Around the Summer Solstice in June 2022, an incredible human, Ranger Reuben, a dear cousin and fellow Bloomington, Ind., native, led me on a mind-blowing adventure around some of the stunning natural treasures of Yosemite National Park.
These days were laced with life highlights at a mind-bending rate and I have here tried to catalog and preserve an overwhelming media load collected during five jam-packed days of excursion, expedition and excitement in one of the most magnificent natural regions of The Americas.
June, 19, 2022 — Yosemite Day One
From the sights out of my plane windows from Indy to Fresno via Arizona on to my first steps into the world of Yosemite National Park, the sights were blowing my mind in an endless barrage. Because I’d delayed packing, I’d hit the airport in the wee hours of the morning on one hour of sleep, but the excitement of the scenery kept me buzzing like an Italian espresso stand.
June, 20, 2022 — Yosemite Day Two,Orientation Continues
June, 20, 2022 — Yosemite Day Two, Part Two: Appreciating the Native Ahwahnechee Roots of Yosemite
June, 20, 2022 — Yosemite Day Two, Part Three: Cook’s Meadow. Behold the magnificence Yosemite Falls and its environs!
June, 20, 2022 — Yosemite Day Two, Part Four: The Ahwahnee Wows!
June, 20, 2022 —Yosemite Day Two, Part Five: Olmstead Point Lizard Hunter 🙂
June, 20, 2022 — Yosemite Day Two, Part Six: Tioga Pass and High Country
June, 20, 2022 — Yosemite Day Two, Part Seven: Heaven on Earth, Olmstead Point at Sunset
June, 21, 2022 — Yosemite Day Three, Part One: The Hike Begins Up the Four-Mile Trail toward Glacier Point
June, 21, 2022 — Yosemite Day Three, Part Two: The Four-Mile Hike Becomes a 16-Mile Summer Solstice Spirit Quest
June, 22, 2022 — Yosemite Day Four, Part One: Recovery Day, Maxin’ and Relaxin’
June, 22, 2022 — Yosemite Day Four, Part Two: Recovery Continues: Swinging Bridge, Mirror Lake and El Capitan Climbers Camping on the Monolith
June 23, 2022 — Yosemite Day Five, Part One: Coffee & Rain (No action, just a moment of zen)
June 23, 2022 — Yosemite Day Five, Part Two: Lee’s Vining Latte and Mammoth Lake Trails
June 23, 2022 — Yosemite Day Five, Part Three: Devils Postpile, geologic geometry
June 23, 2022 — Yosemite Day Five, Part Four: Heaven for Lunch (Ohana’s at June Lake post postpile)
June 23, 2022 — Yosemite Day Five, Part Five: Mono Lake is Out Of This World!
June 23, 2022 — Yosemite Day Five, Part Six: Volcano, Bear, Coffee (and, to top it off) Waterfall
P.S.
A note to this post’s general audience:
Reuben (the son of my mother’s sister, Sarah) has one of the most motivating takes on life I’ve ever encountered. He has manifested an amazing will to live through a litany of life challenges that could seriously derail a person’s ability to carry on. For example: As a boy, his primary love was baseball, yet his playing career was cut short in high school when he was forced to endure a leg amputation to save his life from cancer. These days, this 44-year-old is dealing with organ failure. PEOPLE, PLEASE CONSIDER DONATING TO HELP SUPPORT THIS FABULOUS HUMAN WHO IS MONTH AFTER MONTH DOING HIS OWN DIALYSIS DAILY AS HE AWAITS A KIDNEY DONATION FOR TRANSPLANT. You can reach him by mail at P.O. Box 253, El Portal, CA, 95318. If you prefer Venmo, his handle is: @Reuben-Cochran-1. How you donate is up to you! He’d be happy to receive anything: words of support, cash … a kidney!
INDIANAPOLIS — The young boy’s body lay cold in the casket. No life. Spirit elsewhere, bits glowing in the hearts of the mortals gathered in the Stuart Mortuary chapel for his funeral, but most now inhabiting the celestial heavens beyond their grasp.
