TIGARD OREGON SAYS “GREATNESS IS HATELESS”

The Tigard Oregon Tigers faced the Newberg Tigers.

Tiger vs Tiger football in Tigard has a snappy sound to it.

But it was Tiger football and everything else, as it turns out.

The everything else part was, and is, a local/state/regional/national/international/ global/universal story on a larger canvas.

That large.

From the Portland Tribune:

Tigard High School’s football team kept the Newberg School Board’s controversial policies in the spotlight during the big game on Friday evening, Sept. 24. 

With a large crowd of home-team supporters filling the bleachers of the Washington County stadium, the Tigard Tigers knelt as their announcer issued a booming rebuke of the ongoing ban of Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ symbols in Newberg schools.

These kids will remember a booming rebuke the rest of their lives.

They’ll remember it in college when someone in the dorm goes off.

They’ll remember it when they have kids and coach recreational teams and one of the other parents goes off.

They’ll know they stand for more than they think after this.

And They’ll Know It Matters

In the wake of the Umpqua Community College shooting, President Obama paid a visit.

The noise I heard on social was probably mixed about him showing up, but the negative was especially hurtful. (Yes, I said hurtful. It’s a feeling and I’m getting in touch with feelings. So should you.)

The words were so hurtful and shameful that I wrote a fan letter, a thank you letter, a warm letter from a loyal constituent sort of letter. Not a money letter, but an apology.

It wasn’t a Voice Of Oregon’ letter, or ‘Voice of a Generation’ sort of letter. More friendly, like I’m doing here.

And he wrote back. Yes, I know it’s a robo signature on a standardized letter, but it means as much as if it came from his desk. I framed it.

These high school kids are framing their lives the right way by expressing themselves in an acceptable format, their high school football game. That Tigard won is secondary to the moment, but not the standings.

An Early Start In Tigard Oregon

I’m as shocked as anyone with a heart when I see racial and social injustice in the news. I applaud the efforts to curb the ugliness.

But should I be shocked to think the marches didn’t resonate with everyone? Some of the comments on the Pamplin coverage stink, the kind of stink that doesn’t wash off or age-out.

After the football game it might wake up.

One last question: How can so many people remain so willfully ignorant about their own history?

Dear Sir or Madam,

The next time you decide to pour some bile, add your special blend of replacement-hate, cancel-hate, poor-poor-pitiful-you-hate, please memorize the new Meathead Miranda Rights, or make a copy and put it next to your pocket constitution:

You have the right to remain stupid and the right to talk to your moron friends before talking to others. You do not have to tell strangers you have problems with anyone different than you. You do not have to give any explanations, excuses, or stories of how you came to be this way.

Do you understand? Tigard Oregon does.