled out for disparate treatment because the vile, bigoted referee did not like the way he looked. The referee did it because he could, and it was allowed to happen because his coaches, and to a lesser extent his teammates, refused to resist the inhumane request.

The team should have taken a stand on behalf of their teammate rather than try to comfort him in his pain. However, adults, including his coach and the dozens of fans sitting in the audience, allowed this miscarriage of justice to play out right in front of them.

They could not see or refused to see that this was not about this kid getting his hair cut off, but something much, much deeper. Only Johnson’s grandfather seemed to understand the gravity of the event and had to be restrained from running onto the gym floor to stop the hair cutting.

The ACLU Chapter of New Jersey got it right when it tweeted, “This is not about hair. This is about race. How many different ways will people try to exclude Black people from public life without having to declare their bigotry?”

- ADVERTISEMENT -

This was a teachable moment. It was an opportunity for the kid’s coach to teach the young people that there are some things more important than athletic contests and winning and losing.

The coach should have invoked principle and demonstrated “real” teamwork by taking his team off the floor. He should have declared to everyone in that gym that “If Andrew can’t wrestle and keep his dignity at the same time, then none of us are wrestling.”

Instead, the bigoted referee handed out lessons in power.

What is more important, an athletic contest or a young man’s emotional well-being and sense of self? Peace and goodwill on earth will not be achieved until all of us recognize the humanity in one another!

Justice, then peace.

(In memory of my loving sister Sonja Denise Roberts)

Support Black local news

Help amplify Black voices by donating to the MSR. Your contribution enables critical coverage of issues affecting the community and empowers authentic storytelling.

Donate Now!

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...
ADVERTISEMENT
Previous Post

Notice of postponement of mortgage foreclosure sale

Next Post

Cheers to all Black coaches, no matter sport or gender

Mel Reeves

Mel Reeves was the community editor at the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder until he passed away on January 6, 2022. He had a long and storied history working at the MSR. Find more about Reeve’s life and legacy here: spokesman-recorder.com/category/remembering-mel-reeves.

You Might Also Like

reparations x broken chains
Opinion

Call for Reparations

Racist attacks against Vikings’ Mattison echo Hank Aaron’s treatment
Sports

Racist attacks against Vikings’ Mattison echo Hank Aaron’s treatment

Kamala Harris stands strong against racist attacks, affirms readiness to lead
National

Kamala Harris stands strong against racist attacks, affirms readiness to lead

Oregon man released from prison after 25 years as his case highlights racial bias in legal system
National

Oregon man released from prison after 25 years as his case highlights racial bias in legal system

Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio sentenced to 22 years in prison for role in Jan. 6 Capitol attack
National

Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio sentenced to 22 years in prison for role in Jan. 6 Capitol attack

Racist gunman targets historically Black community, killing three in Jacksonville
National

Racist gunman targets historically Black community, killing three in Jacksonville

Next Post
Cheers to all Black coaches, no matter sport or gender

Cheers to all Black coaches, no matter sport or gender

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
ADVERTISEMENT

Upcoming Events

Sep 12
September 12 @ 6:30 pm-December 18 @ 9:30 pm Recurring

Vic Volare Presents MUSIC FOR MARTINIS ft: Vic’s Fabulous Nightclub Academy

Sep 28
7:30 pm-9:30 pm Recurring

Ayodele Casel Rooted

Sep 30
9:00 am-1:00 pm Recurring

Cars and Caves

Sep 30
10:00 am-12:00 pm

dem Blessings for Parents: A Morning of Creative Nourishment with Sharon Bridgforth

View Calendar
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Read our latest e-Edition!

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Subscribe

  • Home/Office Delivery
  • Weekly e-newsletter
  • e-Editions

Support

  • Donate
  • Subscribe
  • MSR Newsstand Locations

Connect

  • About
    • MSR Staff
  • Contact
  • Send a news tip
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms

© 2023 Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

No Result
View All Result
  • News & Features
    • Local
    • National
  • All Sections
    • Arts & Culture
    • Health & Wellness
      • Women’s Wellness
      • Parenting Today
      • MN Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Business
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
      • Small Business Month Celebration
    • Opinion
    • Sports
  • Events
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • Donate
  • Subscribe

© 2023 Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: