I have seen this news story several times and am left a bit puzzled, and a bit annoyed. It is the story about the young wrestler in New Jersey that was told to cut his hair or be disqualified. I'm certain you have heard of this by now. The puzzling part for me is none of the news stories I listened to concerning this explained what the rule is. Not being aware of the rules I naturally want to know that first and foremost. Was the boy in violation of a rule? It's a simple and direct question to me and one that should be answered. Where any other competitors in violation of this same rule? If so, where they instructed to cut their hair? I didn't hear anything about that in any news reporting either. What I did hear was this boy had dreadlocks and the official may be a racist! That may be the motivation for making him cut his hair. So, to me I want to know first and foremost, is this Rules related or Race related? That is the central question that needs to be answered in my opinion. The race of the competitor certainly shouldn't influence what the rules are. That is what I am bothered by, the news has not answered that central question at all, instead the news has fed a lot of doubt and supposition about the motivation. Listening to the news reporters and " expert " testimony from collegiate level and an Olympic champion wrestler all I came away with was, the official must be a racist! Strangely the Olympic wrestler even said, I'm not certain of what the rules for this match were, but he had dreadlocks and that was probably why. So I'm hearing if you have dreadlocks you are being discriminated against, automatically! Couldn't be anything else.
Now I've heard the argument that he made it this far in the competition without having to cut his hair, so why now? A valid question and one I have no answer for. The only answer I can propose is supposition. Was his hair in dreadlocks before? Was his hair fastened in some other fashion? Or did it just go unnoticed by every other official? I don't know. But, to me, the bottom line remains, was it in violation of a rule? That is the sole consideration to be made. Surely there were other officials there that could have provided insight and the answer to that question. Not seeing any reports of other officials protesting this ruling, or indeed the boys coach filing any formal complaint and standing idly by as a woman with scissors cut those dreadlocks off, leads me to believe there was a violation. But I have to stress the fact that I just don't know because the news hasn't reported on that at all. All that is being reported is that a black kid with dreadlocks was made to cut them off before he could wrestle! A bit of a slanted view? I think it is, and I think it is irresponsible reporting. The news managed to dig up an allegation made over two years against this same official for using a racial slur against a coach. Well, that's certainly proof positive of his racism isn't it? I mean, people who get angry and use such terms always are. Well, unless you are writing a rap song, then it's just entertainment. But, whatever. Still leaves the question unanswered. Was he in violation of a rule? I don't care about his race, creed, color, gender identity, past wrestling matches, or whether his hair is in dreadlocks or any other style. Was it in violation of the rules? And then, if it was, why all the fuss? Because of what it looks like? ? Because he was upset that he had to follow the rules? He made the decision to allow his hair to be cut, no one held him down and forced him. Another indication that he may have known about a rule.
Look all I'm saying here is if we want race relations to get better we had better stop with all this slanted reporting of the news. If this had been a white kid do you really believe the news would have reported it? I highly doubt that. A white kid being made to follow the rules isn't a story in any fashion, unless that kid was someone famous or his parents are. Look at Kaepernick, the media made that all about his race too, and it wasn't. You know it, I know it and few will admit it. But no, the media saw another chance to stir the pot. The main stream media keeps pushing that agenda, if you're black and something bad happens to you, it's because you are black. And usually some white guy is to blame.
I know I'm not supposed to say such things, makes me a racist. Whatever. All I'm saying is what are the rules? If there is a rule and he was in violation, what is the story? Kid made to cut hair before competing. That's the story. If there was no such rule why did no one else protest this ruling by the official? If they did, I didn't hear anything about it. And the argument he has wrestled like this before? If I am pulled over for speeding can I just tell the police, hey I've sped down this highway plenty of times, and never got a ticket before. Is that a valid reason not to be issued a summons? I don't know it just annoys me. These slanted stories doing nothing but fostering more hate and distrust. Is this what we have come too? Just omit the facts that interfere with the story you want to write? I'm still scratching my head? Was this incident rules related or race related? It really shouldn't be all that hard to determine. After all, rules are written down for a purpose. Let's check the rule book shall we?
Now I've heard the argument that he made it this far in the competition without having to cut his hair, so why now? A valid question and one I have no answer for. The only answer I can propose is supposition. Was his hair in dreadlocks before? Was his hair fastened in some other fashion? Or did it just go unnoticed by every other official? I don't know. But, to me, the bottom line remains, was it in violation of a rule? That is the sole consideration to be made. Surely there were other officials there that could have provided insight and the answer to that question. Not seeing any reports of other officials protesting this ruling, or indeed the boys coach filing any formal complaint and standing idly by as a woman with scissors cut those dreadlocks off, leads me to believe there was a violation. But I have to stress the fact that I just don't know because the news hasn't reported on that at all. All that is being reported is that a black kid with dreadlocks was made to cut them off before he could wrestle! A bit of a slanted view? I think it is, and I think it is irresponsible reporting. The news managed to dig up an allegation made over two years against this same official for using a racial slur against a coach. Well, that's certainly proof positive of his racism isn't it? I mean, people who get angry and use such terms always are. Well, unless you are writing a rap song, then it's just entertainment. But, whatever. Still leaves the question unanswered. Was he in violation of a rule? I don't care about his race, creed, color, gender identity, past wrestling matches, or whether his hair is in dreadlocks or any other style. Was it in violation of the rules? And then, if it was, why all the fuss? Because of what it looks like? ? Because he was upset that he had to follow the rules? He made the decision to allow his hair to be cut, no one held him down and forced him. Another indication that he may have known about a rule.
Look all I'm saying here is if we want race relations to get better we had better stop with all this slanted reporting of the news. If this had been a white kid do you really believe the news would have reported it? I highly doubt that. A white kid being made to follow the rules isn't a story in any fashion, unless that kid was someone famous or his parents are. Look at Kaepernick, the media made that all about his race too, and it wasn't. You know it, I know it and few will admit it. But no, the media saw another chance to stir the pot. The main stream media keeps pushing that agenda, if you're black and something bad happens to you, it's because you are black. And usually some white guy is to blame.
I know I'm not supposed to say such things, makes me a racist. Whatever. All I'm saying is what are the rules? If there is a rule and he was in violation, what is the story? Kid made to cut hair before competing. That's the story. If there was no such rule why did no one else protest this ruling by the official? If they did, I didn't hear anything about it. And the argument he has wrestled like this before? If I am pulled over for speeding can I just tell the police, hey I've sped down this highway plenty of times, and never got a ticket before. Is that a valid reason not to be issued a summons? I don't know it just annoys me. These slanted stories doing nothing but fostering more hate and distrust. Is this what we have come too? Just omit the facts that interfere with the story you want to write? I'm still scratching my head? Was this incident rules related or race related? It really shouldn't be all that hard to determine. After all, rules are written down for a purpose. Let's check the rule book shall we?
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