It seems Seattle teachers have taught their charges … “well.”
Garfield High School, which played a big role in Seattle Public Schools’ massive “Black Lives Matter” protest in October, hosted former Seattle Seahawks player Ricardo Lockette yesterday for what was to be a motivational speech.
But things took an … interesting turn during the talk when, The Seattle Times reports, Lockette “urged men to stand up for women.”
Sounds pretty innocuous so far, right? Men being allies for women and helping to fight for equal rights and smashing the patriarchy … ?
Wrong.
“He was pretty much saying that women need men in their lives to be successful,” complained Garfield junior Julia Olson. “Why can’t women stand up for themselves?”
Lockette, not being versed on social justice-ese, began to step in it a bit as the back-and-forth continued:
Some in the crowd cheered [Olson’s] rebuttal. Lockette said he respected her leadership, and then he responded with what he said he would tell relatives:
“Even though you can handle your own, but as men — men stand up; men take the challenge; men take the lead; men take the head,” Lockette told the crowd, according to audio obtained by KOMO News.
“Women can also do the same, but you would never respect any man if he never takes the lead; if he never shows you any authority; if he never shows you that he’s, he’s a king, that you would never respect him.”
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Olson challenged Lockette again, to which Lockette said he liked her competitiveness and responded:
“It’s totally great to be confident, but you can’t do everything by yourself. If this room, if this school, was totally all women … what would you do? You can’t run, run your world with just women; it’s impossible — it’s impossible. Just like if it was all men,” he said, “we wouldn’t be able to do it. We need each other.”
The student and Lockette briefly went back and forth, and then he said, “If your daddy wasn’t there, then you wouldn’t be in that chair.”
At that point, some 20 students, mostly the volleyball team (of which Olson is a member), tried to walk out in protest. Staff prevented the majority from doing so; however, Olson was one who managed to exit.
“I didn’t feel comfortable staying. I didn’t want to listen to really anything else that was going to be said,” she said.
Garfield athletic director Ed Haskins said the two parties had misunderstood each other. Perhaps. Or perhaps Ms. Olson was merely putting into practice what she’s learned during her years in the district: To be on the lookout for anything by which to be offended.
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