Journal Times editorial: The stadium extortion game goes on (4-6-22)

The Journal Times Editorial Board

A popular rhetorical question on social media:

What’s considered classy if you’re rich and trashy if you’re poor?

Getting money from the government.

Terry and Kim Pegula, owners of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, have a net worth of $5.8 billion, according to Forbes magazine. Despite this, the State of New York is contributing $600 million, and Erie County is contributing $200 million, to build a new stadium for the Bills, it was announced on March 28; a headline in a news release from Gov. Kathy Hochul said the deal would “ensure” that the Bills “remain in New York State.” It’s the largest-ever contribution of public money toward an NFL stadium, surpassing the $750 million in public funds used to build Allegiant Stadium, an act that was successful in luring the NFL’s Raiders to Las Vegas from Oakland.

Or, as former Green Bay Packers executive Andrew Brandt put it on Twitter: “Socialize cost, privatize profit. Incredible business.”

We’re not blind to the reality that inducements to lure a business to a state or a municipality — tax incentives, infrastructure pledges — happen all the time.

But where are those who would condemn government handouts when it comes to professional sports teams, owned by billionaires?

Just in the NFL: The Colts left Baltimore, literally in the middle of the night, in 1984 for a publicly funded, domed stadium in Indianapolis. Stung by the loss, Baltimore committed to public funding for a new football stadium and lured the Browns from Cleveland in 1996. Stung by that loss, Cleveland committed to public funding for a new football stadium and the Browns “returned” — a new team was created, but the NFL declared that the Browns’ colors and records stayed in Cleveland — in 1999.

Throw in the Cardinals abandoning St. Louis in 1988 for Phoenix and an eventual new stadium, the Rams moving from Los Angeles to St. Louis in 1995 for a new, domed stadium, then the Rams abandoning St. Louis in 2016 for Los Angeles and a new, domed stadium. All but the Rams' return to L.A. paid for, in whole or in part, with taxpayer dollars.

In 2012, we urged the City of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin to resist the request for public funding for a new Milwaukee Bucks arena. Fiserv Forum opened in 2018 with public funding, anyway. That funding was secured after a public threat from Bucks President Peter Feigin in July 2015 that, if a commitment to a new arena were not put in writing, the NBA would buy back the team and sell it to interests in Las Vegas or Seattle.

We were thrilled last July when the Bucks won their first NBA championship in 50 years. We’d rather the celebration on the Fiserv Forum floor that night hadn’t been set in motion by a threat to abandon the city.

Maybe, someday, a city and state will do as we initially urged when a sports team owner demands a new stadium: Tell the owner to feel free to build it themselves.

Until a government body is willing to stand up and say no, the socializing of the cost while privatizing the profit will continue.

Editorial link: https://journaltimes.com/opinion/editorial/journal-times-editorial-the-stadium-extortion-game-goes-on/article_c573dc74-b469-11ec-a530-6b7fd11b310a.html

Journal Times editorial: Disabled people's right to vote must not be restricted (3-30-22)

The Journal Times Editorial Board

Timothy Carey has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, leaving him unable to move his body. He needs the assistance of a private nurse within his home, so leaving his home is extremely challenging, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

He still has the right to vote. The 15th, 19th, 24th and 26th amendments to the Constitution all establish that the right of everyone 18 years of age and older “shall not be denied or abridged.”

A recent ruling by a Waukesha County judge threatens Carey’s ability to exercise that right.

In a 4-3 ruling in February, the Wisconsin Supreme Court let stand Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Michael Bohren’s decision that says voters cannot give their absentee ballots to another person to mail or to hand over to an election clerk.

Carey, who lives in Grand Chute near Appleton, would need to bring a portable ventilator and, in his words, a “boatload of gear” to get to the polls. Voting in person would increase the possibility of his catching COVID, which because of his disability could kill him. “It will basically make it impossible for me to vote,” he said.

People should not have to risk their lives to vote.

We have come a long way from the fearful situation we were in two years ago this week. Vaccination against COVID-19 has been available to nearly every adult for almost a year, so we believe there are far fewer people who can — or, at least, who should — be able to claim “indefinite confinement” than there were during the 2020 elections.