“Forever 17,” said his mother as she looked upon the lifeless face before the casket closed forever.
We all looked for the last time. And the visceral pain just gnawed at our stomachs. While many of us trust God’s greater plans, we all felt the injustice as we stared into that young face, which could not stare back and would never again smile in the way for which its owner, Xavier Fairley, was known.
The X I knew still played with stuffed animals in my daughter’s room. (Social media memories courtesy of Jasmine Townsend)
I don’t know if I ever said more than two words to Xavier (X, as I knew him), but I knew his smile. He’d been a guest in my house many times as a friend of my daughter. He would make her laugh and be a good listener and friend. She was sad when he moved to Arizona and happy when he returned. I can picture him smiling on Facetime with her many times when I’d pop into her room for a word.
This happened at a party? There are witnesses? WTF? Who are these so-called friends that you were partying with? What is their story? They won’t pay respects to your family by helping authorities arrest the killer?
We’re all sitting there today wondering about what justice looks like.
We know what it doesn’t look like.
It doesn’t look like another troubled kid feeling tough and righteous by taking out another life in a vigilante frenzy.
Those in the crowd with some experience exhorted us to trust the Lord when he says “vengeance is mine.”
We turned to Jesus’ words in Matthew 24: “…Because of the increase in wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. …Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”
Minister Carlton Amos (if I’m reading the program correctly), an Black man in his sixties, laid it bare: He’d lost his brother, his grandson, his nephew … more. He is so tired of the cycle he knows so well. He once hated himself for what he did to others and others for what they did to him. He couldn’t turn himself around, but in learning to lean on a power greater than himself, he found some footing.
He remembers picking up his grandson after he’d been locked up at a facility for getting into some trouble. His grandson told him how he’d used his incarceration as an opportunity for self reflection and prayer. The kid said he’s planned to try to turn his life around. One week after returning to Arsenal High School, he’d been in a fight. “I’m trying to change,” his grandpa recalled him saying. “But they just won’t let me.”
He was dead within the week.
Indy, we have to be the change. Right here. Right now. For X. And for all the brothers and sisters, the daughters and sons that are falling all around us. We have to change for our country. For our world. We must be that fabled City on Hill, shining as a beacon of human progress and enlightenment.
If not us, then who? If not now, then when?
People know who killed X. He was killed at a party, for heaven’s sake. All evidence condemning the killer needs to be turned in to the authorities – or someone trusted who is capable of dealing with the authorities – pronto.
Please contact Indy Homicide Detective Doug Swails at 317-327-3475 or douglas.swails@indy.gov with any information that could help catch Xavier’s killer.
Please don’t be a stereotype, a caricature, another statistic. Please be human. Human of the evolved type. Not the eye-for-an-eye type, the old-school model hellbent on an eternal loop of head-on collision with a wide scatter-shot pattern of collateral damage. This communal trauma continues to grow with each minute we remain plugged-in to this reality in which we continue to wake.
We must change the channel. The vibe. The frequency.
* * *
X, your funeral was gut wrenching. Any time spent truly contemplating this kind of loss is gutting.
Overnight in Indy, my husband tells me, we’ve had 7 more shootings in five places across the city. Five males. Two females.
We have nothing if we lose faith in the hope of brighter days.
While life remains, we must find ways to smile, laugh and dance. We must do these things to lift our spirits so that we can soldier on and muster the best performance we can for the days we have left. We must fight the good fight. And feel around us the army of angels who we’ve lost along the way encouraging us. Please learn the lessons offered by the legions of lives prematurely laid down.
Learn to feel … we must feel … even as the numbness threatens to deaden our troubled minds.
When it rains on a funeral, I feel like God is crying. Like nature joins in the mourning. In the grief. It rained all weekend in Indianapolis. Spirit lives in the water. It flows in, among, around us. And it waters flowers.
Featured above: Components of the Mantis series graphic designer/illustrator Asha Patel created for my business in 2019.
