Letter Addressed To Cass Tech Coach Calls Champion Football Players 'Ghetto Warriors'

MLive:

A harshly worded letter addressed to Cass Technical High School football coach Thomas Wilcher, who led his team to victory against Detroit Catholic Central High School on Saturday, alleges that players are "ghetto warriors" bound for prison or drug addiction.

Cass Tech beat Catholic Central 49-13 at Ford Field to win the state's Division I championship, a first for a Detroit Public School.

Photos of the letter, which is dated November 28 and signed, were shared and posted across social media sites late Tuesday and caught the attention of school administrators on both sides Wednesday morning.

Read the whole story: MLive

Comments

[neuroicunurse]

03:19 AM on 12/13/2011

What he (and others) doesn't know is that you have to maintain a certain GPA to even remain in this high school, which many are unable to do and are subsequently dismissed. You also have to get a certain score on an entrance exam. So to say that the statements in the letter are a sad truth is just pure ignorance. This is one of the top schools in the city of Detroit, which I am proud to say that I am a product of. Majority of its students are well prepared for and do continue on to college. People around the country know of people, successful people, who graduated from Cass Tech. He may have thought that this is an ordinary crumbling school around the city, but he's sadly mistaken. People who went to Cass sit back and laugh at his foolishness, most of us are making more money than he'll ever see

[Demilition]

07:48 PM on 12/03/2011

I would just like to say that I got a better education at Cass Technical High School than a lot of people I know, across the country. I was well equipped to compete for my higher education at the number one art school in the country. My brother also found himself overly equipped to graduate top of his class at Princeton, thanks to the support of Cass faculty. Congrats Technicians on our win; now let's prove this idiot wrong, and send him back to the suburbs!

[vincen74]

12:12 PM on 12/02/2011

As many others have stated, the letter sent to Coach Wilcher is disgusting and is completely unwarranted considering the accomplishments made by his team and the leadership he demonstrated this season. The individual who wrote this letter is not only a coward but also a disgrace to our great state, this great city and each and every player that stepped onto Ford Field for the 2011 State Championship. But, for those of us who are respectful citizens and want our city/state to improve, forget about this guy and his ideas. The players on that Cass Tech team are obviously very talented individuals and I hope this incident does nothing more than provide addition fuel to fire each and every one of their desires to pursue higher education, utilize their God-given abilities, and excel in life. Football is just a game but those young men overcame great obstacles, united as a team, and battled on that gridiron all season long proving that they are the best. If that group of young men can accomplish such great feats, the possibilities for their futures are infinite and I wish them all the best.

[mataylor16]

09:20 AM on 12/01/2011

SCORE-BOARD! SCORE-BOARD!

[sadwitness]

03:49 AM on 12/01/2011

Okay, I'm confused, was he trying to say he was angry because his team lost???

[MRb1000]

02:42 AM on 12/01/2011

It seems like every since we got a black President, the more people are coming out of the closet expressing how much they hate people of color. WHITE AMERICA YOU HAVE A PROBLEM!

[sadwitness]

03:53 AM on 12/01/2011

No my friend, we all have a problem. I'm a white woman who is appalled and disgusted with all of it and you can read through my roughly gazillion comments about how unfair and disgusting this is but there is no solution in calling out all "white people", as if every pale person is as foul inside as these id10ts, that just paints you with the same irrational brush.

[TRhett]

11:33 AM on 12/01/2011

Why can't people get that? That it works both ways? This "incident" is so ridiculous I'm at a loss for words (and that's rare), but few seem to understand that it's a universal problem - crossing all lines. And so we continue to spin in the mud . . .

[Kate Fletcher]

10:16 AM on 12/01/2011

America has a problem. America, the racist part, the miserly part, the mean part, the ignorant part, the narcissistic part, and the idiots who behave like fools when their sports team loses, etc., all have a problem. It's too big to whip out color swatches like we're at the paint store and think we have labeled it.

