Racist letter to Cass Tech football coach goes national

[rid0617]

Ouch, totally uncalled for.

[Occurrence]

I'm guessing this letter was written by a very intelligent individual who was just having some fun and using the mediocre local media against itself. It obviously worked, as they took the bait. If this letter was simply ignored, it would have never made the news or made any of us discuss it.

Our local media in this region is horrible. Watching any of our local stations makes me want to vomit. Why do people here put up with such mediocrity?

[lilpup]

So you're saying the letter writer just *knew* the Cass Tech coach would take the letter to the local media?

I'm curious about where it was postmarked.

[Pickford-Bentler]

I was a high school debater at Southfield-Lathrup and frequently competed against Frank Garlicki's teams. They were always thoroughly prepared and well-coached, and very stiff competition. He later became my neighbor and lived just a block from me. A very nice man. I found it odd, though, that a man of his size [[he weighed well over 300 pounds, I'm sure, and didn't move around very well) was also the coach of the tennis team.

I was in his AP history class. One day, in 1977, he told us that the Soviet Union would fall and that, in the future, we or our children would be deployed in the Middle East. A great mind that rivalled any I found in college, he was.

[Dexlin]

I really like how the coaches and students at Cass Tech are dealing with this. A classy bunch. And, I feel badly for Catholic Central.

I'm not surprised that I already see even someone on here trying to blame the victims, though. lol With a nation like ours, this stuff always needs to see the light of day.

[iheartthed]

Why is this alleged 'letter" even being discussed and thereby stealing the light from a truly positive event - Cass Tech winning the Division HS football title.

I can read or find nothing that authenticates that this 'letter' is genuine. Did I miss something? Nobody got it in the mail. It appears nothing more than an internet spoof and everybody is biting on it.

With the internet and computer graphics it is a simple matter for any prankster or troll or Aryan Nation member to create something like this and circulate it on the web. The MLive writer could have created it for a story, although I don't think he did. But he deserves criticism for not indicating that lack of evidence of authenticity.

It was posted to Facebook by a staff member at Cass Tech.

[Lowell]

It was posted to Facebook by a staff member at Cass Tech.

Aha. I didn't realize that. Well, if it was posted on the Internet especially Facebook, it must be true and therefore there was no responsibility for the Mlive writer to investigate it any further!

[afoley]

Aha. I didn't realize that. Well, if it was posted on the Internet especially Facebook, it must be true and therefore there was no responsibility for the Mlive writer to investigate it any further!

Before I even wrote about the letter, CC's staff was on 97.1 decrying the letter Wednesday morning. And like someone stated above, a CT staffer originally brought it to everyone's attention. It would be easy to ignore the letter if it had alleged some foul play on CT's part, but the context of the letter obviously hit on some deeper issues bigger than football, and worthy enough for reps on both sides to respond to before "the media" even got a hold of it.

Sometimes as a reporter you cover budget crises and shootings, and sometimes you report on what happens on the big, bad Internet. Remember when MSU came under fire for wanting to change the Spartans logo that originally appeared on a message board not unlike this one? Or how a guy was fired for tweeting about bad drivers and Chrysler's subsequent damage control? Sometimes things happen online that cross into the real world, and this happens to be one of them.

[rjk]

Interesting how the assistant coach a CT posted it on his face book page [[It was later removed) and he's qouted in the paper as saying that the letter takes the attention away from the kids and their championship.

I thought I read that the writer of the letter posted it on different media outlets. If that's not the case and people at CT were the ones who sent it out that was a bad move on their part.

[GPCharles]

As an Austin grad, I remember their old cheer...

65, 65 West Outer Drive!

In my day, they were also a great basketball school.

[iheartthed]

Aha. I didn't realize that. Well, if it was posted on the Internet especially Facebook, it must be true and therefore there was no responsibility for the Mlive writer to investigate it any further!

What should the writer have done? Put on a Detroit Tigers cap, hopped in a Ferrari, sped off to Novi and started examining handwriting samples? He said that school administrators at both Cass Tech and Catholic Central acknowledged the letter does exist.

[iheartthed]

Interesting how the assistant coach a CT posted it on his face book page [[It was later removed) and he's qouted in the paper as saying that the letter takes the attention away from the kids and their championship.

I thought I read that the writer of the letter posted it on different media outlets. If that's not the case and people at CT were the ones who sent it out that was a bad move on their part.

Please don't take this as a snark, but some of you should really read the article closely before commenting. The person who stated that was not a Cass Tech staff member, she is the director of communications for the entire Detroit Public Schools system. The coaching staff at Cass Tech declined to comment public, as is clearly stated at the end of the article.

[Wesley Mouch]

This is a story that will get a lot more attention than it actually deserves.
...
This is a great example of how much damage/problems one person can cause.

Its no problem for me whatsoever. I just ignore anonymous things on the internet. Why would you pay any attention to that sort of 'letter'. I only read it a couple of time to see what I was missing. If I'd stumbled on it, I'd have moved on.

[[btw, I didn't see racism in the letter at all. Just a lot of stupidity.)

[bartock]

What should the writer have done? Put on a Detroit Tigers cap, hopped in a Ferrari, sped off to Novi and started examining handwriting samples? He said that school administrators at both Cass Tech and Catholic Central acknowledged the letter does exist.

Well, since apparently Metro Detroit is to blame [[you said - "stay classy, Metro Detroit") for the contents of the letter, perhaps the writer should have.