By Rebecca Townsend
INDIANAPOLIS —— After graduating massage college in 2015 and working for more than three years to pay my dues and learn the ropes of my new profession, the time came to commit to a lease with the goal of supporting myself through an independent massage therapy practice. I pondered what guidance nature may offer. Might a spirit animal help organize my business plan?
The backside of the Patel-designed business cards.
Mantis emerged.
Yes, the Mantis does have a man-eating reputation. But that power can be seen in a positive way, as was ultimately suggested by the “Mantis Eats Stress” tagline on my business card. And there’s an unspoken joke: Ask for a happy ending and Mantis will bite your head off. 🙂
Within the records of ancient Chinese martial arts, literature, and aesthetics, we see that in those mystic, mythic, remote mountains, people knew Mantis. Mantis is one of the animals that inspired its own martial arts style, a practice — much like massage — gaining its effect through quick flicks of the wrists.
My massage practice is fascinated with the way people’s fascia lays: how it can aid or inhibit mobility, how it relates to the way people feel pain, how it can be pulled askew. Often, when I flip a client over from supine to prone position, I’ll take a few moments to soak in and connect with the fascia running from their heads, down their backsides and on to their Achilles tendons.
As I stand at the head, my hands will move from the thoracic region down toward the sacrum. As they move to distal regions, my forearms slide into the groove between the shoulder blades, resulting in a Mantis-like prayer position over the client. This time offers opportunity for grounding and core centering during the routine practice of Mantis massage. My hope is to move people out of their heads and into a powerful/balanced, rooted core.
A Mantis at rest in my living room.
Indiana’s own Steve Englehart invented Mantis as seen in Avengers and beyond!
Transcendental characteristics are attributed to the Mantis. As a guide on the journey to Planet Massage, Mantis is a small but mighty captain. Planet Massage is not located in the fully conscious or unconscious. In a quiet, safe space, the parasympathetic nervous system receives the space and energy necessary to foster the body’s rest, digest and repair processes. Veterans of the journey often rebook the experience on a routine basis.
In researching Mantis art and lore, I soon discovered this video, which ultimately convinced me Mantis was a most formidable female icon: “the half-Vietnamese daughter of the villain Libra, who was taken in by outcast (priests) … it was with the priests she was trained in martial arts and developed psychic powers. In addition she was raised to be the Celestial Madonna.”
The curriculum vitae continues … bargirl….dated villains…reformed herself and others… “single-handedly taking down both Thor and Captain America.”
Thank you, Comic Drake, for teaching me that the Mantis we know from the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy is actually a Celestial Madonna from the mind of Indiana’s own Steve Englehart. So she’s a great model of multiculturalism with roots now established in China, Vietnam, Indiana and the broader cosmos.
My practice is honored to be aligned with the ancient legacy in natural power that the Mantis banner represents.
A sanctuary carving at Tabernacle Presbyterian Church illustrates an intersection of Spirit with Hand, offering a solid reminder that when we lay on hands, we are given the opportunity to channel power beyond our understanding. Ancient traditions and modern interpretations of Mantis align with this idea. Thus my business’s central character serves to calibrate my navigation through the unfolding journey that is work, education, and life.
Clint Dempsey attacks DaMarcus Beasley during a 2014 practice at Stanford University on a beautiful May two weeks ahead of the World Cup in Brazil! (Photo by Rebecca Townsend)
There is so much more to these guys’ World Cup journey! And I hope more stories will be forthcoming (I’ve been promising to write the book of my adventure traveling to watch them. Imagine the books they could write!) … But this day, the U.S Men’s National Team was two weeks away from leaving their training camp in Northern California and flying to São Paulo for what would be an epic showing that ran through the group stage and into a gripping Round of 16 performance in Salvador, Bahia, ending in defeat to Belgium.
Fellow Hoosier DaMarcus Beasley agreed to sit for a pre-Cup interview with me, as I was then news editor at NUVO, the alt weekly in Indianapolis, and I was insistent that he receive some front-page props for his monumental achievement of becoming the first U.S. player to appear in four consecutive World Cups!
