marcus asks if gopher athletics should address how athletes feel about police

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I can understand folks feeling how they're feeling.

Having said that I'd rather the players not get dragged into the media mess that is going to occur, I don't want to see any of them say something mistaken for something else and they get run over by an e-brigade or other issues.

Not sure I appreciate a member of the media trying to pull any of these kids into it considering if it goes bad they're not going to be able to pull them out of it...
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I can understand folks feeling how they're feeling.

Having said that I'd rather the players not get dragged into the media mess that is going to occur, I don't want to see any of them say something mistaken for something else and they get run over by an e-brigade or other issues.

Not sure I appreciate a member of the media trying to pull any of these kids into it considering if it goes bad they're not going to be able to pull them out of it...
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They shouldn't be pulled into it, but they should be given a chance to speak out about it if they want to. They're adults who can make their own decisions. But I do agree, a member of the media trying to get them to speak is uncalled for. If they want to speak to media, they will do it on their own volition.

If not that, at least being able to direct them to places where they can talk about this (student groups, faculty, counseling, etc.) would be nice. Either way, the University should be helping them feel safer in any way they can (though, at this point I don't know what will really help), just as they should be doing with all students.
 


Marcus brings it up because quite a few of them seem to be distraught over the incident on twitter and sees that as a potential problem for the gophers. I don't think he just randomly pulled the idea out of his ass.
 

die hard gopher said:
Marcus brings it up because quite a few of them seem to be distraught over the incident on twitter and sees that as a potential problem for the gophers. I don't think he just randomly pulled the idea out of his ass.
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Entirely possible. He just didn't say that so it is hard to know.

Pulling stuff out of their ass seems to be a thing with some of the media so I'm always skeptical, and with the university / athletics it seems to be a sadly popular thing.
 


Also Marcus was not giving the idea that Strib should write a story on it, just asking if the administration should address the shooting to it's athletes.
 





I usually try and stay really neutral on these incidents until more details come out but there is a facebook live stream of the aftermath posted on KSTP's site that is worth watching if you have not yet (won't link it because of some of the images and language in it).

As to Marcus's question, yes the U should absolutely provide services to the athletes to address any concerns or fears. This one hits really close to home and if the video I mentioned turns out to be an accurate account of what went down this story is going to get really ugly because it 100% plays into the fears many have these days about police.
 

MNVCGUY said:
I usually try and stay really neutral on these incidents until more details come out but there is a facebook live stream of the aftermath posted on KSTP's site that is worth watching if you have not yet (won't link it because of some of the images and language in it).

As to Marcus's question, yes the U should absolutely provide services to the athletes to address any concerns or fears. This one hits really close to home and if the video I mentioned turns out to be an accurate account of what went down this story is going to get really ugly because it 100% plays into the fears many have these days about police.
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This has been going on for a long, long time. Only those who have experienced a nervous itchy trigger fingered cop can truly understand the fear one can feel even if they are 100% in the right. $hit meet fan.

Yes coach Claeys and staff also need to get in front of this if they have not already. Even if this is just having a counselor speak to the team. Keep in mind the fair and St. Paul campus are in and border this departments jurisdiction
 



STPGopher said:
You lost me here. What are you trying to say? BTW Falcon Heights is considered the "burbs".
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I thought it was pretty clear using rational thought, just down the street in any direction from the U,
there's dozens of homicides and hundreds of shootings that weren't inflicted by police...
...but they're now scared because of a video that DOES NOT show the shooting and the reasons why.

We now live in a world where facebook, twitter and youtube are the facts and we don't wait for real facts
to come out. We no longer have the presumption of innocence and if a cop kills a black guy, it's INSTANTLY
racism, and the cop is a murderer, and NOTHING ELSE. Correct me if i'm wrong, perhaps I am, but is there
another video of Philando Castile actually being shot and what occurred leading up to that? Or just the rather
calm narration of the girlfriend after the incident happened?

My point was, there are murders and shootings all around in MPLS, and they didn't seem to be worried about that at all.
They're are shootings and homicides downtown (Brandon Hall mind you), that occur outside of nightclubs that I know
a lot of these players attend, i've seen them DT, but they're not "legit worried" about that.

And Marcus thinks the U should hold a meeting to address these concerns, about a cop, in Falcon Heights..
 

The police are an issue right now, no doubt. But so is violence in general. There have been over 300 homicides in Chicago alone this year.
 

Gopher028 said:
I thought it was pretty clear using rational thought, just down the street in any direction from the U,
there's dozens of homicides and hundreds of shootings that weren't inflicted by police...
...but they're now scared because of a video that DOES NOT show the shooting and the reasons why.