But people with substantial physical disabilities should be able to claim it.

The lawsuit over returning ballots was brought in 2021 by two men represented by the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty. “The rule under state law says ‘by the elector,’ so the elector has to be the one to mail their ballot or deliver it to the clerk,” said their attorney, Luke Berg. “They can’t hand it off to somebody else to do it for them.”

Berg noted there are programs to help disabled and elderly people vote, the Journal Sentinel reported. Poll workers typically visit nursing homes to assist residents to vote; those would be the Special Voting Deputies that have been in the news recently.

Clerks allow curbside voting for people who can’t get easily get out of a car. In some cases, letter carriers will pick up and deliver mail to the front door instead of a mailbox at the end of a driveway if the recipient has a medical condition.

The state high court is expected to decide by this summer what the rules will be for the Aug. 9 primary and Nov. 8 general election, when residents of the Badger State will vote for governor, U.S. senator and other offices.

In that decision, the state Supreme Court must make clear that accommodations are required for people like Timothy Carey. The Constitution says his right to vote shall not be denied or abridged.

Editorial link: https://journaltimes.com/opinion/editorial/journal-times-editorial-disabled-peoples-right-to-vote-must-not-be-restricted/article_eefb33be-aee5-11ec-a36c-c39d6368f074.html

Journal Times editorial: Simone Biles, 'the twisties' and mental health (8-9-21)

The Journal Times Editorial Board

Gymnasts call it “the twisties.” It’s like “the yips” in golf, only with far more serious consequences.

It’s what Simone Biles was experiencing when she withdrew from the all-around competition at the Tokyo Olympics.

Biles posted a video of herself during practice on the uneven bars on July 30 in which she tries a 1½ twist and falls flat on her back, ESPN.com reported.

“I don’t think you realize how dangerous this is on hard/competitive surface,” she commented along with the video.

Biles had a bad performance on the vault in the women’s team final on July 27. She had the appearance of being lost in midair — that’s “the twisties” — which can cause serious injuries to gymnasts who perform airborne routines. It usually takes some time before the gymnasts can get over the twisties.

This was not happening before she left the U.S, Biles said, adding that “it randomly started happening after prelims competition the very next morning.”

Answering questions from fans, Biles said she was still dealing with the twisties as of July 30, adding, “Sometimes I can’t even fathom twisting. I seriously cannot comprehend how to twist. Strangest and weirdest thing as well as feeling.”

Biles, as you may know, is on the short list for greatest gymnast in the history of the sport. There are gymnastic moves named for her: “The Biles” is a double-twisting, double somersault off a balance beam. “The Biles II” is a triple-twisting, double somersault in her floor routine.

So when this particular young woman says she “seriously cannot comprehend how to twist,” that’s a disconnect between mind and body, in a sport where such a disconnect can lead to serious injury.

If a golfer doesn’t feel mentally ready to compete but competes anyway, the worst that could happen is that he gets a bad score.

If a gymnast of Biles’ caliber doesn’t feel mentally ready to execute complex midair maneuvers, she could break her neck and die.

In other words, the stakes are a bit higher.

So when the couch potatoes got in Keyboard Warrior mode and took to social media — and in some cases, traditional media — to chastise Biles for prioritizing her mental health over Olympic glory, they revealed their ignorance.

Simone Biles didn’t cross the Pacific with her U.S. Olympic teammates to not compete. But at a crucial moment, she wasn’t mentally healthy.

She absolutely made the right decision to not compete until she was mentally ready. She returned to competition last week, taking bronze on the balance beam with a series of flips and somersaults, but no twists.

“I wasn’t expecting to medal,” she said after Tuesday’s competition. “To have one more opportunity to be at the Olympics meant the world to me.”

Simone Biles doesn’t owe you anything.

She owed it to herself to prioritize her mental health, to recognize that it’s no less important than physical health.