The U.S. team’s front-office handlers, though, were not anticipating me being on the field that day in California. It wasn’t an open practice. But they didn’t tell me that. And they didn’t know I got there early enough to gain the knowledge and field position necessary to achieve my goal for the day, which was to absorb as much as this pure magic as possible! The handlers didn’t know they were dealing with a player who had traveled a long way to get to that field and was pleased that God magically removed every obstacle to her path … so much so that to her immense surprise, she found herself alone on the field with the entire U.S. National Team and its legendary head coach, World Cup winner from the great 1990 German team, Jürgen Klinsmann. I was in absolute heaven. Everyone was a pure gentlemen and totally ignored me, which was exactly what I wanted. I really truly was there to watch them work. And, boy, did they work!
Today, The Crack Podcast hosted Clint Dempsey and listening to him speak with DaMarcus and crew made me flashback to that perfect May morning seven years ago … You guys were great!
Prince would build basketball breaks into his marathon 24-hour recording sessions. Photographer Steve Park captured Prince in action. Park’s book Picturing Prince is a must-have for any fan of the maestro or iconic photography.
So glad I chose to browse NYT.com this morning. I found a beautiful surprise: The backstory to one of my favorite Prince songs.
Of many great interview clips included, this observation from his longtime sound engineer Susan Roger’s stands out: “He had a watchmaker’s knack for understanding how music worked and how to get it to work with the fewest possible parts.”
The bass and other instruments (Prince played them all on the song Sign O’ the Times) were created on a digital super tool called a Fairlight, Rogers explained.
Prince took a cassette of the song’s digital foundation to his car and wrote lyrics and melody. Rogers prepared his mics and left the room so Prince could record his vocals alone.
“You’d hear those soul preacher screams (while waiting for him in the hall) and you’d know: this will be one of those that has me on my knees,” she said.
Then the guitar would enter and echo the vocals in shorter melodies. And voilà: an innovative use of music to engage us in our environment while amplifying the soundtrack of our lives.
The pictures in this book say way more than a thousand words, but in the end the ultimate meaning is simple: Love.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m calling this an eastern black swallowtail, Papilio polyxenes asterius. The resurrected butterfly was yellow…
A recent jog in Monroe County took me down a country road running through one of the most picturesque valleys in the state and maybe the world. The beautiful, wooded hills of southern Indiana are full of breathtaking vantage points, but this particular valley runs deepest in my heart. I grew up transversing this place by foot, by bike and car.
After returning from dreamlike scenes in Brazil, I came home to run through the Brummett’s Creek valley and was blown away anew by its lushness…the Hoosier Jungle blooming in thick layers under a hazy mist as a rose and orange sunset glowed. Herds of deer observed me rolling through their territory.
The valley uplifts me and I was attempting last week to work through knee pain on a 5-mile walk/run to State Road 46, which marks the southern termination of Brummetts Creek Road.
On the jog, I passed a beautiful butterfly that looked like it had recently been hit. It lay lifeless on the road, but not crushed. Perhaps I could display its beautiful body instead of leaving it to be smeared into the hot asphalt like the snake I found further up the road. As I stepped to scoop it into my hands, it gave a small flutter.
A tenth of a mile down the road, a rumbling pickup truck rounded the corner, heading toward me.
The butterfly lifted itself off the road, but was still dazed and confused and not moving far from the spot where it lifted off. By now, the truck’s occupants realized an unusual lady was in the road. It slowed to a stop as I gave them a wave and managed to herd to butterfly off the road and into the grassy ditch. Two good old boys in the truck humored me pretty well. As they rolled by when I got out of their way, the guy in the passenger side leans out and says, “I like nature too, but….” He gave his head a slight shake and seemed to chuckle as they went on their way.
Then they were off. I completed my jog and in the final stretch found a butterfly who had actually given up the ghost on the driveway. I scooped it up. The beauty of God’s creation glowing in my hand. A vital thread running through life, weaving lives together even as we shed our skins, our shells, or wings. Does a spirit really need anything to fly?
