University of Michigan regent Jordan Acker will lead Donovan Edwards and the football team on a tour of the The Zekelman Holocaust Center
October 27th, 2022 at 1:35 PM ^
Anti-semitic speech is absolutely not equal to Cade being booed during a game. I have my own pretty negative feelings about this whole thing. But as a Jew, I'm used to it (I wish I didn't have to be). It's all around us, all the time, and it's the reason why some Jews stick together -- for a feeling of safety. If you're not Jewish (I think you mentioned you are, michgoblue?), it may be hard to fully understand this. You may feel like all the anti-semitic talk is overblown because you just don't see it around you. I assure you that it is. As someone who surrounds myself with people of all faiths, I've had non-Jewish friends say things without thinking, I've had bosses and acquaintances say things that were clearly anti-semitic. I've had pennies thrown at me out of a car window. I don't have unrealistic expectations. Stereotyping and bigotry won't go away tomorrow. But when someone publicly expresses those kinds of views, I don't think he should be given an automatic pass because we want to feel good about our football team. I also don't believe it's anyone's problem to solve but the team's. It certainly isn't my job to decide how to deal with it.
October 27th, 2022 at 1:42 PM ^
This is interesting because, frankly, you're right. I never hear anti-semitic comments. I cannot remember the last time I heard anybody even elude it to it in conversation, let alone identify somebody as Jewish and target them. To me, until this morning, this was a Kanye West thing. And I genuinely did not know what the hell he was talking about.
I'm sorry things are that way.
October 27th, 2022 at 2:05 PM ^
I think making multiple threads about a retweet that was up for a few minutes is making a mountain out of a mole hill but that's just me. And I'm Jewish lol. Dude addressed the situation and now the team is addressing it. I think this can be done with
October 27th, 2022 at 3:00 PM ^
Couldn’t agree more NJVictor.
October 27th, 2022 at 12:39 PM ^
Good on them to make this into a moment to learn.
October 27th, 2022 at 12:46 PM ^
They really dont give a shit. Its for looks and damage control
October 27th, 2022 at 12:51 PM ^
You are popping up in this thread seemingly very angry about a bunch of college kids visiting a holocaust museum. Maybe you need to have some time for self reflection on why it bothers you so much. You could also easily just sit out these threads. The fact that it's so important to you to denounce this is very...weird to me.
October 27th, 2022 at 12:58 PM ^
Yes because its turning politcal and hes a kid. There are 3 posts about this already. I come here to read about football and other sports not your shit viture signaling
October 27th, 2022 at 1:08 PM ^
You come here to "read about football and other sports" but couldn't tell to stay away from a thread with this title? Do you find yourself frequently the victim of your own actions? Maybe if you're going to get all fired up like this, try to do yourself (and everyone else) a favor and just know your limitations.
October 27th, 2022 at 1:08 PM ^
Show me on the doll where this thread you so easily could've ignored but instead chose to read hurt you.
This has absolutely zero effect on you or your well-being, yet you're over here raging like a toddler who didn't get to play with his favorite toy.
October 27th, 2022 at 1:16 PM ^
I'm sorry, but the Holocaust is NOT 'political'. Genocide is NOT 'political'. The top marginal tax rate is political. Housing and commercial zoning is political. Anti-trust legislation is political. The fact that you think visiting a holocaust museum is political reveals a lot more about your fundamental beliefs that I think you realize. Again, time for some real self-reflection on why this bothers you so much.
October 27th, 2022 at 5:10 PM ^
To an unfortunately-large amount of the US population...
There are two religions: Christian and 'political'
There are two genders: male and 'political'
There are two sexual orientations: straight and 'political'
There are two races: white and 'political'
Gun violence? School shootings? Political. Police killings? Political. Antisemitism? Political.
October 27th, 2022 at 1:24 PM ^
Nothing about this entire situation is political. It’s unfortunate you lack the intellectual capacity to understand that. Now kindly shut the fuck up and go away
October 27th, 2022 at 12:46 PM ^
This is a perfectly appropriate response where the university could have easily skated with doing nothing.