Editorial link: https://journaltimes.com/opinion/editorial/journal-times-editorial-simone-biles-the-twisties-and-mental-health/article_28dc932e-afe3-5e28-807c-306b4d6e7b55.html

Journal Times editorial: Finally, a U.S. president acknowledges the Armenian genocide (5-5-21)

The Journal Times Editorial Board

This newspaper told Vartenie Dadian’s story in 2000. She was 94 at the time. Rob Golub, later managing editor of The Journal Times, told her story.

When she was a preteen, Mrs. Dadian said, soldiers took the Armenian men away from the village of Tomarza, Turkey, including Mrs. Dadian’s father. She never saw him again.

Perhaps days or weeks later, she said, “somebody came in the morning and said ‘This house has to be empty in an hour or two.’ “ Her mother gathered up bread, and they joined the walk.

“Turks, they take everything and they let us walk,” Dadian said. “We left everything ... I lost my family. I lost my mother.” Dadian’s mother died on the walk, after mother and daughter somehow became separated. The Armenian refugees walked from Turkey to the Syrian desert. Dadian was placed in a British orphanage. She was brought to the United States by the man who became her husband.

In Golub’s telling of Dadian’s story, he quoted her eldest daughter, Akgulian, regarding being awed by her mother’s story. Akgulian said: “I think all of us feel very special, that we are existing because of her.”

Golub’s report was published on April 24, 2000; that night, people of Armenian ancestry around the world held their annual remembrance of the Armenian genocide, when 1.5 million Armenians were systematically killed by the soldiers and government of the Turkish Ottoman Empire.

Five years and four days after we told Vartenie Dadian’s story, we published a letter to the editor from Zohrab Khaligian, a Racinian and a member of the Armenian National Committee of Wisconsin.

“It was deeply insulting to read the article ‘Some Turks confront World War I massacre of Armenians’ on April 17th because it continues The Journal Times’ policy of publishing articles that deny the Armenian genocide,” he wrote, adding that in a 2004 Associated Press report we published, “the Armenian genocide is referred to as an Armenian allegation with statements like ‘Armenians say.’ “

Citing a bill adopted by both houses of the Wisconsin Legislature and a proclamation by then-Gov. James Doyle in 2005 that designated April 24 as “Wisconsin Day of Remembrance for the Armenian Genocide of 1915 to 1923,” he wrote: “Isn’t it enough … for The Journal Times to also characterize the Armenian genocide as genocide?”

Mr. Khaligian was right, and we knew it. So we published his letter with an editor’s note: “It is not Journal Times policy to deny historical fact, as the Armenian genocide clearly is. Stories in The Journal Times will reflect this policy.”

From that point forward, whenever The Journal Times published an Associated Press report regarding the matter, we inserted the following sentence: “The Journal Times recognizes the Armenian genocide as historical fact.” Why did we do this?

For our neighbors.

Racine doesn’t make the City-Data.com list of the 101 U.S. cities with the largest number of people born in Armenia. But all the proof you need of the sizable Armenian-American community in Racine is the presence of two Armenian Apostolic churches — St. Hagop, 4100 Newman Road, and St. Mesrob, 4605 Erie St.

In a city where so many survivors of the genocide had settled and raised families, we could no longer refuse to stand with our Armenian-American neighbors.

“Too many people get the wrong idea, why we remember,” the Rev. Yeprem Kelegian of St. Mesrob, himself the son of survivors of the genocide, said in 2000. Forgetting he said, “becomes mental and moral sloth.” Kelegian said a tendency toward hate and genocide always exists, and without memory, “you allow those tendencies to creep back in.”

But four presidents, two Republicans and two Democrats, failed to acknowledge historical reality in the 21 years after we told Mrs. Dadian’s story. Finally, on April 24, President Joe Biden acknowledged it.

“The American people honor all those Armenians who perished in the genocide that began 106 years ago today,” Biden said in a statement. “We affirm the history. We do this not to cast blame but to ensure that what happened is never repeated.”

We’re thankful that President Biden took a stand and formally recognized the Armenian genocide.

We wish, for the sake of our neighbors, that it hadn’t taken from Woodrow Wilson onward for an American head of state to do so.