Welcome to a Thursday afternoon in the heart of Btown (even though I errantly open my video with a “Happy Wednesday!” I scored some dope artwork, I think. It speaks to a certain mood I’m feeling.
Homeless artist David Ortiz Pino displayed a pop up art gallery on Kirkwood Avenue as Covid continued to rage state and nation-wide.
I purchased the drawing on the left and he gifted the drawing on the right.
Here are so additional scenes from the day…
An artist and his work. July 23, 2020.Need to feel good for cheap? Landlocked Music can help! Steps from the Courthouse! http://www.landlockedmusic.comRight on, Dionne! Let’s “Go with love!”Some spoils of my retail therapy session in support of some of my favorite Downtown Bloomington businesses. Thank you, Landlocked Music and The Book Corner! http://thebookcorneronline.com/Some sort of eggs incubating at Hash Road.Rebecca Townsend walking Kirkwood, assessing her hometown scene in Downtown Bloomington, Indiana. Turtle log is one source of zen reflection on Lake Alison. The Hash Road Hardwood Preserve offers a relaxing break from covid craziness. Need a mudbath or a swim? Need a hike in the woods or a paddleboard? Nature heals. https://www.facebook.com/1541417126106182/
The U.S. National Team appears much more diverse on the field than it does on its executive board, a trait MLS and United Soccer Coaches also appear to follow. The men’s team (shown here warming up at Stanford University under the direction of head coach Jürgen Klinsmann — who won the 1990 World Cup playing for Germany — weeks before the 2014 Word Cup began in Brazil) made it all the way to the Round of 16 in 2014 before its brutalization by Belgium. The team did not qualify for the tournament in 2018. Some suggest that the lack of diversity and opportunity in American soccer is to blame for our lack of a World Cup trophy (from our men). Photo Credit: Rebecca Townsend
The Crack drops at a perfect time for honest exploration of race — and soccer
By Rebecca Townsend
Leave it to elite soccer players to understand timing.
Former U.S. Men’s National Team members DaMarcus Beasley and Oguchi “Guchi” Onyewu, and Futbolr Clothing‘s Mabricio “Mookie” Wilson, (a former collegiate player for Old Dominion University) have timed the debut of The Crack Podcast to drop in the midst of the national (and, truly, global) conversation about how to grapple with our racial demons.
Among the issues tackled in the Crack’s two-partseries on racial injustice: the lack of black leadership at the top levels of the U.S. soccer business, on and off the field; the lack of follow-through among professional teams when it comes to cracking down on racist attacks on athletes; analysis of the Drew Brees apology for criticizing players who chose to kneel during the National Anthem, and an exploration of recent examples in which MLS clubs released employees embroiled in racially related scandals.
You Inspired So Many People, You Tools
The number of racial issues dogging the soccer world gave the hosts much meat for conversation. They supported the LA Galaxy in releasing Aleksander Katai after his wife posted violent and racist comments on social media.
But the overall performance of the MLS — and other top soccer groups — on racial awareness received heavy doses of criticsm.
After Columbus Crew SC’s Derrick Etienne experienced racial profiling and offensive comments during a traffic stop in Ohio, he issued a statement that said, in part, ““As American people we must put behind foolish and hateful stereotypes and accept all people the way God intended … by the content of our character not the color of our skin.”
The MLS issued a Tweet of solidarity.
We hear you. We see you. We support you.@detienne_10 💭
The Crack crew noted that the league’s gesture drew an incredulous response from Toronto FC striker and U.S. National Team player Jozy Altidore.
Do you? That lockout threat felt very real just a few days ago. You didn’t hear us, see us nor support us then. Hopefully this change of heart is here to stay and not a trend like most. Let’s do better @MLShttps://t.co/URYWd0bzVz
“He went right at the head of the dragon,” Beasley said. “It’s not just MLS. All these institutions are finally trying to see the light of what Kaepernick — and even Rapinoe — what they started a long time ago — and then for 100 or 200 years, what all black people have been trying to do.”
