We’ve already heard from Jeff Follmer, the Browns and Andrew Hawkins on his decision to wear a “Justice for Tamir Rice and John Crawford III” t-shirt before yesterday’s Browns game.
Now, word from Steve Loomis, president-elect of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association. His statement is significantly less inflammatory than Follmer’s (he doesn’t call anyone pathetic, to start), but it mainly hinges on similar “stick with sports” territory. Also, spoiler: He gets the Dixie Chicks involved. His statement to Scene in full:
Entertainers should entertain and not dip into the world of politics. (A world in which MOST are incredibly under qualified to participate.) While we recognize and support 1st amendment rights of all citizens, there are a select and fortunate few that must be held to a higher standard. I have two words for them, Dixie Chicks. The group expressed their political views during concerts and single handily and very quickly destroyed their careers!
The words and actions of sports and entertainment personalities carry a certain amount of weight no matter how uneducated, inciting, and false those opinions are.
Entertainers expressing their political views should choose their words and actions wisely. In Cleveland there are a great many groups working very hard to remain a national model regarding the very emotional issues we are currently facing. We are accomplishing the message of calm through meaningful dialogue and bridge building. Now is a time for open honest dialogue between legitimate stakeholders NOT inciting, self serving, and uninformed messages from those living in their gated communities.
Most of the folks that go to Browns/ Cavs games, (me included) go to support their team, the players, and community. We spend our hard earned money to enjoy time with friends and family and distract ourselves from the day to day grind of life. WE DO NOT go to these games to deal with the personal and political messages from players.
From my perspective as the President Elect of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association as a Cleveland Police Officer, and resident, statements made by these folks (whether supportive of Police or of suspects) do the citizens a huge disservice. They also set back and distract us from any progress being made on the peaceful resolution of the very serious and complicated issues at hand.
Loomis didn’t address our questions of whether the rank and file fully supported Follmer’s statement or his thoughts on Follmer’s decision to issue the statement in the first place.
This article appears in Dec 10-16, 2014.
This is too stupid to be real. Tell me this is a joke.
Since when is the killing of a black teenager by police a “political issue”? This has NOTHING to do with politics. This is about institutionalized racism by police.
“Shut and and dance, boy. I want to be entertained.”
This statement is insulting and hypocritical. Next time elections roll around I don’t want to see the Cleveland Police Officer’s Union supporting a candidate because their job is to protect and serve, not express their political views. Oh, and you’re not a 12 year old girl, so hands off the caps lock.
I suspect he’s also got a problem with nights when Police and Firefighters are honored at games? Or when troops are honored? Or breast cancer awareness signage.
Or is he only against “politics” entering the sports world when he disagrees with it.
Why should the CPPA have a public opinion about what t-shirt anyone is wearing. That being said i don’t believe when you are working that you should be promoting your personal opinions.
This may be the single most ignorant statement made by anyone ever. How can he in one breath support free speech under the constitution and then in the next deny it based on his perceptions of the power of speech by certain individuals. It’s mind-boggling inane.
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Vince Grzegorek is nothing more than a blowhard. Do you see the kind of chickenshit cover stories he’s been ordering? The guy doesn’t have the balls to swing the bat. He just another talentless so-called writer who is going to get a hard dose of reality when he gets canned. Candy ass, man. Candy ass.
The thing about the Dixie Chicks comment is that they were right- more than 10 years ago, prior to the invasion of Iraq- they said, and I quote “we do not want this war, this violence.” They were spot on. Turns out that a decade later, most Americans didn’t want the war or violence, either.
So if I express a different opinion than a police officer, I’m being disrespectful? Does that mean you’re going to shoot me? Sorry officer, you’re right, the police are infallible because they’re not human.
Who says that entertainers can’t have an opinion about issues? I don’t get it.
Did I just read that a person whose primary job will be to make sure police who kill uarmed children are never, ever convicted for this, never even tried for , heck never even arrested, did he really write about “…a select and fortunate few that must be held to a higher standard?”
Talk about the the pot calling the kettle a hypocrite.
Before he lectures entertainers for “expressing their political views” and advising them to “choose their words and actions wisely,” he should probably spend time lecturing his fellow officers about not expressing their irrational fears and by choosing to fire thier guns unwisely. While speaking truth to power may hurt the delicate feelings of a few police officers, even the worst words fired at police won’t do anywhere near the damage their bullets do when fired at unarmed husbands, wives, and children.
The next time he’s thinking about making another “self serving” statement declaring his authority to decide which Americans can weigh in on this subject he should steer clear of “uninformed messages” suggesting that Hawkins isn’t a “legitimate stakeholder.” Like Jonathan Ferrell the unarmed man shot by a Charlotte cop last year, Hawkins is a football player and he is the father of a young boy that in a few years might want to play in a park like Tamir Rice. As a highly paid player in the NFL living in an expensive “gated community,” Hawkins contributes more to the Cleveland tax base that any cop. Hawkins seems pretty vested in this discussion.
Loomis is right that “folks that go to Browns/ Cavs games… to enjoy time with friends and family…to deal with the personal and political messages from players.”
Oh well, most folks spend their hard earned money paying taxes to fund a police department to enforce the law and arrest bad people, NOT to burden us with their personal and political messages about the wardrobe choices of football players and WE DO NOT pay our taxes so that cops can gun down unarmed children with impunity.
To paraphase the favorite line of cops, “Before you criticize a professional football player, you try playing one game in his cleats.”
How can he feel justified condemning Hawkins, who doesn’t work for him, for the simple act of critcising the police who work for us all.
and members of the public don’t go out into the streets to be economically or racially profiled and otherwise harassed, beaten, falsely arrested or shot by wild wild west gunslinger cowboy cops either, but it keeps happening so get used to the on going protests asshole!
Duh? he wore the shirt during practice, not during the game; therefore, this guys remarks are moot.
He was a 12 year old “KID” for God’s sake? Just step back for one minute and pretend you are the officer driving the police car, and you were training your son or daughter to be a police officer; and you thought there was a lunatic in the park with a gun. What would you do? I know for fact I would be as far back as possible, behind the cruiser door yelling on the loudspeaker to “drop the weapon”. Why is everyone clouding the facts with the orange tip of the gun, and all the other nonsense? These police “officials” are even commenting on a T-shirt? How about talking about helping the family that lost their “CHILD”. It’s pretty simple, fire the dispatcher, fire the officer that drove up to the scene, fire the cop that shot him, apologize to the family and pay them what they deserve . it’s really that simple.
Heaven help Cleveland. The incoming president is as nutty as the outgoing one.
Yeah athletes, how dare you have opinions on stuff.
I would like to correct a comment from this uninformed man. The Dixie Chicks released an album after the whole “controversy”, with songs directly addressing the issue, and it turned out to be one of their best selling albums and won many Grammys. The album is called Taking The Long Way.
Politics are competing values, one person values as opposed to another person values. One believes in abortion another person does not. Another person believes in war, still another is anti war. Therefore, my question is this. Does an athlete and other celeberties have or value anything?