Former AU gymnasts speak out about racism they experienced on team

I can't really tell what Graba is alleged to have done but he is a good dude. Hopefully he can lead the team through this experience.

Didn’t know gymnastics had/has such a racial prejudice but there have been several stories like this (including at Alabama) over the past week. Pretty disappointed & disgusted in our team if any of the alleged is true

There is a lot of vitriol going around this board lately and I've kind of had it. I've had to hide more posts in this thread, and this is the third thread of that sort. You guys are going to have to find a way to discuss these issues without devolving to personal attacks against one another or these threads are unfortunately going to have to keep getting deleted.

It's no secret we maintain a hands-off moderation style here to foster a dialogue but if we can't do that without resorting to useless posts where we insult and attack one another, then there is no point in even trying to maintain the dialogue. These type of posts don't further any sort of conversation and don't work to accomplish anything other than to divide us, and frankly this country has enough of that as it is.

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Patiently waiting for the racism by blacks to be reported and spoken out about.

Its time to start a conversation

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Unbelievable. Black people have been trying to have this conversation since the civil rights movement ended. They show you government statistics and it's "fake news." They show you video and it's "what's the whole story" "well they deserved it because..." "Oh it's just a few bad apples." Over and over and over again. Have some empathy. Put yourself in their shoes. Let's play a game where you, your family, and your friends were slaves 400 years ago.

Think about this: if someone sold you, your friends, and your family into slavery. Then you were beaten, raped, tortured, killed, and forced to work to build the wealth of your masters for hundreds of years. Then, they have to have a war just to set you free.

Once free, you and your family and friends are told "good luck! You aren't slaves but you can't get near us, can't eat with us, can't be seen talking to our women, can't go to church with us. We'll still hate you and brutally murder you, and in the case of Tulsa, go to war with you!"

So your set with nothing but a "sorry about it" from your oppressors from the get go. Rundown homes, schools, churches. While the people that enacted the worst crimes of humanity and built wealth off your free labor keep getting
support and new stuff from the government. Damn.

Then Civil Rights happen. There's dogs unleashed on you, water hoses, bombs, and more violence against you just because you want to be seen as equal. And that was in the 60s. My parents and grandparents were alive then. Your parents and grandparents were alive then, too. Hell, you may have even been alive.

Stay with me here. So you and your family and friends are finally seen as "equal" in the eyes of the law. Hey, it only took hundreds of years. Again, just an apology and "it's all gonna be okay."

Does that feel like enough to you? If your family and friends went through all of that would you feel vindicated? Do you feel equal?

Let's not go into the statistics and studies that say that AuburnTigers' family and friends will get arrested more, and fined more, and given harsher sentencing, just for being associated with AuburnTigers.

And all this time you and your family and your friends are pleading for someone to LISTEN to your stories and how you're being treated unfairly, and what answers you? Videos of the alt-right, KKK, and Confederate flags Buildings and statues erected in the honor of the people that owned your ancestors and put you through all that pain, videos of your families and friends getting murdered on the streets with impunity, and lastly, people on the internet going "give me a break," "your equal in the eyes of the law," and "prove it to me."

It's enough to make you protest. It's enough to make you riot. It's enough to make someone like me, who's tired of seeing the hate and disrespect try to speak on behalf of the people who don't even get a word in with some of you.

AuburnTigers you wanna talk? Then talk about it. Talk about it with black people. Face to face. Hear what they have to say. Go to the poor parts of town where the slaves had to go once they were freed and then were given next to nothing for their troubles. I had to do the same thing.

I thought of myself as a pretty good person. I didn't want to listen to these conversations, because there was NO WAY me and my family were racist. Then I thought about all the times my grandparents said something racist and I was silent. Or my parents. Or my friends. Or that time a black friend asked me if I drove somewhere and I thought he was going to ask me for a ride, but really he was asking me if I wanted to ride with him. Without even really thinking it, I was subconsciously assuming he was asking me for a favor because he was black! You have to check that way of thinking, because it seeps into your subconscious and permeates society. It's uncomfortable, but necessary to grow, so that when someone we know becomes a cop, they don't have a deep, subconscious hate for someone, causing them to pull the trigger on them and end their life.

