Random thoughts of a free Black mind, v. 153

FAMU response to Champion lawsuit – The Rattlers may end up winning the lawsuit battle against Robert Champion’s parents and end up losing the public relations war by refusing to accept corporate responsibility.

The Marching ‘100’ is to FAMU what football is to Penn State. Both schools are more concerned about the revenue and notoriety such extracurricular activities provide. Top management at both schools, including their respective boards of trustees, turned a blind eye to warnings they received about illegal activities, i.e., hazing and child abuse.

FAMU lawyers seem to sneer at Champion’s death in their legal documents, implying that Champion was a criminal who knew that his ‘imprudent’ behavior could get him killed, but that FAMU wasn’t ‘omnipotent’ enough to see it all coming. What BS! That’s FAMU’s ‘Sergeant Shultz’ defense: “I know NOTHING!”

But the problem for the Champion family is that FAMU may be right – legally. That argument may fly in front of a judge, but it damn sure won’t fly with parents like me when I start thinking about whether I’ll send my brilliant, soft-spoken, beautiful, clarinet-playing daughter to FAMU – perhaps to try out for the ‘100’ – if FAMU completely abdicates its responsibility for her safety.

Seems to me somebody with a brain in Tally would have sat down with the Champion family to work something out before the lawsuit was filed, especially since the total amount FAMU could pay is $300,000, which was former FAMU President James Ammons’ salary for one year…

America in Libya – In 1963, Malcolm X said that President John F. Kennedy’s assassination was a case of America’s “chickens coming home to roost” after America had botched a number of attempts to assassinate Cuba’s Fidel Castro. Malcolm’s point was that America can’t play God, kill sovereign leaders at will, or develop Frankenstein monsters like Osama bin Laden (we armed him to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan), and not expect violent retaliation when our foreign policy interests collide with those of our enemies or former attack dogs…

Contact me at ccherry2@gmail.com; holler at me at www.facebook.com/ccherry2; follow me on Twitter @ccherry2.

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