While the current Black Lives Matter movement is impacting society and aiming to prompt thoughtful reflection and discussion among Americans, many of us are reminded that the fight against racism has not seen such a bold movement since 1968. As it turns out, two of the greatest athletes in the history of the Virginia Peninsula, former NFL great Leroy Keyes, and All-American track athlete Eric McCaskill, were two catalysts for one such movement - a pair of protests at their school - Purdue University. (Below - Keyes, McCaskill, and former Purdue teammate, NFL Hall of Famer Bob Griese)
I have had the pleasure of getting to know Mr. McCaskill through our shared time at local track meets at the Booplex, and was reminded of a story he shared with me several years ago. Ironically, he recently resent the story of the Purdue protests to a select group, and I was pleased to be on the list. Here is their story, unfiltered ---
In this time of civil unrest and the festering wound of structural racism being exposed and having a global impact, African American athletes are once again using their platforms to offer remedies for this major malady!
It was over 50 years ago, the African American Students at Purdue University participated in two protests!
The first was in May 1968, a month after the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Over 100 African American Students marched in silence with paper bags containing red bricks (symbolic of the red brick buildings at Purdue) to the Administration Building! The "Silent Protest" was organized by Homer LaRue (now a law professor at Howard University), and Linda Jo Mitchell (also in academia and continues activism for human rights for African Americans).
There were nine Demands, one of which was the need for an African American full professor was met. Dr. Helen Bass Williams came from an HBCU, Tougaloo College in Mississippi where she worked with famous Civil Rights Activist, Fannie Lou Hamer.
It was an act of Providence for Dr. Williams to arrive at the time Eric McCaskill had the vision for the Black Cultural Center. She was the key advisor by preparing McCaskill to present the vision to President Frederick Hovde.
The other eight demands, especially for inclusion in campus life and housing discrimination were not met.
There were other peaceful protests in 1968 by African American Athletes (especially after the "Black Fists" salute by Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics) which led to the arrest of Heisman candidate and All-American Football Player, Leroy Keyes, former Carver High School (now Crittenden Middle School) in Newport News, VA. Keyes was voted the Greatest Football Player in 100 years of Purdue Football (over Bob Griese, Len Dawson, Lamar Lundy, and Drew Brees).
A year later, in March of 1969, McCaskill, a member of the Purdue 1967 Rose Bowl Champions Team, former six-time State Champion in the high and low hurdles (in Virginia) and holder of four National High School records in the hurdles (a Newport News native and Huntington High School alum) presented the vision for a Black Cultural Center! He now considers it a vision from God!
Later that month, McCaskill and fellow track athletes challenged the clean-shaven rule as being culturally biased.
The seven African Americans on the team decided that they would not shave and showed up at the Purdue Airport to board a plane to the University of Iowa for a track meet!
When they arrived at the Airport, Mel Harris (another Newport News Native), Jimmy Jackson (national high school record holder in 880 yard run and a native of Brooklyn, NY), and McCaskill did not shave. The assistant coach told them that they did could not go, and McCaskill made an impulsive statement. He said: "If I had a bomb, I would blow the plane up!"
The assistant coach said that McCaskill said he planted a bomb on the plane (which was not possible with an airport secured fence).
The pilot heard what the assistant coach said and panicked and refused to fly.
Airport authorities called the FBI. McCaskill was detained and interrogated.
After the bomb squad from Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis arrived and determined that there was no bomb, McCaskill was released from FBI interrogation.
An hour later, the Indiana State Police arrived at the Airport and arrested McCaskill for disorderly conduct and he was taken to the jail in West Lafayette, IN.
Because the Dean of Humanities and McCaskill's Academic Advisor knew McCaskill's character and being an Honor Student, the Dean paid the bond for McCaskill.
The incident was on national TV networks. McCaskill's Mother, Iona Williams+ McCaskill+Thomas was living in Manhattan preparing to attend the famous Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, pastored by Rev. and Rep. Adam Clayton Powell (the first African American Congressman) when she heard about the incident on NBC's Huntley-Brinkley Nightly News. While ironing in preparation to attend Abyssinian the next day (Sunday), she dropped the iron reacting to her son's arrest!
In preparation for the court hearing, African American Students rallied around McCaskill and marched to the Tippecanoe County Courthouse in Lafayette, IN.
After the charge was dropped, McCaskill and his fellow Purdue Students marched from the Courthouse to the Purdue Administration Building to present the vision for the Black Cultural Center!
This time the students entered the building to see President Hovde (the Administration Building is named after him).
President Hovde was out of town. Rather than turn back, McCaskill requested that his secretary locate him and put him on the phone.
Rev. Mrs. Linda "Duchess" McCaskill made a profound observation. Had her husband turned around, the momentum would have slowed down and the opportunity to present the vision for a Black Cultural Center could have been lost!
After talking with President Hovde on the phone, the McCaskill Ad Hoc Committee was established to discuss the need for a Black Cultural Center.
Out of what could have been a negative outcome for McCaskill (police abuse, loss of scholarship, and dismissal from the University), the Purdue Black Cultural Center was approved on June 6, 1969!
The story can be seen in the documentary film, "Black Purdue" on You Tube and Google (see link below).
Keyes and McCaskill are also in the book, "Ever True, 150 Years of Giant Leaps at Purdue University." The book is about the 150-year history of Purdue. The author, John Norberg, gives a concise history of Purdue beginning with the founder John Purdue in 1869, to the first African American graduate in 1894, to the War years, to Civil Rights era, to Purdue Astronauts/Neil Armstrong/Gus Grissom/Gene Cernan, to Don Thompson, the first and only CEO, McDonald's Corp, to the founding of the National Society of Black Engineers to present day at Purdue.
The book can be purchased on Amazon, Book Shop, and Purdue University Book Stores.
There are also links about interviews with McCaskill.
It has been 52 years since Tommie Smith and John Carlos used the power of media on a national platform to protest structural racism and abusive policing on Citizens of the African Diaspora in the USA! And it's been 51years since Newport News athletes, Leroy Keyes and Eric McCaskill stood up for the human rights of students of the African Diaspora at Purdue University!
McCaskill continues to seek to ameliorate conditions for the historically marginalized and dehumanized.
Through the Alpha & Omega Institute for Family Preservation, the McCaskills seek to build bridges of goodwill between Citizens of Color and Police Officers! In 2014, they launched the PACCT (Police And Concerned Citizens Together) Initiative to accomplish this goal!
Now that we all know that "Black Lives Matter," let's prevent lethal force by police officers by implementing the PACCT Initiative and other initiatives/programs/strategies that seek to remedy the egregious history of structural racism in America!
In the words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: "The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by bad people, but the silence over that by the good people."
The athletes are concerned citizens who are not fostering the "ultimate tragedy" if silence in times of a moral crisis!
God's Grace has been in America for years. The question is how long will He tolerate what He, a Loving God hates, blaspheming the Virtues of His Holy Spirit: Caring, Compassion, Faithfulness, Forgiveness
Integrity, Kindness, Respect, Unity, and most of all Love!
The McCaskills are working to make America great within by building morally strong families with the evidence-based Five Strategies of the global Virtues Project!
For more information contact: Linda "Duchess" McCaskill at 757.719.2051 or email: duchessmc3@gmail.com.
www.aonet.org
https://youtu.be/lMaQyMyQpDc
https://youtu.be/hkcbztci7Vg
https://m.facebook.com/watch/?v=639286373241552&_rdr