October 27th, 2022 at 12:51 PM ^
If you're more concerned with "PR", "the media", intentions, or anything like that than a team full of kids getting an important educational moment, that says a lot more about you. Don't be those guys. This is a good thing, plain and simple.
October 27th, 2022 at 12:52 PM ^
Donovan is a good kid who made a mistake. After this incident, I spoke to @CoachJim4UM and @MHart2032 and I'm thrilled that Donovan and the team are going to join me by visiting the @HolocaustMI after the season--and learn first hand where hate speech leads. https://t.co/qvdVzeMEkf
— Jordan Acker (@JordanAckerMI) October 27, 2022
October 27th, 2022 at 1:08 PM ^
Jordan Acker should teach a grad level class in how to handle delicate issues in the public eye. Perfect comment.
- Acknowledges that DE made a mistake, not a glitch or an accidental re-tweet.
- At the same time, acknowledges that the kid making this mistake (and implicitly perhaps harboring an uninformed view) is still a "good kid" (because people who are uninformed can still be good people).
- Notes that he brought the issue to the kid's head coach and position coach.
- Takes an undeniably negative event and turns it into a huge potential positive by getting the entire team, not just the kid, to spend time after the season at a museum that will show the kid, and possibly others, just how uninformed the views that he retweeted are.
This is an example of an alum embodying "the leaders and the best."
October 27th, 2022 at 1:26 PM ^
That’s not necessarily the case. A “glitch” or “an accidental retweet” would qualify as a “mistake.” Aker’s tweet allows for that. You’re assuming that Edwards’ compliance indicates that he held views that were “uninformed,” and maybe that’s true, but Akers never said that. For that matter, I’m not sure the word “uniformed” gets us very far. I’m far from convinced that anti-semites (or racists) would be less so if only they had more information.
If by “perfect comment” you mean “deft PR,” that seems to me probably true. I don’t mean that in a disparaging way. What goes on in the inner circles of Edwards’ heart, the football program, and the university is mostly hidden to all of us. PR is the bridge between their privacy and our curiosity, which is why it always exists at the interchange of spin and skepticism.
October 27th, 2022 at 1:55 PM ^
You’re a lot more cynical than I am (pr move) but I agree on the popular use of the word “mistake”. I prefer bad choice. Mistake is me forgetting your birthday. Bad choice is me getting hammered at your birthday party and puking on your mom. But, language is what it is and “mistake” is what most people use now.
October 27th, 2022 at 2:23 PM ^
Donovan is a good kid who made a mistake.
What mistake... I thought it was a glitch?
October 27th, 2022 at 4:11 PM ^
Glitch is also slang for mistake. I know it is hard to believe that words can have more than one meaning.
October 27th, 2022 at 12:54 PM ^
Cool, the problem has been addressed by the school in a smart and educational way and now we can drop this, right?
October 27th, 2022 at 1:10 PM ^
I am as big of a fan and a homer as anyone on this board, but you seem to just want to see this issue dropped. It's a serious issue. Anti-Semitism is a huge problem in our society.
Would you be so quick to want to see this dropped if a white player retweeted hateful content aimed at African Americans? Or something overtly homophobic?
I would hope not, and the same should be true of anti-Jewish speech.
October 27th, 2022 at 1:28 PM ^
Serious question - what do you want from this situation?
October 27th, 2022 at 1:54 PM ^
That’s a fair question: I guess I can’t the same thing that Kaep wanted when he was kneeling, the same thing that many of the peaceful protesters (as opposed to the rioters) wanted in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the same thing that so many athletes have wanted when they put messages on their helmets during games - for this isolated incident (although it’s far from isolated) to prompt a broader National discussion about anti-Semitic hate that could lead to real change.
October 27th, 2022 at 2:08 PM ^
Dude, I'm Jewish. The tweet was up for a few minutes, Edwards addressed the situation, and the team is addressing the situation. There, it's done with. I've said multiple times in this thread that I think the team is doing a good job addressing this situation with education. Some people just don't know when to let things go
October 27th, 2022 at 1:00 PM ^
Reason for museums to remind and to educate. Never let cleansing of a race, religion to sanctify an ideology. Timing suspect but better late than never.