Editorial URL: https://journaltimes.com/opinion/editorial/journal-times-editorial-finally-a-u-s-president-acknowledges-the-armenian-genocide/article_6db52d1d-39e7-5df8-a1d4-3795569df3e2.html

Packers hope to add to rich playoff history (Journal Times, 1-3-97)

BY TOM FARLEY

Journal Times

Although they haven’t won the NFL championship since 1967, the Green Bay Packers still have won more league titles than any other team. With 11 titles, the Packers have two more than the Chicago Bears and five more than the New York Giants, the team with the third most.

What follows is a look at the Packers postseason history (Green Bay won NFL championships in 1929, '30 and '31, years in which the team in first place at the end of the regular season won the championship): Dec. 13, 1936: Arnie Herber threw two touchdown passes, one for 43 yards to second-year split end Don Hutson, as the Packers beat the Boston Redskins 21-6 in the NFL Championship Game at the Polo Grounds in New York. Bob Monnett ran two yards for the Packers’ other touchdown.

Dec. 12, 1938: Ed Danowski connected with Hank Soar for a 23-yard touchdown pass and the winning score as the New York Giants beat the Packers 23-17 at the Polo Grounds for the NFL title. A leg injury to Hutson hindered the Packers’ offense.

Dec. 10, 1939: Amid wind gusts of up to 35 mph at State Fair Park, the Giants threw six passes that were intercepted as Green Bay routed New York 27-0 before 32,279, then a record crowd for a pro sporting event in Wisconsin. Herber and Cecil Isbell had three passes intercepted, but the rest of their passes were caught by Packers, including one touchdown pass each.

Dec. 14, 1941: In a playoff for the Western Division championship at Wrigley Field, the Bears scored 30 straight points to rally from a 7-0 deficit and win 33-14. The Bears focused on shutting down Hutson and did so, limiting him to one reception for 19 yards.

Dec. 17, 1944: Using Hutson as a decoy, the Packers rushed for 184 yards and beat the Giants 14-7 at the Polo Grounds for Green Bay’s sixth league title. Joe Laws rushed for 72 yards in 13 carries and intercepted three passes, a postseason record that stood for 35 years.

Dec. 26, 1960: Chuck Bednarik tackled Jim Taylor on the Philadelphia Eagles’ 9-yard line on the final play of the game, preserving a 23-17 Eagles victory for the NFL championship in the only postseason game Vince Lombardi’s Packers would lose. Taylor rushed for 105 yards in 24 carries.

Dec. 31, 1961: Paul Hornung scored 19 points on a touchdown, three field goals and four extra points as the Packers routed the Giants 37-0 at Lambeau Field in the first postseason game in Green Bay. The Packers scored 24 points in the second quarter and held the Giants to 130 total yards and six first downs. Bart Starr threw three touchdown passes, two to Ron Kramer and one to Boyd Dowler.

Dec. 30, 1962: Amid 35-mph winds at Yankee Stadium, Jim Taylor ground out 85 yards on 31 carries and scored the Packers only touchdown in a 16-7 victory over the Giants. Guard Jerry Kramer, filling in for Hornung, kicked three field goals, the last with 1 minute, 50 seconds to play to clinch a second straight NFL championship.

Dec. 26, 1965: Despite losing Starr to bruised ribs on the Packers first offensive play, the Packers beat the Baltimore Colts 13-10 in overtime in a playoff for the Western Conference championship at Lambeau Field. Hornung ran 1 yard for the Packers’ only touchdown, and Don Chandler kicked two field goals, including the game-winner in overtime.

Jan. 2, 1966: Hornung (105 yards rushing) and Taylor (96 yards) ground out a 23-12 victory over the Cleveland Browns at snowy, muddy Lambeau Field. Green Bay drove 90 yards in 11 plays, including a power sweep with Jerry Kramer leading Hornung to a 13-yard touchdown that gave the Packers a 20-12 lead with 5:42 left in the third quarter.

