NASCAR has been around a long time and so have, I this is the first time 40 years, I’ve written about them stock car driving.
NASCAR is the great American race circuit in which they call themselves. You’ve heard of the Daytona 500 in Daytona, Florida you see I have never desired all these years to write about NASCAR because through the lens I’ve viewed them I’ve perceived them to be racist.
They have one Black driver currently he’s pretty good one of the best Bubba Wallace.They NASCAR have as long as I can remember allowed fans to bring Confederate Flags to their events and from my neck of the woods that is not good. You see my Mom and Dad Mr and Mrs Robert and Sally Fitzgerald.were born and raised in Natchez, Mississippi.
You might say I never took to the good old boys and those so called red necks that I came across. Something about people carrying a flag that represented the deep South during the Civil War. If you remember President Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves the North or Yankees as they were referred to won the war. That’s why we have the United States of America thank goodness.
The confederates and flag owners are sore losers they hated that slavery ended and they loss the war so they have hung on to one of the most dangerous symbols in history.That dam Confederate Flag I hate it when I would drive my son Marcus annually to Marshall University when he was in college in West Virginia back in the day. I would see many of those flags on my drive from Minnesota through Chicago ,Indiana, and into western Kentucky.
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Two weeks ago Wallace ask NASCAR to finally ban the Confederate Flag. It took two days and they said yes.Since the murder of George Floyd on 38th and Chicago suddenly some people are finally coming to their senses.Steve Phelps is one of them after all theses dam years the President of NASCAR bans the flag at NASCAR events.
Like Los Angeles Lakers owner Jeannie Buss, said,”white people need to stop ignoring racism..Last week in Talladega,Alabama at NASCAR’s Superspeedway event someone placed a hangman’s noose in Wallace’s garage stall. Hatred lives right? NASCAR and the FBI launched and investigation to find out who was responsible.for it- an FBI investigation,of the noose in Wallace’s garage was determined not to be a hate crime,concluding the unit’s pull rope had been fashioned into a noose prior to October 2019.
My questions are did the FBI determine had the noose been used before? Why was the noose their in the first place? To intimidate-humiliate or anger Wallace? Why did a NASCAR representative select that garage for Wallace? After all it was their since October of last year. Phelps has outlined steps NASCAR will take moving forward, including sensitivity and unconscious bias training for all members of the Industry. Good luck sounds like a plan maybe burning all Confederate Flags and nooses on site will help…..
A racetrack in North Carolina that calls itself the “Daytona of Dirt” is losing a couple of partnerships after posting an advertisement for “BUBBA Rope”311 Speedway has lost its partnership with a concrete company that had sponsored the races.Phelp’s says,Our ultimate conclusion for this investigation is to insure that this never happens again, that no one walks by a noose without recognizing the potential damage it can do.” White people are asking us for the benefit of the doubt.That is not supported by historical previous record.In the mean time America is stuck between where it needs to go and those who are okay with where it is..
Larry Fitzgerald is a longstanding contributing columnist at the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. He can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio 89.9 FM at 8:25 am, on WDGY-AM 740 Monday and Friday at 9:10 am, and at www.Gamedaygold.com. He also commentates on sports 7-8 pm on “Almanac” (TPT channel 2). Follow him on Twitter at FitzBeatSr. Larry welcomes reader responses to info@larry-fitzgerald.com, or visit www.Larry-Fitzgerald.com.