■ 4 local African American sports figures provide observations as to how they’re processing the nation’s unrest.
Four local African American sports figures share observations on race ... and what has to change
H istory is about foreshadowing at times, even if unwittingly so. We are learning it and living it again.
In 1967, for example, the movie "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" explored the vagaries of black and white cultures when Spencer Tracy — a self-proclaimed, open-minded liberal — had a hard time processing that his daughter was bringing a black man (Sidney Poitier) to dinner.
Twelve years prior, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said the following words about a week after Rosa Parks stayed seated on the bus:
"And certainly, certainly, this is the glory of America, with all of its faults. This is the glory of our democracy. If we were incarcerated behind the iron curtains of a Communistic nation we couldn't do this. If we were dropped in the dungeon of a totalitarian regime we couldn't do this.
“But the great glory of American democracy is the right to protest for right." And this is where we are. We have a hard time processing. We are protesting. We, as a nation, are coming face to face with our principles. Some don't like what they see. Many others yearn for change.
You are about to read the observations of four local African American sports figures — as told to myself and colleagues Vickie Fulkerson, Ned Griffen and Gavin Keefe — and how they're processing the nation's unrest:
F ew others in this region understand the complexities of the black and white cultures better than Davonta Valentine, an African American young man who is the adopted child of two white parents, Jerry and Susan Picardi of Waterford.
Valentine, a two-sport athlete at Waterford High who graduated from Salve Regina University, was the biological child of two African-American parents in New Haven. He was 11 and in foster care at the Waterford Country School when Sue Picardi, a liaison between the Waterford school system and the Country School's Safe Home Project, which serves children who have been removed from home for the first time, met him.
It wasn't long until Valentine was the couple's fourth child.
Valentine was among the most popular students at Waterford. He was the president of the student council, two-time homecoming king and starter on the football and basketball teams.
"This week hasn't been easy," Valentine said. "Social media is a killer. You want to jump in. But I haven't written a thing. I try to look at everybody's views. My mom called me (the Picardis live in Florida now) and asked me about it. I agree with the protesting. But the good protesting. The violent ones, I just don't see how that helps.
“I'm torn because I believe all lives matter. But at this time of need, I believe in Black Lives Matter. Some people don't get that."
Valentine, despite of his notoriety through athletics, said he's been pulled over in his car for no reason before, other than because of his skin color.
"Look, I'm not perfect. Neither are the cops," Valentine said. "I got pulled over in Groton, where there are mostly white cops. It was the second time. I was told 'there's something wrong with your insurance.' There wasn't. When I got to the New London courthouse, I ran into a woman who worked there. She's a family friend. She said, "They pulled you over because you're black, Davonta.' I said, 'it has to be.'
"It's really hard," Valentine said. "I try not to judge anybody. My brotherin-law is a police officer in Waterford. Believe me, I see both sides."