David Fizdale is one of my favorite coaches. Not for his work on the basketball court but because he's the "Take that for Data" guy.
Credit: USA Today
If you don't know, last year during the NBA playoffs Coach Fizdale had one of the most hilarious and passionate post game interviews I've ever seen! Here's the clip..
Today I read that's he has spoken out against a couple of Civil War Memorials in the city he works, Memphis. Apparently there's a memorial in a park featuring Nathan Bedford Forest, who was the first Ku Klux Clan leader. His statue is displayed prominently in a park there and there's also another memorial dedicated to Jefferson Davis, a Confederate leader.
He's said he wants both those memorials removed immediately because of what he believes they represent.. hate.
This debate has been going on lately all over the news. These statues and memorials are displayed in areas that are predominantly black, there's been rallies and protests calling for their removal. There's also other groups calling for them to stay.
It's clearly a touchy subject, on one hand if the statues represent hate toward a race than perhaps they should be removed if they make people uncomfortable?
On the otherhand..you can't just erase history. Even if these figures were or weren't racist they still had a big part to play in American history.
Everyone knows history is cruel, it's full of unsavory figures and acts but can we not learn from it?
Do these monuments need to be taken away and the past events swept under a rug or can they be talking points for where we were and where we'd like to be as a society today?
Coach Tisdale is obviously of the opinion they should be removed and I'm wondering how you guys feel about it?
Should the statues be removed?
Thanks for reading and I'd appreciate you leaving your 2 cents below..
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