“If you don’t sit down and talk to the people who work for you, how will you see it from their eyes — your players, your team, your club, the people you write checks? If you don’t understand them as human beings?” — DaMarcus Beasley
In the entire MLS, the Crack crew could count two black coaches and two black general managers.
In addition, the boards of U.S. Soccer, United Soccer Coaches, U.S. Soccer Players Council and the MLS executive leadership team have no black representation. Calls in search of a response to or engagement with the issues raised by The Crack were not returned by United Soccer Coaches (despite the fact that the author of this piece is a past member) or the MLS. [This story will be updated if and when a response is secured.] A Tweet looking for input was also left ignored.
Onyewu wondered if he “punked out” by not taking a knee during his last year playing in the MLS. He confessed worrying about might happen if he did. This is the exact same feeling Crystal Dunn reported having when she remained standing next to a kneeling Megan Rapinoe.
Worth reading this whole answer from the USWNT’s Crystal Dunn on Rapinoe kneeling in 2016. I remember people making a thing of the image of Dunn standing next to her.
“I’m scared for my job. I’m scared that it’s going to look different if a black girl on the team kneels.” pic.twitter.com/jE2jt3ePrS
“I think it’s a bold move from Jozy,” Onyewu said. “I agree wholeheartedly. If MLS is gonna make that announcement or declaration, they have to back it up. Up until now, they really haven’t backed it up, if I’m gonna be honest.
“…The disproportionate number of black representatives at higher positions in the MLS right now, whether it be head coaches, whether it be management. …There are a number of qualified black coaches that would love the opportunity but haven’t been given the opportunity. And what’s the reason?”
Wilson interjected: “The same coaches they’ve been recycling since the beginning of the league.”
Onyewu proceeded to say he doesn’t blame the people who are working for taking the positions offered them, but he went on to name several players without coaching experience who went directly from playing into a directorial role in the top levels of U.S. soccer with no prior experience beyond their playing careers.
“How many first-team, retiring black players have gotten the opportunity?” he asked.
Beasley replied,” Not me. My phone is silent.”
An incredulous Onyewu asked, “Beas, with just our situations: Beas, 4-time World Cup, only player to be in 5 World Cup cycles, has won over 17 titles in his career. Never been contacted. But they give other people they give opportunities.”
When he retired, Onyewu said he was told, ‘We love you. Not enough experience.’ I’m like, ‘Hold up! I’m college educated. I own and operate three businesses. Speak three languages. Have a vast international contact network and this is on top ofmy playing career! (The crew dissolves into laughter over how ridiculous it all seems.) But I’m underqualified? If I’m underqualified, what are these other people before me?!”
He added, “As black men, I often feel we must be twice as good to get the same type of positions.” And he challenged white listeners to ask both black and white people if their parents told them they’d have to work twice as hard to have an equal shot at anything.
“Why?” he concluded. “This my question to the MLS: If you hear us, if you see us, if you are with us, why don’t your actions show that?”
Wilson offered a heartfelt and action-oriented response.
“What they have told us by doing nothing is: this is not for us. We’re here to be workers. We’re not here to lead. We’re not here to supervise. We’re not here to own. It’s plain and simple as that. We have a pyramid and a coaching structure and no one gets elevated.” — Maubricio Wilson
“The equal tears, work and sweat you put in with your teammates is never considered as good … It’s a thank you, appreciate it … keep on moving… See ya when I see ya!” Wilson said. “Both you guys have been disrespected and treated differently from day one of your campaign with the U.S. soccer team. …The time is now not to kick and scream but to be intelligent enough to say, ‘Listen, we’re not moving forward until we have representation at the top because if we don’t have that, nothing else matters. …At the top, if we don’t have someone there, they will always reject it [black efforts to participate] or continue to put their filter on it. That’s what they want to continue to do. You know why? They must be scared of us. They must be scared because of how they treated us in the past, they think we’re gonna do the same to them.