October 27th, 2022 at 1:01 PM ^
I remember looking at the eyes and listening to the quiet voices of childhood neighbors, the ones with the numbered tattoos on the inner arms. They would *never* speak of the experiences, not even of the day they were freed from the camps by Allied soldiers.
I also had a senior business partner (a Jew) who was one of the soldiers who liberated one of the camps at war's end. He could almost never hold it together whenever he was asked about his experiences.
Ugly times, not to be forgotten.
Peace.
October 27th, 2022 at 1:06 PM ^
And yet we have folks here desperate to move on.
Wonder what’s making them so uncomfortable.
October 27th, 2022 at 1:07 PM ^
Maybe this will get me banned here, I don't know. Something like 60% of violent incidents against people of a religion are perpetrated against Jewish people these days.
Growing up in Ann Arbor, Jewish friends told me their families kept anything that would signify a Jewish identity away from windows. No Hannukah candles. A classmate nearly lost an eye because someone on his street decided Jewish people weren't welcome after seeing a Hannukah display through a window, forced him to "fight" in front of fellow antisemites, then repeatedly hit him in face with a rock once he had him down. He was out of school for weeks.
On a weekly basis, this going on years, people assemble outside a synagogue in Ann Arbor to "protest" politics in Israel, though its connections to the Jewish people of our city seem tenuous at best.
This doesn't surprise me. This just saddens me. When I read this morning that a college football player had joined in retweeting Ye, I hoped it wasn't a Michigan player, but...
I don't know what's in Donovan's heart. This vague follow-up doesn't even mention Jewish people, but I can't speak for him. What I do know is that too many people in Ann Arbor will rush to defend him. If he had retweeted a message against any other minority group, he'd be off the team, no dithering about it. No visit to a local museum. No calls to give the kid a break.
Ann Arbor has a problem with antisemitism, and it's not a new one at all. A city that is wonderful in so many ways and has been a beacon of tolerance and acceptance for so many groups will excuse antisemitism far too easily.
I'm not calling for Donovan's suspension. It wouldn't help anyway. The problem is far deeper. While Ann Arbor will always be my home town and Michigan is my alma mater, this is something that's bothered me since I was a kid and the reaction on this blog today definitely illustrates that it's still a huge problem.
October 27th, 2022 at 1:55 PM ^
This is really surprising. I went to one of the "satellite" University of Michigan's (not the real deal) and spend as much time in Ann Arbor as it takes a football game to be played about twice a year. I did not know this and it is surprising to hear.
October 27th, 2022 at 3:42 PM ^
If a comment like this gets you banned then may we all be damned. Thank you for sharing.
October 27th, 2022 at 1:08 PM ^
I think Donovan is a good kid, but he's young and susceptible to demagogues and purveyors of hate.
October 27th, 2022 at 2:13 PM ^
Exactly, and that's why I'm happy the team is going to the Holocaust Museum. Things like this are usually said out more out of ignorance than anything and education can change minds
October 27th, 2022 at 1:10 PM ^
This sounds like a positive outcome to a negative situation!
October 27th, 2022 at 1:51 PM ^
I don't know about positive. Important.
October 27th, 2022 at 1:10 PM ^
On a somewhat separate, but related note. If you have not been to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Skokie Ill, you need to go. I know its not exactly in downtown Chicago and is not the most tourist friendly destination, but its well worth the visit. Very well designed and put together.
October 27th, 2022 at 1:59 PM ^
I haven't commented on the board in years, but I logged in just to 2nd this opinion. My mother has been a docent at the Illinois Holocaust Museum since the current facility was opened in 2009. The educational focus on all genocides, not just the Holocaust, and the need for responsible citizens to be upstanders in order to prevent any future atrocities is enlightening. A trip to Skokie is worth an afternoon for you and your children.
