Saturday Open Thread

Posted on August 19, 2017 by rikyrah

Good Morning. I hope that you are enjoying this weekend with family and friends.

You know how much I love swimming, so this story made me smile.

From the Washington Post:

The future of U.S. swimming is 6 feet 9, 17 years old — and African American
By Dana O’Neil June 26

The question comes up whenever someone meets Reece Whitley for the first time. Whitley is too polite to respond with the classic teenage show of disdain: the eye roll. But inside? Inside, his eyeballs are on the other side of their sockets.

“How big are your shoes? I hear that all the time,’’ Whitley said with an exasperated chuckle. “I mean, I’m a swimmer. I don’t wear shoes. It’s not a relevant question.’’

What remains relevant, however, is Whitley’s skin color. He would love for it to be otherwise, for the notion of an African American swimmer to be a norm instead of a novelty. The sport simply isn’t there yet. Elite-level swimming success for blacks in the United States essentially begins with Cullen Jones and ends with Simone Manuel, and that stretch started in 2008.

Certainly there has been progress. Jones, who became the first African American to hold a world record, is no longer swimming solo upstream. Manuel’s history-making gold medal in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics came on the heels of her and Lia Neal (both swimming for Stanford) joining Florida’s Natalie Hinds in becoming the first African Americans to sweep an NCAA championship event.

Still, advances have been painstakingly slow, the sport inching along one athlete at a time.

Enter Whitley, who arrives at this week’s U.S. nationals seeded eighth in the 200 breaststroke, ninth in the 50 and 11th in the 100. Semi-famous since he began shattering age-group records at age 13, the 17-year-old is emerging from the kiddie pool just as Michael Phelps exits the scene. Whitley, who two weeks ago committed to the University of California, has all the tools to fill the void: charisma, smarts and talent.

This entry was posted in African Americans, Open Thread, Politics, Sports and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

30 Responses to Saturday Open Thread

  1. SouthernGirl2 says:
    August 19, 2017 at 3:10 pm

    ❤️❤️❤️ Look at this eyebrows. He has some. LOL

    Reply
  3. rikyrah says:
    August 19, 2017 at 2:30 pm

    Sydette‏Verified account @Blackamazon

    Uhm so when do we talk about white male editors of left leaning papers who constantly retweet Nazi centered stories
    8:44 AM – 19 Aug 2017

    Reply
  4. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    August 19, 2017 at 1:23 pm

    Video: Aquatic Affection: How a Scuba Diver Found a Good Friend Under the Sea”
    https://youtu.be/pfwdm5W2lWs&rel=0
    “Published on Jun 14, 2017
    Scuba diver Hiroyuki Arakawa and Yoriko are the unlikeliest of friends. While they both share a love for the sea, Yoriko’s gills and tail make her a little more aquatically inclined. Nearly every day for the past 25 years, Arakawa has been diving into the waters of Hasama Underwater Park in Tateyama, Japan, to visit Yoriko—an Asian sheepshead wrasse. One day, Arakawa found her looking exhausted and carrying an injury. So he did what any friend would do: he took care of Yoriko, feeding her crabs and nursing her back to health. Their decades-long friendship is proof there’s no greater bond than the one between man and fish.”
    http://themindcircle.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/diver-fish-25-year-friendship-hiroyuki-arakawa-japan-3.jpg

    Reply
    • Liza says:
      August 19, 2017 at 7:59 pm

      I’m not surprised Boston turned out. They have a lot of experience with unity (against terrorists) after the Boston Marathon bombing.

      Reply
  7. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    August 19, 2017 at 11:59 am

    “So far 16 charities have pulled out of doing their events at Mar-a-Lago after Trump’s defense of white supremacists”
    http://www.rawstory.com/2017/08/so-far-16-charities-have-pulled-out-of-doing-their-events-at-mar-a-lago/
    Excerpt:

    “Standing with a defender of Nazis and white supremacists doesn’t tend to look good when non-profit groups are attempting to raise money from wealthy Floridians.