“That’s the only answer I have, Guic, when you ask me ‘Why? Why do they treat us the way they treat us?’
“As a fan outside looking at you two, you got through and made it. I’m so proud of you two, you inspired so many people: black, white, Spanish, Asian, it doesn’t matter. But throughout the process, you were always just a tool. You were never given your just due or given fair treatment. I’m tired of begging or asking, right? I think we’ve got to mobilize and take it. That’s the only thing they’re going to respect.” — Maubricio Wilson
Onyewu snickered with Beasley about Wilson’s “militant” tone.
“It’s not militant,” Wilson replied. “I like to say: intelligent. Why keep running and hitting the wall if you know what the result is going to be?”
Hit ‘em Up with Ricci Greenwood: Analyzing the case of Alan Hinton
Speaking of the notion of being a tool for others to use, the Crack also weighed in on the degree to which enigmatic Tweets from Seattle soccer legend reflected a racist tone.
Alan Hinton, a 77-year old former pro player from Derby County who played with (and won two league titles with) one of the first racially mixed teams in England — also former Seattle Sounder coach, who won titles for the team in 1995 and 1996, lost his contract as a Sounders “brand ambassador” as a result of this Tweet to more than 10,000 followers:
“Let me make clear I am not a racist? I began in pro soccer when no black players on my team? Years later blacks started to be good so my attitude was ‘Love you if you help us win our bonuses’? Signed as a coach several good black players? Have friends who are black? Is that OK?”
The Seattle Times reported in 2019 that “his use of question marks was initially an error when he established his Twitter account in 2011,” a “running joke” he kept going.
The Crack crew was mystified by the question marks but also miffed at the all-too-familiar feeling that people don’t mind integrating if it means winning and bonuses.
“We find a lot of people in power who will recruit an African American if it helps them win, but not necessarily have the best intentions for the African-American culture,” Wilson commented.
Also, Hinton had unconsciously used language that often throws up a red flag to black listeners.
Beasley explained, “One thing all of us as black men always say … whenever someone makes the comment, ‘I have black friends,’ what does that mean?”
Onyewu answered: “He a damn racist.”
The Crack is a well-sourced bunch, however. And they were not content to cast judgment from the sidelines without more first-hand knowledge. So they called their friend Ricci Greenwood, a Seattle kid turned MLS player and international pro, who Hinton nurtured as a young player.
Seattle native Ricci Greenwood played for the Columbus Crew and 1. FC Nürnberg during his prime. He credits Alan Hinton’s direction with helping him through tough issues as a young soccer player. Photo credit to Fedophile44 via Wikipedia Public Domain
“Alan is not a racist,” Greenwood said. “[The Tweet] didn’t sound right, but on a personal side and the things he did for me, I know he’s not.
“I think he was trying to bridge two different times…
“I just go off the experiences I had with him. From my point of view. He was one of few coaches who even took the time. We broke bread and had breakfast, lunch, and dinner; and he told me a lot of things that were very profound for me. Alan is an older white man from Britain. His statements were taken out of context and then everyone was rushing to turn their backs on him. He’s an icon here and they were quick to pass judgment.
Greenwood continued: “I had tears. I didn’t want to play anymore. Everyone was a racist. He was the only person who reached out and would hear about the anger I had. … All these great coaches were quick to label me uncoachable … that never came from him.
“His statements don’t match the man I know (even as his) statements were targeting African-American players in the wrong light. We should be open to make sure that people learn and understand how this is offensive to some people and kind of help them and correct them. But don’t crucify him and turn your back on him. I feel he’s a person that could learn from this and learn a lot.”
