It's past time for UW to apologize to the Black 14

One of the biggest stains remaining on the University of Wyoming's athletics department is the way it -- and the state -- treated black football athletes in 1969 when they sought to protest racism by Brigham Young University.

By Rodger McDaniel 

You may or may not agree with Colin Kaepernick’s beliefs, but the truth is he risked his career to say what he believed. When did any of his harshest critics ever take

Ten members of the Black 14 at UW in 1969.

such a risk? Instead, they sit safely in the cheap seats, screaming along with Pontius Trump, “Crucify him!”

Sports figures have often been more willing to take a personal risk than politicians. Before Kaepernick was Muhammad Ali. History proves Ali right for refusing to serve in Vietnam. Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos were ostracized when they raised clinched fists protesting racism while receiving their medals at the 1968 Mexico Olympics.

Then came Wyoming’s Black 14.

In the midst of the current debate over whether black athletes have a right to express themselves in the land of the free, the University of Wyoming has some unfinished business. Another football season is nearing an end without an apology to the 14 football players whose UW careers were sacrificed to “Equality State” bigotry.

It was 1969. Skin color divided the nation. Wyoming wouldn’t be permitted to remain on the sidelines. The controversy visited Wyoming’s most sacred shrine, UW football.

The Cowboys were one of America’s best, ranked 12th nationally. The Pokes were 4-0 to begin a season after they nearly upset Louisiana State University in the Sugar Bowl, then one of the four major bowl games played on New Year’s Day. UW was preparing to play its biggest rival, Brigham Young University.

Though the policy has since changed, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints barred blacks from its priesthood. Many of the black players said that a year earlier, when the Cowboys defeated BYU in Provo, Utah, they had been subjected to racial taunts from BYU players and fans. In October 1969, BYU, an LDS school, was headed to Laramie to play the Pokes. Fourteen black UW players asked to protest what they felt was racism by wearing black armbands.

Coach Lloyd Eaton didn’t take time to hear them out. He had no interest in their concerns.

Eaton had previously demonstrated a racist penchant when one of his black players planned to marry a white woman and asked him to approve a request for married student housing. “That’s not gonna happen,” Eaton barked. “I can’t let you marry this girl on Wyoming’s money.” Eaton was apparently referring to the scholarship he believed purchased the young man’s constitutional rights.

When the black players appeared in his office, a quick-tempered Eaton dismissed all 14 from the team, depriving them of their scholarships. Everyone from UW’s board to the governor, legislators, white teammates, Cowboy fans and much of the public promptly sided with Eaton.

Much of the opposition to the 14 had unmistakable racial overtones. Many fans followed the example of the politicians taunting the 14 student-athletes. At least one proudly waved a Confederate flag during the following week’s game.

Martha J. Karnopp, a Denver lawyer, was a Laramie schoolteacher in 1969. Karnopp recalled the ubiquitous bumper stickers reading “I Support Lloyd Eaton.” She said, “I didn’t have bumper stickers, my views were known, and it was NOT fine! I later lost my teaching job, partially due to this incident. The only group in the state who saw the injustice and did NOT support the coach was the law school faculty. So, I chose to go to law school.”

It took years before UW could recruit exceptional black players and many more seasons before they won another conference title. The Black 14 incident remains a stain on Wyoming’s reputation.

Nothing ever damaged UW’s image so much as the Black 14 incident. If those men were invited to stand at the 50-yard line of the stadium where they once played to receive a formal apology from the governor and UW’s president, affirmed by a standing ovation from today’s fans, much of the stain would be removed.

It has been 48 years. But it’s never too late to do the right thing.

Rodger McDaniel is the pastor at Highlands Presbyterian Church in Cheyenne. He resides in Laramie.

May those who care always tilt at windmills

Effort to declare Cheyenne a "compassionate city" was defeated by those who fear monsters under their beds. Caring for others will always frighten some, but the Don Quixotes of the world must keep up the good fight.

By Rodger McDaniel

My most cherished book is “Don Quixote,” so much so that I have Picasso’s painting of the knight and his sidekick, Sancho Panza, tattooed on my forearm.

