Posted: 2020-06-24 - 20:21:48
Headline Surfer photo illustration / The following guest column was written exclusively for Headline Surfer by Daytona Beach resident Mark E. Lewis, 61, who attended Bethune-Cookman University years ago where he majored in English studies. He is owner/artist of MLewis Creative, which he started 15 years ago.
By MARK E. LEWIS / Guest Column for Headline Surfer
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Let's say you're 26 years old. Your dad is white, you mom is black. You grow up in the Deep South and you put aside other sports to pursue the life of a race-car driver. This in the age of Lewis Hamilton, the 6-time Black British Formula One World Champion.
We're nearly a century-and-a-half past the American Civil War.
Major League Baseball Integrated in 1947. Both the The NBA and the NFL integrated in the 1950s.
By the time Wendell Scott broke into NASCAR, a few other drivers of color had been there before him, so one might think the road was paved (pun intended). Such was really not the case, though.
Hundreds of drivers have driven in NASCAR's top division over the last 70 years. Over 98 percent of them have been White males. Let's say you're a 26 year-old half-white kid who made it to the top level on talent only to find that the world you work in is not mature enough to still handle somebody like you in it.
Your team owner is one of the biggest names in the history of the sport - "The King" Richard Petty. Still, he can't get STP, or some other major corporation to sponsor the team for an entire year. He can't get the money needed to get you up front on the track on a consistent basis. He knows you have talent, but he can only do so much.
These past couple of months have been a sh*tstorm. First, there was the case of Ahmaud Arbery, a young black man from Georgia shot and killed by two white men - one of them an ex-cop - while an alleged accomplice videotaped the execution. Then came two more killings of black men vy white cops igniting protests throughout the United States and overseas in cities like London and Paris.
There was the horrific killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minn., a white cop's knee pressing down on his neck as he repeatedly cries out "I can't breathewhile handcuffed and on his stomach withtwo other cops holding him down and a fourth keeping upset bystanders at bay. This led to riots and protest marches by "Black Lives Matter" now being held up as a terrorist organization by those who still do not value black human life. And this was followed by the senseless slaying of Rayshard Brooks shot twice in the back by an Atlanta cop while trying to run away.
There was the horrific killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minn., a white cop's knee pressing down on his neck as he repeatedly cries out "I can't breathewhile handcuffed and on his stomach withtwo other cops holding him down and a fourth keeping upset bystanders at bay. This led to riots and protest marches by "Black Lives Matter" now being held up as a terrorist organization by those who still do not value black human life. And this was followed by the senseless slaying of Rayshard Brooks shot twice in the back by an Atlanta cop while trying to run away.
Amid this chaos, all you want to do is drive a race car. It's all you've ever wanted to do. You're not socially conscious. Heck, your girl is white, your nickname is "Bubba," for godsake You don't hang out with LeBron James or Lamar Jackson or any black athlete for that matter. Before last week, the African-American world really had no idea who you even were!
But in racially-challenging times, the times pick you.
Suddenly, you can't escape who and what you are. It has to be devastating. It has to be a culture shock you that never expected.
You're Bubba Wallace, NASCAR driver. You've never had to proclaim your "blackness" before. You thought as long as you kept your head low, ignored the Confederate Confederate flags flying overhead enough, tuned out the occasional boos and the N-word being mouthed your way that somehow you were accepted enough.
Afterall, so long as most fans like you, you're good to go, right? But here's the thing: When you say amid the violence and injustice that the Confederate flag must go and NASCAR finally has the courage to agree with you, you go from one stage of life onto another.
Afterall, so long as most fans like you, you're good to go, right? But here's the thing: When you say amid the violence and injustice that Confederate flag must go and NASCAR finally has the courage to agree with you, you go from one stage of life onto another.
And you realize that whether you wanted it or not, you cannot run from who and what you are because those who hate you are NEVER going to let you forget that half of what you are is the reason why they do.
This is how a 26 year old kid who becomes a man.
Prayers...
Henry Frederick is publisher of Headline Surfer, the award-winning 24/7 internet news outlet launched 12 years ago that serves greater Daytona Beach, Sanford & Orlando, Florida via HeadlineSurfer.com. Frederick has amassed more than a hundred journalism industry awards in print & online -- more than than all other members of the working press combined in Central Florida since the mid-1990s. He earned his Master of Arts in New Media Journalism with academic honors from Full Sail University in 2019. Having witnessed the execution of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Florida's death chamber and other high profile cases, Frederick has appeared on national crime documentary programs on Discovery ID and Reelz for his investigative reporting and cops & courts breaking news stories.