Cedar Rapids Gazette warns blacks to stay away from Iowa

I have been trying to start this post for a couple minutes now, and I've given up. I am nearly speechless.

The Cedar Rapids (Hawkeye) Gazette has followed up their 6-months-too-late article (see previous post) with one of the worst "spin" attempts in recent memory.

Cedar Rapids Gazette - Black athletes in white culture

How absolutely ridiculous. In one article, they gave the following excuses for the lack of discipline surrounding the student-athletes at the University of Iowa:

* Iowa is "a nearly all-white society"

Not sure what that has to do with 17 U of I football players begin arrested in 14 months.

* "Fewer people (in Iowa) are up front with black athletes about expectations and standards, which creates cultural rifts"

So... it's the people of Iowa's fault for not explicitly telling these young men that sexual assault and the use of stolen credit cards is frowned upon?

* "In Iowa, the media attention can become overwhelming"

Give me a f'ing break. That's laughable.

* Iowa City is not Detroit

Bravo, detective.

* The lack of a "life skills coach" for football players

Not only do we take their tests for them, but we should teach them how to tie their shoes and brush their teeth as well.

Then there is this gem:

Since April 2007, 17 Iowa football players have been arrested, including nine blacks.

So... explain to me how is this a "race" issue again?

The reason why things like suspended licenses for these players are news is because they are college football players in a BCS conference. College football is now, arguably, the second most popular sport in America behind the NFL, which means it is now big business. Big business means big money (see Ferentz's salary) means big attention. Those are the rules.

The Gazette is all over the map on this one, deep in a hearty spin-cycle, and it's pathetic. It has basically just declared that Iowans are so unaware and/or intolerant of non-white cultures that non-whites are not capable of living here.

I spent most of the first 23 years of my life in Iowa. Despite how Hollywood likes to portray it sometimes, most of the population is an intelligent, kind, respectful bunch that takes pride in their communities, and how pleasant (if not a bit uneventful) it is to live there.

The public's intolerance here is for the acts themselves, not the race of those who committed them.