[Spagirl65]

01:06 AM on 12/02/2011

Initially I marked MRb1000's post as favorite, but stepping back from this and reading the responses, I have to take that back. As a black woman, I have to agree with the rest of you. America does have a problem. I will admit that blacks will stereotype other races just as much. But, I have to say it is from personal experiences, and not out of hatred. That doesn't make it right, but I think it is important to recognize that it is coming from a different place than the person who wrote that letter, and so many other of these so-called conservative christians speaking of God and constitution, yet defying everything that both stand for. I myself am guilty of stereotyping, but I do know that not all white people are racist, not all black folks are lazy, etc. America still has a long way to go. Unfortunately, at this point in time, we seem to be going backwards. And it really is sad. But, I have to say that since I have been reading HP and seeing so many of the comments from just plain good folks, of all races, calling out the racism, hatred and bigotry, it still gives me hope that American can be a better country than it is today.

[nachocat]

02:02 AM on 12/01/2011

That sad thing is that it is a harsh truth. Few will advance on to professional sports and if those academic statistics are true then they will just be stuck in the ghetto.

[Kate Fletcher]

10:18 AM on 12/01/2011

I doubt the rude and infantile sore losers (who send stupid, vicious letters) will progress all that far, since you mention it. :)

[mikeleep]

06:52 PM on 12/01/2011

More of the Cass Tech student atheletes will be going on to Div I schools to play football in the fall. Nice try.

[nachocat]

01:59 AM on 12/01/2011

I failed to find any racism in that letter.

[osiris65]

02:32 AM on 12/01/2011

Because you can see through Black eyes.

[MRb1000]

02:40 AM on 12/01/2011

Because you are ignorant! He is assuming that these players are not smart or can go on to college. He most likely do not know one player on this team. So how can you make a statement about these young men. Next time I would beat them 100 to 2! LOL

[O K Ali]

12:47 AM on 12/01/2011

Take a letter:
You mad, bro?

[TRhett]

11:35 AM on 12/01/2011

And stupid. Don't forget stupid.

[XCitizenX]

12:18 AM on 12/01/2011

MardiGras Girl makes a good point. While ghetto may be synonymous with black and redneck synonymous with white, the reality is the terms themselves are synonymous with one another. They both mean poor! Rednecks and those that live in the ghetto regardless of skin color are all in the same boat now. These terms are hurtful and are meant to diminish people who are seen as "less than" in society. I'm sure the author was not using ghetto with that level of nuance however. Hopefully these students will keep their heads held high.

[martha high]

12:34 AM on 12/01/2011

Red necks are not always poor , it can be an attitude and sometimes its used to denote people that are racist, especially down south

[XCitizenX]

12:55 AM on 12/01/2011

Fair enough. The point is, they're not always white either but I understand your point that it denotes an attitude as well.

[sadwitness]

03:47 AM on 12/01/2011

You mean white tr@sh, not redneck...that's what they called us.

[montanasian]

12:12 AM on 12/01/2011

Wow a morally impotent individual who needs to assert his belief of his superiority by degredating others. This is the same person who has grandious illusions that goodwill hunting is about him as he buffing the hallway.

[ccjmfk]

12:06 AM on 12/01/2011

Is the letter racest? Is the Pope Catholic?

[SoutheastBeast]

11:41 PM on 11/30/2011

Is this a trick question?

[1hotgolfer]

07:02 PM on 12/02/2011

No s**t!!! It must be...

[Trey X]

11:40 PM on 11/30/2011

By taking the cowardly way and doing it anonymously, they've shown what kind of a person they really are...If that's what you really feel, stand by your convictions....

[nachocat]

02:00 AM on 12/01/2011

Uuh, the author signed it. It's no anonymous

[sadwitness]

03:48 AM on 12/01/2011

Or it was a false identity...

[Caryn Banker]

11:25 PM on 11/30/2011

"A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues. The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated with specific ethnic or racial populations living below the poverty line. From a statistical perspective, are typically high crime areas relative to other parts of the city. "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghetto

I highly doubt the letter was inferring Venetian Jews.

[inkhosi]

02:24 AM on 12/01/2011

Sure it was!

[sadwitness]

03:48 AM on 12/01/2011

Irish?

[smitty1035]

10:39 AM on 12/02/2011

Irish? WTF?