We now live in a world where facebook, twitter and youtube are the facts and we don't wait for real facts
to come out. We no longer have the presumption of innocence and if a cop kills a black guy, it's INSTANTLY
racism, and the cop is a murderer, and NOTHING ELSE. Correct me if i'm wrong, perhaps I am, but is there
another video of Philando Castile actually being shot and what occurred leading up to that? Or just the rather
calm narration of the girlfriend after the incident happened?

My point was, there are murders and shootings all around in MPLS, and they didn't seem to be worried about that at all.
They're are shootings and homicides downtown (Brandon Hall mind you), that occur outside of nightclubs that I know
a lot of these players attend, i've seen them DT, but they're not "legit worried" about that.

And Marcus thinks the U should hold a meeting to address these concerns, about a cop, in Falcon Heights..
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Please. So now you are comparing this to officers of the law? If that "officer" was so scared he shot Mr. Castile, what would he do if he stopped the likes of Mr Richardson? One of the new OL?



BTW:I was at Brandon Hall's Memorial service. I talked to members of his family briefly. I also spoke with Pastor Utecht after the service. I am highly aware of Brandon Hall and the trajedy.

Remember coach Pinkel at Missouri? Playing your game here, I think he'd agree.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...am-stands-behind-protesting-players/75415604/

Edit(s)

1. I don't think the Staff needs to do what coach Pinkel did. I just was pointing out that it isn't out of the question to talk to players about situations like this.

2. Paraphrasing here. Mason himself stated that he talked to players pre and post Brandon Hall about dealing with the environment that they live in.

3. My personal Opinion here. You talk to players also to see where their head is at. Being "concerned" is one thing and is managable. Making sure a player deals with a potential situation related to (or not) the Castile situation is important as well.
 

GophersInIowa said:
The police are an issue right now, no doubt. But so is violence in general. There have been over 300 homicides in Chicago alone this year.
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Only thing I would change about your quote is to add that SOME of the police are an issue right now. The problem with incidents like this and the others that have occurred is that ALL police get painted as racist murderers when the true percentage is probably very small. It is the same thing with muslims and terrorism. The percentage of terrorist or evil muslims is small but because of their actions there are a large percentage of people that paint all muslims with the same brush (one of those people is currently running for president). There is such a rush to make broad sweeping generalizations about groups of people based on the actions of a small percentage.

Even in this case, the girlfriend is out there shouting that all police are out to get black people which is not fair to the large percentage of officers that are not racist and are already doing a really tough job that just gets harder every time something like this happens.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Only thing I would change about your quote is to add that SOME of the police are an issue right now. The problem with incidents like this and the others that have occurred is that ALL police get painted as racist murderers when the true percentage is probably very small. It is the same thing with muslims and terrorism. The percentage of terrorist or evil muslims is small but because of their actions there are a large percentage of people that paint all muslims with the same brush (one of those people is currently running for president). There is such a rush to make broad sweeping generalizations about groups of people based on the actions of a small percentage. Even in this case, the girlfriend is out there shouting that all police are out to get black people which is not fair to the large percentage of officers that are not racist and are already doing a really tough job that just gets harder every time something like this happens.
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Her boyfriend was just shot and killed by a cop for no reason. No offense, but what do you expect to be going thru her mind?
 

MNVCGUY said:
Only thing I would change about your quote is to add that SOME of the police are an issue right now. The problem with incidents like this and the others that have occurred is that ALL police get painted as racist murderers when the true percentage is probably very small. It is the same thing with muslims and terrorism. The percentage of terrorist or evil muslims is small but because of their actions there are a large percentage of people that paint all muslims with the same brush (one of those people is currently running for president). There is such a rush to make broad sweeping generalizations about groups of people based on the actions of a small percentage.

Even in this case, the girlfriend is out there shouting that all police are out to get black people which is not fair to the large percentage of officers that are not racist and are already doing a really tough job that just gets harder every time something like this happens.
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Good point, I didn't mean to lump them all in one group.
 

DLguy said:
Her boyfriend was just shot and killed by a cop for no reason. No offense, but what do you expect to be going thru her mind?
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Valid points by you and MNVCGUY. This is just further proving Marcus Fullers point in raising his question, Should Minnesota athletics talk to the players?
 

DLguy said:
Her boyfriend was just shot and killed by a cop for no reason. No offense, but what do you expect to be going thru her mind?
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That this cop is evil and he should go to jail for a long time?
 