The classic was written by a 16th-century Spanish writer,

Miguel Cervantes. His early career was rather checkered. Exiled from his beloved Spain, Cervantes worked in Rome as a cardinal’s assistant. Having enlisted in the Spanish Navy, Cervantes was captured by Barbary pirates. After his family paid a ransom, he was an accountant for the Spanish Armada. A “discrepancy in the books” caused him to be jailed for a time. After all of that, he began writing. Who wouldn’t?

Cervantes’ timeless character, Don Quixote, became the most chivalrous of knights so that he could fearlessly tilt at windmills.

Don Quixote came to mind when Cheyenne’s mayor and one of the City Council members brought about the demise of a resolution declaring Cheyenne a Compassionate City. They were building windmills based on what they feared they saw in the shadows.

Another councilman knows the meaning of those shadows. Richard Johnson said, “We live in a city that is perpetually afraid of itself. We’re scared of our neighbors. We’re scared of each other. We’re scared of the outside world.”

Were it possible to speak across time to Señor Cervantes, I’d tell him how his writings prove that God inspired more than that one great book – and how they inspired some to tilt at windmills.

Don Quixote’s story, like that of Jesus of Nazareth, demonstrates the risks of becoming compassionately unafraid in a world that distrusts the motives of those attempting to do good.

Literary critic Harold Bloom wrote an introduction to one English translation of the book, which has been translated into more languages than any other with the exception of the Bible. Bloom said, “We cannot know the object of Don Quixote’s quest unless we ourselves are Quixotic.” Irony begets irony in the story of humanity.

Thankfully, there are those in this age who find fulfillment and purpose in the compassionate work of tilting at windmills.

Just as Cervantes’ knight was inspired by reading books of chivalry, so it is that many of the Quixotics of our day are inspired by reading the Gospels. Don Quixote reminds them of Jesus who, upon completing his days of temptation in the desert, went about preaching good news to the poor and liberty to the oppressed.

And so, Don Quixote, having completed his preparations, writes Cervantes, “did not wish to wait any longer to put his thought into effect, impelled by the great need in the world that he believed was caused by his delay.”

Much of the pain and suffering in our world is likewise caused by our delay in serving others. As it is in our world, Don Quixote recognized that in his, “the greatest adversary love has is hunger and continual need.”

The writer Thomas Oppong observed, “Over the course of our lives, we make millions and millions of decisions that are essentially bets, some large and some small.” Don Quixote placed his bets on doing good, though his friends and family, like those of Jesus, thought he was without his wits for doing so. That is the risk we take when following our faith and placing our life’s bets on the words of the Gospel.

In Cheyenne, people of good faith placed their bets on encouraging compassion. They found some politicians were so uncomfortable with the idea that they began searching for ghosts lurking in the shadows. Thus, compassion itself became a windmill.

Alas, it was so for Don Quixote, whom Cervantes wrote, “ventured for God and the world” in the face of those who could not “be made to understand the error” of their suspicions of that work though it was “founded on articles of faith.”

Compassion can be troubling, especially to those who build windmills. Yet compassion means being thankful for the windmills and for those who fearlessly tilt at them always.

Rodger McDaniel is the pastor at Highlands Presbyterian Church in Cheyenne. He resides in Laramie.

The poor are getting screwed in Cheyenne

From the focus on a south Cheyenne trailer park to legislative actions that cut programs and steal away health care, those who are needy in the Capital City find themselves always on the short end of the stick.

By Rodger McDaniel

Frank Annunzio was a member of Congress from the mid-1960s until 1973. He was a colleague of Wyoming U.S. Rep. Teno Roncalio. Like Roncalio, he was a plainspoken Italian American.

Like Roncalio, Annunzio had a heart for the poor and the courage to ask, “Why are so many people so poor?”

I was on Roncalio’s congressional staff at the time and have a vivid memory of this incident. The House passed legislation reducing subsidies on wheat production. The bill primarily hurt the poor by raising prices of foodstuffs like bread and pasta. Annunzio stormed out of the House chambers and cornered the first member of the press he saw. It was a reporter from the Chicago Tribune.

“The people just got screwed,” Annunzio cried out.

“Congressman,” the reporter recoiled, “I can’t print that. We are a family newspaper.”