    “Since President Donald Trump began an alarming defense of the so-called alt-right in Charlottesville, Virginia, charities and organizations have been canceling or moving their events away from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.”

    Reply
  8. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    August 19, 2017 at 11:56 am

    1948 anti-fascist movie (made by U.S. government) that is relevant today:
    https://youtu.be/42X_eAOU4DU&rel=0

    Reply
  9. Lonnie Starr says:
    August 19, 2017 at 7:09 am

    Wow, what a week it has been. Trump has tarnished his brand big time, it’s doubtful he’ll ever recover. My guess is that he can no longer monetize his brand and people are seeking to separate from any such agreements. Tenets at his properties may appear in courts seeking to break leases, to get away from the stain of supporting his ideology, some may even ask the courts for compensation, after all Trump did this, not just to himself, but to all his supporters, licensees and business partners. My guess is that, as Trump is watching the exodus begin with national charities canceling fundraisers at his properties, he’s beginning to sense the fear of poverty that the rich dread.

    So, as MAGA caps and tees quietly head for the landfills, we don’t dare breathe a sigh of relief, because this is still far from over.

    Reply
  10. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    August 19, 2017 at 6:51 am

    On this day in 1791, Benjamin Banneker, a surveyor of the area of the U.S. capital in the District of Columbia, wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson “seeking justice for African Americans” :

    From Wikipedia:
    On August 19, 1791, after departing the federal capital area, Banneker wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson, who in 1776 had drafted the United States Declaration of Independence and in 1791 was serving as the United States Secretary of State (see: List of Secretaries of State of the United States). Quoting language in the Declaration, the letter expressed a plea for justice for African Americans.

    To further support this plea, Banneker included within the letter a handwritten manuscript of an almanac for 1792 containing his ephemeris with his astronomical calculations. He subsequently placed copies of the letter and Jefferson’s reply in his journal and in a pamphlet printed and sold in Philadelphia in 1792 while publishers were distributing that almanac.

    In the letter, Banneker accused Jefferson of criminally using fraud and violence to oppress his slaves by stating:

    … Sir, how pitiable is it to reflect, that altho you were so fully convinced of the benevolence of the Father of mankind, and of his equal and impartial distribution of those rights and privileges which he had conferred upon them, that you should at the same time counteract his mercies, in detaining by fraud and violence so numerous a part of my brethren under groaning captivity and cruel oppression, that you should at the Same time be found guilty of that most criminal act, which you professedly detested in others, with respect to your Selves.

    The letter ended:

    And now Sir, I Shall conclude and Subscribe my Self with the most profound respect,
    Your most Obedient humble Servant
    B. Banneker

    http://bdmuseum.maryland.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2014/10/banneker.jpg

    http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eZ7Dk_qkf4c/Vlvv4uWOa1I/AAAAAAAAkMM/PeuuingD3RY/s1600/benjamin-banneker-achievements.jpg

    Reply
  11. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    August 19, 2017 at 6:34 am

    “Boston braces for far-right demonstrators and large counter-protest”
    http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-boston-march-20170819-story.html

    Excerpt:

    Aweek after violent protests rocked Charlottesville, Va., Boston police are implementing a tight security plan on Saturday as a “free speech” rally with right-wing speakers is expected to converge with a large counter-protest on the city’s historic Common.

    “If anything gets out of hand, we will shut it down,” Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said at a news conference Friday. “We’re going to respect their right to free speech. In return, they must respect our city.”

    The deployment of 500 police officers, extra security cameras and barriers separating the opposing rallies are among the steps the city is taking to avoid a repeat of last weekend’s violence in Charlottesville.

    The city also banned participants from carrying weapons, sticks or flagpoles.

    “There will be zero tolerance for any violence,” Police Chief William Evans said at Friday’s briefing with the mayor.

    Reply
  12. rikyrah says:
    August 19, 2017 at 5:25 am

    Prayers for SG2’s new grandson. May he grow stronger every day 👶👶🙌💓🏥

    Reply
  13. rikyrah says:
    August 19, 2017 at 1:20 am

    Good Morning,Everyone 😐😐😐

    Reply

Leave a Reply