Jan. 1, 1967: On fourth and goal from the Packers 2-yard line with 28 seconds remaining, Dave Robinson grabbed Dallas Cowboys quarterback Don Meredith as he released a pass and Tom Brown intercepted to clinch a 34-27 victory and a second straight NFL championship. Starr passed for 304 yards and four touchdowns.

Jan. 15, 1967: The Kansas City Chiefs made the first Super Bowl interesting for 30 minutes, going into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum locker room at halftime down only 14-10. But Willie Wood intercepted a Len Dawson pass and returned it 50 yards to the Chiefs 5, setting up an Elijah Pitts touchdown with 2:27 elapsed in the third quarter. Pitts rushed for two touchdowns, as did Max McGee, who caught seven passes for 138 yards.

Dec. 23, 1967: The Packers avenged a regular-season loss to the Los Angeles Rams by beating them 28-7 at County Stadium for the Western Conference title. Travis Williams rushed for 88 yards, including touchdown runs of 46 and 2 yards, and Starr passed for 222 yards and a touchdown to Carroll Dale.

Dec. 31, 1967: In what’s become known as the Ice Bowl a 13-below-zero day at Lambeau Field the Packers, down 17-14, drove 68 yards in the game’s final five minutes, scoring when Kramer cleared a path for Starr’s 1-yard run.

Jan. 14, 1968: Against the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl II in Miami’s Orange Bowl, the Packers took a 13-0 lead in the game’s first 20 minutes, got the third of Chandler’s four field goals to go up 16-7 on the final play of the first half. Donny Anderson scored on a 2-yard run and Herb Adderley’s 60-yard interception return with 11:03 left in the game put the finishing touch on a 33-14 win.

Dec. 24, 1972: In an NFC divisional playoff at RFK Stadium, the Washington Redskins used a five-man defensive line, in effect daring the run-oriented Packers to pass. The Packers could muster only a 17-yard field goal by Chester Marcol, losing 16-3 as John Brockington was held to nine yards on 13 carries.

Jan. 8, 1983: Seeded third in the NFC after a strike-shortened season, the Packers routed the St. Louis Cardinals 41-16 at Lambeau Field as Lynn Dickey passed for 260 yards and four touchdowns. John Jefferson had six receptions for 148 yards and two touchdowns while Eddie Lee Ivery scored two touchdowns.

Jan. 16, 1983: The Packers gained 466 yards against the Cowboys at Texas Stadium, but Dallas Dennis Thurman intercepted Dickey three times, once for a touchdown, as the Cowboys beat the Packers 37-26. Lofton caught five passes for 109 yards and a touchdown and took a reverse 71 yards for another touchdown.

Jan. 8, 1994: Brett Favre rolled left and threw back across the field to Sterling Sharpe for a 40-yard touchdown with 55 seconds to play to give Green Bay a 28-24 victory in a wild-card playoff game in the Silverdome. George Teague set an NFL postseason record when he returned an interception 101 yards for another touchdown.

Jan. 16, 1994: In the first of three straight postseason trips to Texas Stadium, the Packers take a 3-0 lead but see the Cowboys score 17 straight points and win 27-17. Dallas Troy Aikman passes for 302 yards and three touchdowns and Michael Irvin has nine catches for 126 yards.

Dec. 31, 1994: The Packers’ defense holds Barry Sanders to minus-1 yard on 13 attempts and sets a postseason record by holding the Lions to minus-4 yards rushing in a 16-12 victory at Lambeau Field.

Jan. 8, 1995: The Packers gain 327 yards but lose 35-9 to the Cowboys at Texas Stadium as Aikman passes for 337 yards.

Dec. 31, 1995: Edgar Bennett sets a team postseason record by rushing for 108 yards as the Packers beat the Atlanta Falcons 37-20 in a divisional playoff at Lambeau Field.

Jan. 6, 1996: Craig Newsome grabs Adam Walker’s fumble and returns it 31 yards for a touchdown, helping the Packers take a 21-0 lead en route to a 27-17 upset of the 49ers in San Francisco.