Annunizio didn’t miss a beat. “Well, then, you can print this. ‘The family just got screwed.’”

Well, since the Wyoming Tribune Eagle is a family newspaper, I need to say that the “family just got screwed.”

When? Every time they turn around. Where? Everywhere they look. From the Cheyenne trailer park controversy to the tax bill winding its way through Congress. From choices made by Wyoming legislators to avoid new taxes while cutting everything from health care to low-income energy assistance to education. From the predatory lenders who thrive in Wyoming to the landlords who rent unsafe, overpriced housing to people who have no other choices.

The trailer park issue in south Cheyenne is a teachable moment for those in the middle and upper economic classes in our community. The focus from those who say they want “to end the blight” is on getting rid of the substandard mobile homes. Instead, they ought to be asking why some of our neighbors have been forced to live in those conditions. Families are “getting screwed” because politicians refuse to address the underlying injustices of our local economy.

Start with wages. Ask why people working full time in multiple jobs can’t afford a decent place to live or nutritious food for their children. Move to a dialogue about access to health care. Open a conversation about slumlords. While you’re there, visit about the wage gap between men and women in a state with a high divorce rate that often leaves women to raise children in poverty.

Do a little research on the extent of the relationship between the poverty affecting too many Wyoming school students and low test scores in the state’s public schools.

How about demanding members of our congressional delegation demonstrate with facts just how it is that the Trump tax plan they support will trickle even a nickel down to the people who are forced to live in the trailer park the city wants to tear down?

The problem may be merely one of limited vocabulary. Think about it. Wyoming’s politicians have a vocabulary that proves useful when talking about oil and gas, public lands, state’s rights, cutting budgets, eliminating regulations and reducing taxes. They can wag freely as they deny the science of climate change and complain ad infinitum about wolves, welfare and “Obamacare.”

Ask about the causes of poverty. All they can come up with are simplistic, single-syllable words about drug testing welfare clients and disproven talking points suggesting that increased minimum wages will somehow hurt the poor.

With few exceptions, they have not the eyes to see, the ears to hear or the stomachs to consider the manner in which some in our community have a stake in the poor being with us always. From slumlording to payday lending, there’s money to be made from the poverty of others. There is no political downside in blaming the poor. The risk comes from asking why they are poor. The answers begin to look like meddling in the lives of those who profit from poverty.

Nonetheless, until the community engages in a compassionate debate about how to address the causes of the blight, we won’t be able to end it.

Rodger McDaniel is the pastor of Highlands Presbyterian Church in Cheyenne. He resides in Laramie. 

Not all churches fight the LGBT-plus community

More than 1,200 clergy have signed a brief supporting LGBT-plus citizens in the "wedding cake" controversy. It's important to tell the U.S. Supreme Court that all churches don't seek to marginalize those they don't understand.

By Rodger McDaniel

I was pleased to join 1,200 of my clergy colleagues from all 50 states and two dozen faith traditions in signing an “amicus curiae” in support of the rights of gays, lesbians, transgender and bisexual citizens to be treated with dignity.

Amicus curiae is a Latin term meaning

“friend of the court.”As friends of the court, we want the U.S. Supreme Court to know that it is unconstitutional to use religious beliefs as a justification to discriminate against others.

The case before the highest court in the land is captioned “Masterpiece Cakeshop versus Colorado Civil Rights Commission.” It’s the hill on which religious conservatives have decided to make their last stand to legitimize their need to marginalize the LGBTQ community.

This started when the Supreme Court ruled gays and lesbians were constitutionally entitled to marry. Two men planning their wedding went to a business that held itself out to the public as a place that made wedding cakes. They wanted one of Masterpiece Cakeshop’s masterpieces.

But like Seinfeld’s “Soup Nazi,” the cake shop owners told these men, “No cake for you!”

Conservatives said these men should shut up and quietly buy their wedding cake elsewhere. These are the same sorts of folks who believe that instead of starting a bus boycott, Rosa Parks should have just asked politely, “Is that seat taken?” When told she could not sit there, they believe she should have quietly found an alternative way to get to work. Why stir up a fuss?

