Opinion| Mark Sidney| Just like everyone else who saw this story when it broke, especially with the timing of it’s release, I thought that is sounded a little … convenient, I suppose is the word.
Perhaps I am just so privileged to not have grown up around a bunch of…or any that I can really recall, racists, but this type of stuff never seems/ed to happen where I can/could see it.
While I suspected there was more to the story, I stayed away from commenting because, well because Facebook has trained me to self censor in order to not become the target of the thought police and thus lose my voice, my pages, my profile and my livelihood.
When the allegations first broke, NASCAR posted this on their Instagram feed:
View this post on Instagram
However, now that the FBI has conducted its investigation, and the facts of the matter have been revealed to the public, I figured it would be ok if I just told you what the FBI found, according to NASCAR:
NASCAR released the following statement:
‘The FBI has completed its investigation at Talladega Superspeedway and determined that Bubba Wallace was not the target of a hate crime.
The FBI report concludes, and photographic evidence confirms, that the garage door pull rope fashioned like a noose had been positioned there since as early as last fall.
This was obviously well before the 43 team’s arrival and garage assignment.
We appreciate the FBI’s quick and thorough investigation and are thankful to learn that this was not an intentional, racist act against Bubba.
We remain steadfast in out commitment to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment to all who love racing. ‘
“The FBI learned that garage 4, where the noose was found, was assigned to Bubba Wallace last week. The investigation also revealed evidence, including authentic video confirmed by NASCAR, that the noose found in garage number 4 was in that garage as early as October 2019,” the FBI stated, according to the USA Today.
Bob Pockrass provided a screenshot from a video he had on his phone dated October 14, 2019, in which one can clearly see the garage number 4 and the ‘noose’ garage pull on the left hand side of the door:
Went back and took a look at my camera roll on my phone and screenshot this from video … rope on the left: pic.twitter.com/Od1Z4aKaxi
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 23, 2020
I think this Twitter user summed up the current environment best when he tweeted:
‘The demand for racism far outstrips the supply of racism.’
The demand for racism far outstrips the supply of racism.
— max (@MaxNordau) June 23, 2020
Don’t expect these types of racially divisive stories to disappear from the news any time soon, for without them the Democratic Party would have nothing to use to divide and conquer the nation.
I feel badly that Bubba feels so insecure and uncomfortable enough to think that this was an attack on him rather than just a door pull. I hope that he realizes that no one, well, at least no one I know, looks at him as a ‘black’ man, but rather just a man, no different than anyone else on the circuit. He has an exceptional talent that millions of Americans, of all backgrounds, pay lot of money to enjoy.
We are all one race, the human race, it’s about time we started acting like it!