Jan. 14, 1996: The Packers take a 27-24 lead into the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship Game at Texas Stadium, but the Dallas offensive line wears down Green Bay as Emmitt Smith rushes for two touchdowns in the final 15 minutes as the Cowboys win 38-27.

Article link: https://journaltimes.com/news/local/packers-hope-to-add-to-rich-playoff-history/article_7b734281-c256-59e6-bfa9-f3388be0288a.html

Fans almost close opener (Journal Times, 4-8-97)

BY TOM FARLEY

Journal Times

MILWAUKEE -- Unruly behavior by about a hundred spectators threatened to ruin the day for more than 42,000 baseball fans at Milwaukee County Stadium Monday. It also could have cost the Brewers their first home game of the season.

Souvenir baseballs, given to each fan as they entered the ballpark, were thrown onto the field just before the start of Monday's home opener and in the first and second innings of the Brewers' game with the Texas Rangers. That prompted the Rangers to twice leave the field out of concern for player safety.

The baseball-throwing slowed when fans were warned via the scoreboard that such behavior could cause the Brewers to forfeit the game, but it did not cease until Brewers manager Phil Garner and umpire Jim McKean took to the field and used the public-address system to ask the fans not to throw the baseballs.

"We have a beautiful day," Garner said. "We want to play baseball. We urge you, for the safety of the players, the umpires and your fellow fans: do not throw any more baseballs on the field."

Garner was happy the game was allowed to resume, especially after the Brewers beat the Rangers 5-3 before a paid attendance of 42,893.

The game was delayed twice for a total of 30 minutes while the players and umpires waited for the baseball-throwing to stop.

Reaction by a majority of fans to the actions of a few was negative. After the players left the field, as the baseball-throwing continued, fans began booing and pointing out offenders to stadium security personnel and Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department officers.

"Ridiculous," said Jim Taylor of Brookfield.

"It was pretty embarrassing," said Jamie Baade of Wauwatosa. "We don't even deserve this team if they (fans) are going to act like that. The Brewers are nice enough to give people baseballs, but why should they bother if people are just going to abuse it?"

The baseballs are being given away at the first home game of 20 of the 28 teams through a promotion with a national hardware-store chain. Eight teams decided not to participate in the baseball-giveaway promotion, said Phyllis Merhige, the American League's vice president of media affairs and administration. The same type of incident occurred at several other ballparks on opening day, Merhige said.

Baade said that the people throwing baseballs weren't there for the game.

"You have to wonder, how many people (throwing baseballs) are really baseball fans, and how many come out here and just get drunk for the sake of getting drunk?" Baade said.

Among the 112 citations issued by the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department, 14 were for throwing baseballs on the field. They will be fined $105 each.

Before the game was over, Bud Selig, the Brewers' president and acting commissioner of Major League Baseball, issued a directive to all teams that had yet to have their home opener. He instructed the teams to issue the baseballs to fans as they left the stadium, rather than before the game.

"You're talking about a few people who are spoiling it for all the people," Selig said. "It's sad. But it's happened in every other ballpark. All of us are sorry about what happened here, but all's well that ends well. Now, what we have to do is make sure it doesn't happen again."

What should have been a fun experience turned into a bad scene, Garner said.

"Certainly, there was some very poor judgment on the part of a few fans," he said. "Thank God it wasn't bat giveaway day."

The Brewers have not forfeited a game in their 28-year history. The Los Angeles Dodgers were the last team to lose by forfeit. Umpires halted the Dodgers' Aug. 10, 1995, home game, stating that fans created "sufficient danger" by littering the field with more than 200 souvenir baseballs. The Dodgers' forfeit gave the St. Louis Cardinals a 2-1 victory.

Article link: https://journaltimes.com/news/local/fans-almost-close-opener/article_271b147f-8339-58c8-8ec8-8e41f787e0a5.html

Journal Times editorial: UW schools dishonor Fredric March with shoddy research (8-25-21)

The Journal Times Editorial Board

Frankly, we expected better from institutions of higher learning such as the University of Wisconsin-Madison and UW-Oshkosh.

