Posted on 16 June 2020
Kevin Warren is literally hitting the ground kneeling in his new role as commissioner of the Big Ten Conference. The former Minnesota Vikings executive intends to turn this power five league into what could become one sensationally woke league.
Get a load of this. Warren (in photo) has formed the Big Ten Anti-Hate and Anti-Racism Coalition. He will assure that every single Big Ten athlete is allowed to kneel and may even take a knee himself. Using a Democrat talking point, he aims to fight so-called voter suppression. Warren also aims to register every single Big Ten Conference athlete to vote.
In a Sunday telephone interview, Warren said, “I’m going to personally empower student-athletes to express their right to free speech and peaceful protest." Does this mean Big Ten athletes can freely kneel in protest? Oh, yeah, “Correct. That’s part of the beauty of the country that we will live in. Individuals are encouraged to express their rights to free speech and also peaceful protests.”
Warren did not rule out kneeling himself. First, though, he wants to hear from the Big Ten Anti-Hate and Anti-Racism Coalition, a group of 180 student-athletes, coaches and officials from the 14 conference schools. Still looking for more low ratings programming, ESPN? Consider live coverage of coalition meetings!
USA Today's would-be PC enforcer Christine Brennan asked Commissioner Warren if he'll force the University of Iowa to change the color of the walls in the visiting football teams' locker room. The late former Hawkeye Coach Hayden Fry, who was also a psychology teacher, had those walls painted pink in hopes of relaxing visiting teams to make them less aggressive on the field. But, in this time of social justice cleansing, maybe that's a relic of toxic masculinity that needs to go. If so, the emerging social justice superstar Warren is just the man to get 'er done.
If the Big Ten gets shut out of this year's College Football Playoff, no matter. Warren says the league’s new coalition fits “hand in hand” with the voter registration drive that seeks to assure every single Big Ten athlete votes on Nov. 3. Big Ten athletes might be given that day off so it won't interfere with their political activities. Warren, the political activist/commissioner, said:
“I believe in any year, but especially this year and especially where we are as a society, that voting is the top way to influence issues that are going on from a social justice or social injustice standpoint. We want to do everything we can to encourage others to vote, to vote ourselves and to make sure that we don’t allow voter suppression to occur.”
The coalition will deal with all forms of hate, including sexism and misogyny, Brennan reports. "Asked specifically if that includes Iowa’s pink visiting football team locker room, a color associated with girls and women which the Iowa football program has used to portray weakness and softness," Warren replied:
“That is an interesting question. The reason why we’re meeting on our coalition is to talk about all these issues. Maybe there are other things that are going on on our campuses that we need to address. I will tell you this: we are going to address all of the issues in our conference and our country that are racist and that are filled with hate.”
Iowa Hawkeye fans, be warned. Inspired by Brennan and Warren, angry mobs may be inspired to take down the Hayden Fry statue near Iowa City.