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Username Post: Seth Towns Protesting        (Topic#24387)
PennFan10 
Postdoc
Posts: 3580

Reg: 02-15-15
05-30-20 05:20 PM - Post#308150    

Good for Seth!

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketba ll/story...



 
palestra38 
Professor
Posts: 32685

Reg: 11-21-04
Re: Seth Towns Protesting
05-30-20 06:14 PM - Post#308152    
    In response to PennFan10

Absolutely.

 
Quakers03 
Professor
Posts: 12480

Reg: 12-07-04
Seth Towns Protesting
05-30-20 09:37 PM - Post#308163    
    In response to palestra38

Agreed in full. Makes me like him even more.

 
mobrien 
Senior
Posts: 390

Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
05-30-20 09:48 PM - Post#308166    
    In response to Quakers03

Seth is a real credit to the team and the university. Proud of him.

 
penn nation 
Professor
Posts: 21086

Reg: 12-02-04
05-30-20 11:53 PM - Post#308174    
    In response to mobrien

That is a satisfying read.

 
Mike Porter 
Postdoc
Posts: 3615
Mike Porter
Loc: Los Angeles, CA
Reg: 11-21-04
05-31-20 03:04 AM - Post#308178    
    In response to penn nation

Definitely good for Seth! Absolutely commendable!

 
TheLine 
Professor
Posts: 5597

Age: 60
Reg: 07-07-09
06-01-20 09:39 AM - Post#308229    
    In response to Mike Porter

Proud of you, Seth.


 
HARVARDDADGRAD 
Postdoc
Posts: 2685

Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
06-01-20 10:55 AM - Post#308230    
    In response to TheLine

Not a surpise to anyone who monitors his twitter account. A very thoughtful and somewhat pained individual. Absolutely expected him to go 'home' ot OSU for his postgraduate transfer.

Hope no one tries to portray him differently. This is a young man I wouldn't be surprised to see as a leader in future years. Selfless, he seemed to be at every game the passed few years, despite the pain, both physical and emotional it must have taken for him to be there.

A few weeks ago I commended the social education that Coach Amaker provides his young men. Timely.


 
HARVARDDADGRAD 
Postdoc
Posts: 2685

Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
Seth Towns Protesting
06-01-20 11:11 AM - Post#308231    
    In response to HARVARDDADGRAD

Addendum: just watched an interview wih Kareem Abdul Jabbar, very thoughtful, poingnant, and not violent.

I fortunately got to meet and hear Kareem due to Coach Amaker. In the fall of 2017 it was no accident that Tommy brought Kareem to Harvard to speak with a bunch of us, and to meet with the team privately. I can see how Tommy may have wanted a man of patience and perspective like Kareem to help educate the players. Part of Seth's education. Unique. Invaluable.

Edited by HARVARDDADGRAD on 06-01-20 11:26 AM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

 
penn nation 
Professor
Posts: 21086

Reg: 12-02-04
Re: Seth Towns Protesting
06-01-20 01:35 PM - Post#308234    
    In response to HARVARDDADGRAD

I have found Kareem to be a deep thinker over the years.

His LA Times piece a couple of days ago is one of many such examples.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-05 -30/d...

 
Go Green 
PhD Student
Posts: 1124

Age: 52
Reg: 04-22-10
Re: Seth Towns Protesting
06-01-20 02:24 PM - Post#308237    
    In response to penn nation

  • penn nation Said:
I have found Kareem to be a deep thinker over the years.





A funny actor as well!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArHNrCvwq4c

Edited by Go Green on 06-01-20 02:24 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

 
rbg 
Postdoc
Posts: 3044

Reg: 10-20-14
06-12-20 09:37 AM - Post#308937    
    In response to Go Green

https://sports.yahoo.com/seth-towns-proud-path -to-...

- A Columbus police sergeant eventually directed Smitherman to a downtown firehouse a few blocks removed from the protests. When she arrived, Smitherman peered through a chain-link fence at the rear of the station and spied a sight no mother ever wants to see.

“My son was sitting with his hands behind his back and I could see that they were zip-tied,” Smitherman said. “My heart broke into a million pieces to see him like that.”