Fredric March was born in 1897 in Racine. He grew up in the 1600 block of College Avenue, graduated from Racine High School — there was only one public high school in the city at the time — then attended UW-Madison before going on to an illustrious acting career, winning two Oscars and two Tonys.

He also was a member of a UW-Madison campus organization called “Ku Klux Klan.”

Now if the investigation into March’s life began and ended there, we can see where the UW-Madison Memorial Union might decide that March was no longer worthy of having his name on a theater space in the building; it did just that in 2018. Had the investigation gone no further, we can see where UW-Oshkosh might decide March’s name should no longer be on its theater arts center, an honor given to its “adopted son” in 1971; Oshkosh followed suit and removed March’s name in 2020.

The Wisconsin Union Council — made up mostly of students but also some alumni, faculty and staff — made the decision to remove March’s name and it has no plans to revisit the issue, Union spokesperson Shauna Breneman said.

The problem lies in the shallowness of the examination of March’s life, the seemingly knee-jerk, case-closed reaction to March having been a member of a group with the same name as a notorious group of white supremacists.

March belonged to a UW-Madison student interfraternity society formed in 1919 that bore the “Ku Klux Klan” label, the Wisconsin State Journal reported Aug. 16.

A committee studying the history of the KKK on campus found the group appeared not to have been affiliated with any larger Klan groups nor did it find any evidence that the group engaged in acts of terrorism, violent intimidation or other activities commonly associated with the Klan.

The group also appears to have tried to distance itself from the national Klan, the report found. It changed its name from the KKK to “Tumas” after a second student group — a Klan-controlled housing fraternity, Kappa Beta Lambda, or KBL, for “Klansmen Be Loyal” — surfaced in 1924 and was tied to the national Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

So the group with the name that suggested it was comprised of white supremacists wanted nothing to do with actual white supremacists on campus.

Then there is the matter of the 55 years between March’s 1920 graduation from UW-Madison and his death in 1975.

UW-Madison alumnus George Gonis did the kind of research on March you would expect college students and faculty to undertake before deciding to rescind the honors given to him.

Gonis, who earned degrees in journalism and history, published his research in an online film magazine last fall. The 17,000-word article argues that UW-Madison, UW-Oshkosh, the Union and media ignored March’s well-established legacy as a social justice advocate who worked alongside some of the biggest names in the civil rights movement.

“There appeared to be no sifting and winnowing,” he wrote. “There appeared to be no continual search for truth from those demanding the removal of March’s name.”

Among the findings Gonis cites in his report:

— March was among a handful of celebrities to publicly back Marian Anderson, an opera singer who in 1939 was barred from a performance in Washington, D.C., because she was African American. His name appeared on an event program as a sponsor.

— The NAACP in 1964 asked March to deliver a keynote address on live TV celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision. The organization cited the actor as “one of its longtime friends” when making the request.

— March narrated a documentary about blacks serving in the military during World War II. A radio program he narrated also recognized their efforts.

— March forged friendships with a long list of progressive activists, including NAACP executive secretary Roy Wilkins, who lauded the actor’s “past and present support of our efforts.”

— March attended a secret meeting for Martin Luther King Jr. and some of his supporters in the Manhattan apartment of singer Harry Belafonte in 1963, just before King headed to Alabama where he would write his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

— When Birmingham police used fire hoses and German Shepherds to quell peaceful demonstrators in 1963, March signed a telegram scolding President John F. Kennedy for not doing more to protect the protesters.

On balance, Fredric March was a man who spent decades as an ally in the fight for civil rights for African Americans. A man whom the civil rights leaders of his time praised as a longtime friend and supporter. A man worthy of being honored both at his alma mater and at the UW school in the city that had claimed him as its own.

This is something that would have been evident, had the kind of research routinely expected of college students actually taken place before the late actor was stripped of the honors.

Editorial link: https://journaltimes.com/opinion/editorial/journal-times-editorial-uw-schools-dishonor-fredric-march-with-shoddy-research/article_2a844c7c-a565-5189-b69f-540bc29e4d0b.html