The Colorado men did not go away quietly without stirring up a fuss. They filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The commission ruled against the cake makers on the basis of longstanding legal protections against the ability of businesses to discriminate.

Those protections were at the center of the battle over the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Business owners howled long and hard as Congress passed that legislation. They believed they had the right to deny service to anyone. Congress thought it had put an end to that ruse. But the heirs of those who lost that battle are back.

They argue it is their understanding of God that gives them the right to discriminate.

That is why we clergy became amicus curiae. We don’t believe the cake shop and its supporters should be allowed to speak for us. Religious thought in America is vastly diverse. As faith communities go, we are now in the majority. Faith communities claiming their beliefs provide the basis for denying the human dignity based on their sexual orientation or identity are declining in numbers.

A recent poll of people identifying themselves as Christians found a significant majority support gay marriage. Masterpiece Cakeshop bakers are asking the court to impose the views of a religious minority on all of us.

The Public Religion Research Institute poll also found more than six in 100 Christians opposed allowing businesses to refuse to serve gays or lesbians based on religious beliefs.

My clergy colleagues and I want the justices to know, as our amicus brief says, “Within the diverse panorama of American religious thought, a large and growing portion of the religious community welcomes, accepts and celebrates LGBT individuals and rejects the idea that they should be subject to discrimination in public accommodations based on differing religious views that reject their dignity and equality.”

The Supreme Court must not be left with the incorrect impression that most people of faith share the views of those who seek to employ their beliefs as a sword to smite those they don’t understand.

Jesus said there were two great commandments, and all religious rules depended on them. The framers of the Constitution said the nation could not establish the views of any one faith as predominant, adding that everyone is entitled to equal protection under the law.

Both the Gospel and the Constitution apply to this case, but it should be decided on the basis of the latter, not the former.

Rodger McDaniel lives in Laramie and is the pastor at Highlands Presbyterian Church in Cheyenne. Email: rmc81448@gmail.com.

Cheyenne residents reach for compassion

A new group has formed with the goal of driving the Capital City's decisions through the lens of caring for other people. That might make us uncomfortable, but it is the right thing to do.

By Rodger McDaniel

Imagine being in a community defined by compassion. Contemporary theologian Karen Armstrong says it would look like this:

“A compassionate city is an uncomfortable city. A city is uncomfortable

when anyone is homeless or hungry, uncomfortable if every child isn’t loved and given rich opportunities to grow and thrive, uncomfortable when, as a community, we don’t treat our neighbors as we would wish to be treated.”

Armstrong is the founder of a global movement with chapters throughout the United States and the world that has found its way to Cheyenne. It is known as “The Charter for Compassion.”

It had its genesis here a couple of summers ago when the Rev. Steve Shive, the head of Wyoming’s Presbyterian churches, convened a meeting of clergy representing a variety of faith communities. Seated around the table were Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Catholics, Methodists, Muslims, Jews and others.

Rev. Shive acknowledged the differences between the faiths but asked that for the moment we cast them aside and identify what we have in common. In a nutshell, it came down to what we call “the Golden Rule.”

That led the clergy to Karen Armstrong’s 2008 TED Talk. She called on people of faith to work for peace by treating others as we would like to be treated. Urging a revival of the Golden Rule, she suggested the world create what she called the “Charter for Compassion.”

What followed were months of multi-disciplinary conversations about the meaning of compassion. In January 2010, the charter was launched with 60 members beyond the U.S. to include England, Brazil, Australia, India, Botswana, and Malaysia. Now, Cheyenne is on the list.

From that 2015 roundtable, interfaith dialogue in Cheyenne has grown into a small movement. The group adopted the Charter of Compassion, which states, in part, “The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures.” The full text of the charter can be read at www.compassionatecheyenne.org. It calls compassion an urgent need “in our polarized world.”

Through Compassionate Cheyenne, the charter has been endorsed by 122 individuals and 13 organizations in the Capital City.

The organizers of this movement are clear that they have no political agenda. They are not asking for money, charging dues or offering grants. While people of faith are involved, Compassionate Cheyenne is not a religious organization, but one that recognizes compassion is not just the work of a church, synagogue or mosque, but all of us.