Today, it is estimated that the worldwide Jewish population is around 15 Million. Three generations ago, 6 Million Jews were murdered throughout Europe. Imagine every person living in the city of Chicago being wiped off the face of the earth. Twice. Conservatively, without the Holocaust, there should be closer to 50 Million people of Jewish decent in the world today.
I'm no expert on religion or morality, but there are FAR more similarities between Judaism and Christianity (and Islam) than there are differences.
October 27th, 2022 at 2:23 PM ^
I'm no expert either, but I'm one of those few Christians who have been to Israel a few times, so I know a thing or two. Judaism and Christianity a very closely related, hence the name Judeo-Christian when talking about values or moral code. Jesus was a Jew, and Jews believe in the old testament of the Bible. Jews also agree that Jesus was crucified, died and was buried. Its what happened after that is where Judaism and Christianity split off.
Islam, while an Abrahamic religion like Judaism and Christianity, is quite different. Muhammad (peace be upon him), was born over 500 years after Jesus was crucified.
October 27th, 2022 at 2:29 PM ^
I'm (obv) Jewish. My wife is Catholic. From a religious standpoint we are both fairly agnostic which is probably why I view these 3 religions as so similar. The religious teachings themselves, I agree, are all unique and cover different historical time periods. That said, IMO, the main take away from the Torah, the Bible & the Koran are the values and morals present in a 'good' person. Those teachings, regardless of the identified religion, are incredibly similar.
Just my $0.02
October 27th, 2022 at 2:03 PM ^
It IS terrific. Related to general anti-Semitism in the present, I’m struck by the level of security that it requires.
October 27th, 2022 at 2:25 PM ^
Yea, its not unlike going through the TSA at the airport.
With that, I remember going to the temple with my Jewish girlfriend during my Michigan undergrad years (I'm Christian BTW), and we had to go through a metal detector. Crazy IMO
October 27th, 2022 at 1:12 PM ^
So the Regents seem not to accept Edwards’ explanation, unless this is something they wanted to do anyway.
Seems to me that if the Regents buy Edwards’ explanation (note: not apology) then there’s no need for this (even if it has salutary effects) except as a PR move. If they’re not buying what Edwards is selling, then it makes more sense. I don’t think any of us have enough information to know whether Edwards’ second tweet is true, whether the Regents accept it as true, or if there are additional confounding factors.
But I do think that if it happened as Edwards suggested, and his explanation is certainly plausible, he’d likely be insulted by this response even if it turns out to be educational. A thing can be both educational and a PR move, especially in these fraught times. But an argument can be made that Edwards’ second tweet should have been the end of the matter.
October 27th, 2022 at 1:26 PM ^
Let’s say DE’s follow up is sincere. It’s still an opportunity to lead and teach about a significant issue that is covered EXTREMELY well by these museums and much better than a high school course. And it very well (and I think should) be a recurring item for years to come. Sometimes recurring education needs a catalyst to get started. That’s not a bad thing.
October 27th, 2022 at 1:58 PM ^
The word "glitch" does not have to be read as a technological term. I think it is the very reason the word was chosen.
October 27th, 2022 at 2:18 PM ^
There's no real harm in taking a team to the museum as an educational event especially given the resurgent anti-Semitism we've been seeing these past couple of years in the national discourse.
I don't understand people trying to divine a zebra out of this very horse situation. Edwards retweeted an anti-Semitic video and whether or not he honestly believes what West is saying in said video he did it. Nothing really is happening to him beyond some public uproar and a chance to attend a museum. He's not going to miss a game, a carry, nothing. His phone did not "glitch" such that it first clicked the retweet button and then confirmed the retweet.
This will disappear as a topic of discussion no later than Saturday evening but Edwards absolutely does not get to control when and how his action is viewed and quantified.
October 27th, 2022 at 1:12 PM ^
This post and the other need deleted yesterday!
October 27th, 2022 at 1:25 PM ^
Exactly
October 27th, 2022 at 1:14 PM ^
Take something negative and turn it positive.
I just don’t see why that’s not good enough for some people.