It may have stung Smitherman to see her son in handcuffs, but it didn’t surprise her that he would make such a sacrifice. In many ways, this day was a long time coming for a kid who has always prided himself on being a leader, daring to be different and standing up for what was right. -

- Instead of accepting scholarship offers from the likes of Michigan or Ohio State, Towns opted to take a less common path. He selected Harvard out of high school, gambling that he could fulfill his basketball potential in the Ivy League while also receiving an unparalleled education.

“A lot of people in the basketball world were like, ‘Why would you go there?’ ” Towns recalled. “I told them, “It’s a chance to go to the best school in the world. Why wouldn’t I consider it?’ ”

At first, Towns dreamed of becoming a computer software engineer and developing apps for Google. Then a series of events altered his focus, taught him the power of his own voice and caused him to embrace the fight for racial equality.

The son of a black father and a blonde-haired, green-eyed mother, Towns grew up in a family that was pragmatic about racism. James Towns and Melissa Smitherman taught their son to cherish all humans regardless of race or ethnicity yet to never forget that some strangers will view him differently because of his skin color. -

- If Towns learned to speak his mind during high school, it was Harvard where he developed his voice. He forged relationships with the kind of people that most college basketball players don’t have on their contact list.

Harvard coach Tommy Amaker organizes a monthly breakfast in Cambridge that exposes his players to leaders from the sports world and beyond. Among the invited guests who Towns now counts as mentors: Best-selling author Mitch Albom, former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and civil rights activist Dr. Harry Edwards.

It also influenced Towns seeing other high-profile athletes use their clout to further important causes. Towns described himself as “monumentally inspired” after Colin Kaepernick came to Harvard in 2018 and spoke about why he was willing to jeopardize his football career to keep fighting for racial justice.

Perhaps Towns’ biggest source of motivation was a tragedy that reminded him how rare it is for an inner-city kid like himself to have the opportunity to mingle with luminaries or to get a world-class education. On Oct. 19, 2018, close friend and former high school teammate Jordan “Kizzzy” Kinchen died in a double shooting in Columbus.

Kinchen’s murder led Towns to focus on creating more opportunities for underprivileged African-American kids. He researched ways to improve test scores, to offer internships and to provide college opportunities where they didn’t previously exist. -

- In a video that went viral on social media that night, Towns can be seen shouting, “Say his name!” while officers restrain him. “George Floyd!” a group of protesters yell back.

“I was standing up for what I believe in,” Towns said. “I wasn’t stopping whether I was being detained, arrested or beaten.”

A fellow protester who witnessed police take Towns confirmed that he did nothing to provoke them besides stand his ground.

“From what I saw, he was simply not moving from the road,” Eric Bailey said. “I'm not sure what he did that was different from what I had done that would make them detain him and not me. He had not acted aggressively. He had not thrown a bottle. He did not yell at the officers. He did nothing but exercise his first amendment [rights].” -

- If Towns was surprised to find himself in police custody, he was just as shocked to have his mother arrive out of nowhere.

Smitherman even talked her way into the firehouse, where police allowed her to sit alongside her son while he was detained.

“I’ll tell you what crossed my mind when I was sitting there,” Smitherman said. “If I was a black mother, would I have been afforded that same opportunity? Would a black mother have been given the same opportunity to keep her child safe?”

Columbus police eventually released Towns without arresting him. Then his mother drove him home and he got a few hours sleep. -

- The way Towns sees it, this is a historic moment that the Black Lives Matter movement must seize. Americans are more cognizant of the systemic racism that persists in this country and more open to embracing change.

“This has been the most educational two weeks of my entire life,” he said. “I’ve learned a ton about how the system works and what steps we need to take going forward.

“My biggest takeaway is that having a few things change with police reform wouldn’t be enough. Now is the time that ending institutional racism needs to be pushed to the forefront of our nation’s efforts. Liberty is what this nation is founded on and right now there is a group of people that is not experiencing the same liberty as others.” -

 
H78 
PhD Student
Posts: 1458
H78
Loc: Los Angeles, CA
Reg: 01-06-11
06-15-20 05:53 PM - Post#309046    
    In response to rbg

Nice summary, thanks.

 
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