The vision and mission are to recognize and highlight the enormous amount of compassionate work currently being accomplished in our community and to motivate others to be a part of it.

It exists for one purpose, and that is to continually place the matter of compassion before decision makers: “How does compassion inform your choices?”

Decisions are made for many reasons. Finances guide some, politics others; debates occur over who to help and whether, costs, return on investment, worthiness and more. All are important, but Compassionate Cheyenne asks that compassion is made the priority in every choice.

The dictionary defines the word “compassion” as “having a sympathetic concern for the suffering of others.” The Charter for Compassion seeks to move the needle from concern to community-wide action.

The late Henri Nouwen, the priest, professor, philosopher, and writer, taught us that “Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into places of pain, to share in brokenness.” Did you hear all those action verbs? “Go,” “enter” and “share.”

What does “compassion” ask of the people of Cheyenne?

Rodger McDaniel is the pastor at Highlands Presbyterian Church in Cheyenne. He resides in Laramie.

Right an historic wrong: Rename Devils Tower

Native American tribes from around the region have asked that the national monument -- a sacred place for them -- be given a more appropriate name.  "Bear Lodge" would more honor their beliefs. Get on with it.

By Rodger McDaniel 

Wyoming historian Phil Roberts discovered a single memorial to a Confederate hero in the Cowboy State, a grave marker noting the final resting place of John C. Hunton at Cheyenne’s Lakeview Cemetery.

After serving in Virginia’s 7th Infantry at the Battle of Gettysburg, Hunton

became a wealthy cattle rancher along Chugwater Creek.

Hunton’s tombstone likely won’t generate a debate over removing Confederate war memorials in Wyoming. But there are “memorials” to the genocide and cultural destruction wrought by the U.S. government during and after the Indian Wars in the American West. One example is Devils Tower, the name the victors of that war attached to this sacred Native American site. There should be a discussion about giving back the names the Native Americans gave to this and other sites.

Long before white people invaded the land, the Black Hills was home to the Crow and Kiowa peoples among First World Nations. They were the first to name the extraordinary rock formation in northeast Wyoming.

According to Mary Alice Gunderson’s book “Devils Tower: Stories in Stone,” the people of the Crow nation called it “Dabicha Asow,” meaning “Bear’s Lair.” Through interviews and Native American legends collected by Dick Stone of Gillette, Gunderson recounts tribal beliefs about this rock.

Kills-Coming-to-the-Birds first saw the rock in 1833. Ninety-nine years later, she said it was placed there “by the Great Spirit for a special reason.” The rock had religious significance to native peoples. Gunderson’s book and Stone’s collection include Native American legends about what the conquering white people took it upon themselves to call Devils Tower.

One tells of seven Crow girls and their brother playing. Suddenly the boy transformed into a bear. The bear chased the girls, who found a tree stump. It invited them to climb aboard. The stump reached into the sky as the bear climbed after them, leaving claw marks yet visible on the sides of the impressive rock. The Great Spirit kept the girls beyond the reach of the bear: “The seven sisters were born into the sky, and they became the stars of the Big Dipper.”

To the victors go the spoils. The white settlers tried to erase the stories. According to Native American writer Leslie Silko’s book “Ceremony,” the first novel published by a female native writer, this is the kind of Indian legend the white conquerors deemed “nonsense.” After white people stole the land and the stories, they deprived sacred sites of names by which the Indians knew them.

A National Park Service website admits Devils Tower was referred to as “Bear’s Lair” and “Bear’s Lodge” throughout much of the 1800s. “Devils Tower” was most likely the result of a bad translation. Lt. Col. Richard Dodge’s 1875 journal noted, “The Indians call this shaft ‘The Bad God’s Tower.’” The Park Service acknowledges that “Bear Lodge” may have been mistakenly interpreted as “Bad Gods.” Congress adopted a paraphrased bad translation when it created Devils Tower National Monument in 1906.

In 2014, those who first owned the naming rights asked that the name Devils Tower National Monument be changed. The Park Service acknowledged, “In each instance, the request is to change ‘Devils Tower’ to ‘Bear Lodge.’ More than 20 tribes with close association to the Tower hold it sacred, and find the application of the name ‘Devils’ to be offensive.”

