Local football coach oversteps bounds
The Supreme Court says students don’t shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech at the schoolhouse gate.
Does this not apply to gates outside high school football stadiums in Texas?
Victory and Praise Christian Academy turned off the lights for two players Friday night, when head coach Ronnie Mitchem had two players turn in their uniforms after the national anthem before the team’s game against Providence Classical.
Cedric Ingram-Lewis raised his fist; Larry McCullough knelt.
Oh my God, what egregious transgressions those are. Good Lord, something must be done to these heathens. Give me a break. I know high school football coaches are gods in this state — I’ve written some near-worshiping odes to a few myself — but Mitchem, who is a combination head football coach and pastor, did not make the best use of his power in this case.
He should be ashamed for not setting a better example for the young men on his football team.
Worse yet, he told the Chronicle’s Adam Coleman that he supported his players kneeling if it came after a touchdown.
So, you can exercise your right to free speech only if you’re good enough to score a touchdown?
Sorry Coach, that is not how things work in America.
“That was my point of view,” Mitchem said. “Like I said, I’m a former Marine. That just doesn’t fly and they knew that. I don’t have any problem with those young men. We’ve had a good relationship. They chose to do that and they had to pay for the consequences.”
Thank you for your service to our country, but a fist that wasn’t pressed against someone’s face should hardly be so offensive, even to a former Marine, that it required the kids be removed from the team.
And a knee taken at any time should hardly be deemed offensive at a Christian school. I repeat, a Christian school. Hey, Victory and Praise Christian Academy … what would Jesus do?