DLguy said:
Her boyfriend was just shot and killed by a cop for no reason. No offense, but what do you expect to be going thru her mind?
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Most of what she has said and done has been well handled given the situation and the obvious grief but there was a point in her news conference where she flat out said something to the effect that all police are out there killing black people and that is just not true. This is a terrible incident, especially if it turns out that as she stated her boyfriend wasn't doing anything wrong, but it is not fair to paint all cops as racist murderers because the vast majority of them are good people putting themselves on the line to keep everyone safe.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Most of what she has said and done has been well handled given the situation and the obvious grief but there was a point in her news conference where she flat out said something to the effect that all police are out there killing black people and that is just not true. This is a terrible incident, especially if it turns out that as she stated her boyfriend wasn't doing anything wrong, but it is not fair to paint all cops as racist murderers because the vast majority of them are good people putting themselves on the line to keep everyone safe.
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Ever heard of shock and grief? Like was stated earlier, she just watched her boyfriend get shot in front of her son.

Yes there are good police officers. I know several personally. I think they would understand someone speaking out of shock and grief.
 


Absolutely, the U should help these young men become highly educated about their rights and their responsibilities, about arrest procedures and due process, etc, etc. There should be presentations by police officers or other law enforcement experts about what their job is about, what their decision making process is, how they're trained to respond under different circumstances, and what can go right and wrong during law enforcement actions.

And there should be information about careers in law enforcement. No joke. We would be so much better off if intelligent, educated, strong, healthy young men of color were interested in getting involved and helping to straighten out the bent law enforcement establishment.

An athletic program that cares about its athletes can make a big difference in their life trajectory after school.
 


STPGopher said:
Please. So now you are comparing this to officers of the law? If that "officer" was so scared he shot Mr. Castile, what would he do if he stopped the likes of Mr Richardson? One of the new OL?



BTW:I was at Brandon Hall's Memorial service. I talked to members of his family briefly. I also spoke with Pastor Utecht after the service. I am highly aware of Brandon Hall and the trajedy.

Remember coach Pinkel at Missouri? Playing your game here, I think he'd agree.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...am-stands-behind-protesting-players/75415604/

Edit(s)

1. I don't think the Staff needs to do what coach Pinkel did. I just was pointing out that it isn't out of the question to talk to players about situations like this.

2. Paraphrasing here. Mason himself stated that he talked to players pre and post Brandon Hall about dealing with the environment that they live in.

3. My personal Opinion here. You talk to players also to see where their head is at. Being "concerned" is one thing and is managable. Making sure a player deals with a potential situation related to (or not) the Castile situation is important as well.
Click to expand...

Very fair points. I think if Claeys sits down with his players, and maybe he should, part of it should reaffirm confidence in our police force. Maybe
bring in some officers, of all ethnicity to talk one on one with the team and field questions and concerns. I think the most Claeys can do, like any parent, is to try to reiterate that all they can do is just be respectful, compliant and cooperative. Sometimes other things are just out of their hands, but just to be the good young men that they are.
My rant was just mostly that i'm just so sick and tired of the instant presumption of guilt on officers when they're involved in a shooting like this. I've never been a cop, I served in the army, but it's not the same thing and I dont know the world they live in, what they deal with day in and day out. Everyone i've talked to that are criticizing of things like this, never have been a cop either. In all honesty I would never want to be a cop, I dont know how I could live through a world of crime like they do then come home to a family and be a husband, wife or parent in a normal sense. To me cops are superhuman and people get so quick to judge and label them racist or murderers. In the case of Mr Castile, we have no idea what lead to officer pulling out his service weapon and shooting him. But as one person noted, cop incidents are up, but so is violence in general, and obvious that goes hand in hand.
Cause and effect, the more crime, murders and times cops are called to situations where criminals use weapons to kill others, that finger gets a little more tighter on that trigger. They have families too, cops get killed on duty too. What's the answer? It's all just so pitifully sad.
 

I'm sure even among the players there are different points of views. I think it would do some good for the players to talk about it and see if they can understand each other and "unify".

NOTE: I know very little about this shooting as it is still breaking news. I like waiting for facts to come out and then decide. I have not watched the video of it. I try to avoid videos of shootings. Not my thing.
 

West Fargo Gopher Fan said:
I'm sure even among the players there are different points of views. I think it would do some good for the players to talk about it and see if they can understand each other and "unify".

NOTE: I know very little about this shooting as it is still breaking news. I like waiting for facts to come out and then decide. I have not watched the video of it. I try to avoid videos of shootings. Not my thing.
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You clearly have no clue how things work on GH.
 

DLguy said:
Her boyfriend was just shot and killed by a cop for no reason. No offense, but what do you expect to be going thru her mind?
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We don't know that. That's a fact.
 

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