Soccer connections enable frontline insight on police perspective
One of many makeshift memorials left in the wake of worldwide protests decrying police brutality and systematic racism. [Photo by Rebecca Townsend]
As the battle cry of “Fuck 12” echoed nationwide, the Crack crew (who are all black, by the way) spoke with Jon Stueckenschneid, a white cop, who also happens to be a soccer coach. In terms of perspective, the crew couldn’t have found someone more qualified to weigh in from a police leadership perspective. Stueckenschneid said has worked the streets and subways of New York since he began policing in the late ‘90s. He currently commands the Queens division. Somehow the soccer bond allowed the conversation to get deep even among the minefields of tribalism that threatens to lock people in impenetrable camps of “us versus them,” “cops versus citizens” and “white versus black.”
“It was very disturbing to watch this happen to another human being,” Stueckenschneid said. “We’re in this profession, like: What’s going on? What was this guy thinking? It’s disturbing and it has to be addressed. They lost their jobs, fine. That’s minimal. One guy’s gettin’ locked up. He’s gonna do a serious bit of time. Probably 25-to-life.”
Wilson interjects: “But history has shown, coach, usually they don’t get convicted.”
Stueckenschneid responds: “Well, there’s video on this, ok? There is public outcry.”
Wilson also queried Stueckenschneid on what he thought would happen to the other three cops who stood around while Officer Derek Chauvin killed Floyd: “What about the other cops? I hear “We take care of our own.” What is going on with the other three cops? Why are the other three cops not being held accountable?”
“The investigation into those three guys is still ongoing,” he responded, noting the FBI’s Civil Rights Division is a notorious enforcer, as NYPD itself learned in the case of Abner Louima. “They have infinite resources and nothing but time. It might take a while… but they’re gonna get got …There will be something there.”
Stueckenschneid also questioned the whereabouts of Chauvin’s commanding officer, noting that in New York, he is held accountable for all the officers operating underneath him. He also noted that cops must help other cops cool down in tense situations.
Calls to “Defund the Police” reflect protestors’ vision of a revamped public safety landscape. [Photo taken in Downtown Bloomington, Indiana, June 2020 by Rebecca Townsend.]
Onyewu asked whether a nationwide standard of policing would help.
“I’m sure that’s where we’ll be headed,” Stueckenschneid said. “This is not a unique incident only to Minneapolis. It’s been nationwide. We’ve had situations in New York that were very ugly: Eric Gardner, Abner Louima.”
Before concluding the conversation, the men brought it back to the international art form of talking smack about soccer and were laughing together as they said their fare-thee-wells.
After releasing Stueckenschneid from the line, Wilson asked his friends what they thought of the conversation.
“It was informative and an interesting conversation,” Beasley said. “I think it was great to hear his perspective on things. For getting a sense of what they go through, talk about and how they think about different things in different circumstances.”
In terms of envisioning how to move forward on the issue of police brutality and racial inequality, Onyewu said, “It’s about creating a new America. It’s hard to go back and change multiple centuries of thought, action and habit, but it’s not that difficult to pivot.
“I think we’re at a crucial moment. This is an opportunity for humanity…. As a global community, this is a great opportunity to pivot and say, “…This won’t continue anymore! I won’t stand for it!”
This Jimi Hendrix quote, chalked on an Indiana sidewalk during worldwide protests, continues to inspire higher thinking decades after the guitar hero’s death. “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” [Photo credit: Rebecca Townsend]
NPR’s resident poet Kwame Alexander and Morning Edition’s Rachel Martin suggested we write poems for Ahmaud Arbery, a black man killed by vigilantes with law enforcement ties in Georgia.
Justice has yet to be served, though progress is being made as the assailants have been arrested and are being held without bail, while the 4th prosecutor to handle the case, a black woman this time, steps to the plate.
USA Today yesterday offered an update on the hottest case in Georgia Justice:
I heard the call out. And I knew it was time to write.
This morning, the flow came longhand.
Then it came in spoken words.
My condolences to Ahmaud Arbery’s family.
I pray for justice — and that we have the courage, patience, creativity and collective support to eradicate the twin‐headed, demon evil virus that embodies racism and violence.
Kwame Alexander plans to take the poems submitted in response to the callout and remix them into a new work. Let’s keep listening!
Hoosier Shangrila 