The name change stalled when Wyoming’s congressional delegation objected. As a Lakota survivor of Custer’s Last Stand said, “Washington was where all the problems began.”

Insisting on retaining the name given this rock by the conquerors furthers the regrettable strategy of destroying native peoples’ culture. Despite concerns of tourism interests that changing the name would be bad for business, righting a wrong might prove to be as good for business as it would be for the heart.

A name change honoring those who first saw it and honored it, who first came to understand it as sacred and from whom the land was stolen would become a part of the legend, making “Bear Lodge” a more popular tourist destination.

Rodger McDaniel is the pastor at Highlands Presbyterian Church in Cheyenne. He lives in Laramie.

Wyoming surrenders to education mediocrity

Using the plan submitted to the feds, Cowboy State leaders will create a school system that won't produce the grads needed to compete in a modern economy. This state's students need champions, not a leaders who are faint of heart.

“We have to have an educated workforce. It is absolutely critical.” -- University of Wyoming President Laurie Nichols regarding the ENDOW Advisory Council, a statewide group responsible for investigating ways to diversify Wyoming's economy.

By D. Reed Eckhardt

The above comment from UW's president might seem obvious. Wyoming cannot succeed in the modern, high-tech and global economy without educated workers who can handle its challenges.

The demand for ranch hands, oilfield workers, and coal miners is headed only in one direction -- down. Meanwhile, companies seeking smart employees who can

handle state-of-the-art tasks and can pivot to meet the needs of a rapidly changing economic environment will move to the forefront. If they don't find those workers here in Wyoming, they are going to locate elsewhere along the Front Range.

So please explain why this state's leaders -- its governor, its superintendent of public instruction, its Legislature -- continue to ask so little of their schools and the students who sit in their classrooms every day? 

It is unfortunate that the image, if only in the minds of many residents, is that Wyoming's public schools are excellent. Because there are no data to back that up. For example, the most recent Quality Counts report ranked the state's academic quality as a C-minus. And ACT scores show that just 33 percent of this state's high school graduates are college-ready in math, 38 percent in reading.

Given that, one might think that Wyoming's leaders are showing great distress about the quality of their schools. That they might be making a concerted effort to strive for excellence.

Think again.

Consider just one example: the goals contained in the recent plan submitted by State Superintendent Jillian Balow (and signed by Gov. Matt Mead) to comply with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, also know as ESSA. According to the report, within 15 years -- that's right, 15 years -- the state hopes to have its third- to eighth-graders 59 percent proficient in math and 65 percent in reading. And those numbers drop to 46 percent and 39 percent, respectively, for high school graduates.

Please, doesn't anyone see what this means? That in 15 years, six of 10 Wyoming high school grads still will not be proficient in reading and more than half won't be able to do math at an acceptable level? These are not just low bars for success; they are criminally shallow. And they make you wonder where the schools are now if they are going to be at these levels in a decade and a half.

Here's the dirty truth: The Cowboy State has settled for educational mediocrity for far too long. If that continues, there will never be the kind of workforce that UW's Nichols (and others, including Mead)  envisions and which Wyoming will need to compete for jobs and to meet its forever goal of diversifying its workforce.

Say what you will about the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which preceded ESSA, but at least its sponsors understood the importance of setting that bar high. It was impossible, of course, to prepare every student in every school for success. But at least the sponsors' hearts were in the right place: They focused on education excellence. Wyoming's leaders, with their ESSA proposal, are surrendering before the fight even has begun. It is an acceptance of mediocrity. This state's children, parents, and taxpayers deserve better than this.

Here's hoping that next year's elections produce two things: A governor and state superintendent who champion education excellence and who will accept nothing less; and a plan to make that happen. Wyoming may not need a No Child Left Behind Act, but it must have a will, a mindset and a strategic blueprint to prepare itself and its young people for the future. It is time to stop talking about creating an educated workforce to diversify the economy and do something about it. The status quo -- as reflected by the state ESSA plan -- is not going to get that job done.

D. Reed Eckhardt is the former executive editor of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. He has been writing about education issues in the state for almost two decades.