[lilpup]

It's not even known who wrote the letter. It could have been someone from out of state [[or even out of the country). Since the writer is unknown to us it could have even been someone who never was at Ford Field and just read or heard about Cass Tech winning.

[Lowell]

Before I even wrote about the letter, CC's staff was on 97.1 decrying the letter Wednesday morning. And like someone stated above, a CT staffer originally brought it to everyone's attention. It would be easy to ignore the letter if it had alleged some foul play on CT's part, but the context of the letter obviously hit on some deeper issues bigger than football, and worthy enough for reps on both sides to respond to before "the media" even got a hold of it.

Sometimes as a reporter you cover budget crises and shootings, and sometimes you report on what happens on the big, bad Internet. Remember when MSU came under fire for wanting to change the Spartans logo that originally appeared on a message board not unlike this one? Or how a guy was fired for tweeting about bad drivers and Chrysler's subsequent damage control? Sometimes things happen online that cross into the real world, and this happens to be one of them.

Fair enough, but I guess I expect more skepticism on your part. A "letter addressed to" and "Photos of the letter, which is dated November 28 and signed, were shared and posted across social media sites..." seems to me to beg a few questions. Does the letter actually exist? Was it sent? Was it received? If none of the above, is it a hoax or worse? Hate groups are known to use rumor tactics to fuel their agendas and, possibly in this case, detract from an otherwise very positive story for the beleaguered DPS and its students.

[afoley]

Fair enough, but I guess I expect more skepticism on your part. A "letter addressed to" and "Photos of the letter, which is dated November 28 and signed, were shared and posted across social media sites..." seems to me to beg a few questions. Does the letter actually exist? Was it sent? Was it received? If none of the above, is it a hoax or worse? Hate groups are known to use rumor tactics to fuel their agendas and, possibly in this case, detract from an otherwise very positive story for the beleaguered DPS and its students.

Well, the writer didn't exactly lie in some parts of the letter.

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/in...r_to_cass.html

As I wrote here in today's follow-up, the statistic about the number of college-ready kids in DPS can't be ignored, as well as some of the other underlying issues here.

As far as the letter being received/not received...DetNews reported that it has fallen into the hands of at least one person who checked out the return address: http://detnews.com/article/20111130/SPORTS05/111300412/

[Islandman]

While that may be true, the percentage of Cass [[and Renaissance) students that continue to college, and actually graduate, is disparate when compared to most DPS schools.

[Zulu Warrior]

Its actually disparate when comepared to all schools, Islandman. Cass and Renaissance are two of the best schools in the nation, and definately within the state. The year I graduated CT was in the top 9 in Michigan and the top 150 in the nation.

The letter is an affront to the good students, staff, parents, and alumni of CC and CT.

[Danny]

Things like that happen after we seen a black Detroit and a white suburbia. From its politics to a mere state football games.

[Ravine]

I see that no one else has done so [[unless I missed it,) so I want to thank Foley for checking in here to address the topic.

[Scottathew]

The letter is disgusting. Yes, DPS is in a world of hurt. However, applying generalizations to a football team of kids is just hurtful and ignorant.

Why someone would care this much about a football game to attack these kids over losing just doesn't make sense.

DPS's issues must be addressed and fixed, but letters like these only further the problems that slavery, segregation, and racism created.

Don't they get it, this situation today that they complain about was caused by the very racism they spout.

[EastsideAl]

Catholic Central and other Catholic schools in the area, aside perhaps from U of D High, WISH they had the academic legacy that Cass Tech has. My mother, aunt, sister, most of my cousins, and many other friends and relatives graduated from Cass, and all have been successful at one level or another in their adult lives. I was a lousy messed-up teenager, and though I attended Cass I couldn't manage to graduate from there, but later on in life I'm an MSU grad with an Ivy League master's degree, so even the washouts sometimes did OK.

Even in today's diminished and impoverished city, Cass is still well ahead of the pack in providing a quality education and opportunity to many children of poor and working class families, just as it did for my family. So the letter writer is not only nasty and bitter and foolish, he's also ignorant. Anyone who doesn't read the racism dripping from this letter, using phrases like "ghetto warrior," is really trying hard not to see the absolutely obvious.

It is so sad that even in our games this metropolitan area is so marked by its racial history and racial animosities that, rather than congratulate a team that beat you fair and square, someone feels the need to vent this sort of racist public vitriol over a football game.This sort of thing only serves to fan the wrong kind of flames, stoke the resentment and feed the suspicions, of which we already have far too much around here. But it is also a realistic reflection if the way many folks around the Detroit area seem to feel about our neighbors who may be different from us, and I see and hear this kind of crap all the time around here, including from people who post on this very board.

[iheartthed]

Anyone who doesn't read the racism dripping from this letter, using phrases like "ghetto warrior," is really trying hard not to see the absolutely obvious.

Agreed. Folks are under some serious denial. We can debate about the legitimacy of the letter, whether it was sent by someone who is actually affiliated with Catholic Central, etc. But you're either being naive or dishonest to not see the racial overtones in what was written. Denying that this letter had a racial slant just kinda de-legitimizes whatever else you have to say about the subject. It's like trying to discuss Calculus with someone who can't even multiply.

[corktownyuppie]

Catholic Central and other Catholic schools in the area, aside perhaps from U of D High, WISH they had the academic legacy that Cass Tech has.

Go Cubs