TLDR: There isn't one. Read it all.

Hypotheticals are so much fun. Let try this one.

Say you are a white male that grew up in the 80s and 90s. Your parents taught you to respect all people regardless of color or creed. Then fast forward to today and you are called racist for being white, even though you never owned slaves, never viewed other races as inferior, nor participated in racist activity. Then when you try to point out that the black community violates the law more despite being a minority population, youre a racist. When you point out that blacks are racists as well, you are called a racist. You say that you dont want historical monuments being destroyed, youre a racist. You say no to kneeling to the flag, racist.

Pick a subject and hold an opposing viewpoint...Racist.

Truth is, the black community doest want a conversation. They want to point the finger at whites and blame all their misgivings on them. No personal accountability. None. Loot some stores? White mans fault for systemic racism. Burn buildings? White mans fault. Mass black incarceration for violation of the LAW? White mans fault. Poor schooling? white man fault. Yet no reflection on the fact the black community have been voting for the same party that has systematically stripped them of pathways to success for decades with no end in sight.

How long will the black community use slavery as a crutch? Slavery was abolished in the 1800s.

Does the US government not go above and beyond to provide blacks with a fair shake at everything? There are government programs aimed at helping blacks and leveling the playing field in nearly every function of their lives.

This is getting to the point where your side of the aisle is just skyscreaming and not offering solutions.

Do you want the government to pay blacks reparations? Because a monetary adjustment is about all the government can do. They can't ensure no hurt feelings ever again.

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400 years is a long time, chief. How long do they need? Another 5000 years?

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Slavery in the US only ended like 160 or so years ago. Segregation wasn't ended until the 1960s. That's not really that long ago.

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Unbelievable. Black people have been trying to have this conversation since the civil rights movement ended. They show you government statistics and it's "fake news." They show you video and it's "what's the whole story" "well they deserved it because..." "Oh it's just a few bad apples." Over and over and over again. Have some empathy. Put yourself in their shoes. Let's play a game where you, your family, and your friends were slaves 400 years ago.

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Read a book. It was 236-240 years not 400. The Barbary Pirates in North Africa had more whites in slavery over a lesser period of time than all of the slaves ever in the United States. That was over a 100 year period. Slavery trancends races and cultures. It is an unfortunate metastacy of human society and evolution. The Slavs were the original slaves historically. That's where the word is derived.

We have federal political policies that retard the less advantaged in this country, regardless of race/color/creed that are well-intentioned but erroneously prescribed. Even if we fix the Great Society legislation it will take a generation to see results.

Until then, community review boards are good theoretically, and eliminating public unions I think would correct bad behavior as well. To be clear, there is no systemic racism that exists in the US. There's no data I've seen that would support that hypothesis.

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Pupper?

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Wtf is a pupper?

Guaranteed you're in your early 20's.

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I thought of myself as a pretty good person. I didn't want to listen to these conversations, because there was NO WAY me and my family were racist. Then I thought about all the times my grandparents said something racist and I was silent. Or my parents. Or my friends. Or that time a black friend asked me if I drove somewhere and I thought he was going to ask me for a ride, but really he was asking me if I wanted to ride with him. Without even really thinking it, I was subconsciously assuming he was asking me for a favor because he was black! You have to check that way of thinking, because it seeps into your subconscious and permeates society. It's uncomfortable, but necessary to grow, so that when someone we know becomes a cop, they don't have a deep, subconscious hate for someone, causing them to pull the trigger on them and end their life.

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Yes, you sound prejudiced. I grew up in Auburn and I don't know what type of generational hayseed operation your family was running but that belief and behavior did not exist in my circle of friends and family.

I used to go pick up a buddy in the Ridgecrest projects every morning for a ride to school because it abbuted where I lived, and hell yes my head was on a swivel. Because it was the projects and dangerous comparatively. It didn't change my relationship with Louis. He even hated living there.