Coach ‘deserves to speak his truth:’ Interview with school board member
“I would think that Coach (Kenny Thomas), like everyone else, deserves a safe space to speak his truth without fearing for his job,” expressed Jason Crane, an Aiken County School Board member.
This sentiment was shared regarding Kenny Thomas’s Facebook post condemning a Black Lives Matter sticker on a Clemson football helmet.
Crane shared his support for Thomas in an email with USC Aiken administrators and trustee Bob Caslen on Sept. 18, calling the treatment of Thomas as a “modern day lynching;” this particular phrase became a contested subject among stdents on the USCA Student Life Facebook page.
“The term ‘modern lynching’ has been in the common vernacular for decades reference to this type of political character assassination.” Crane explained. “We can and should expect better.”
“The use of ‘lynching’ was extremely insensitive and disrespectful,” wrote USCA student Shelby Ann Bell.
“The fact that he compared the backlash to a lynching y’all...a lynching,” posted Ariel Middlebrooks.
Crane defended his use of the phrase in a brief email correspondence: “Lynch mobs are not motivated by principles of justice and fair play, and are historically not driven by facts.”
“Due to the nature of modern social media’s snippet ‘news,’ a group of anti-free speech advocates have been openly calling for Coach Thomas’ discipline beyond the proposed sensitivity training,” Crane continued.
He explained that the “smearing his (Thomas’s) otherwise stalwart reputation” is due to the “prevalence of cancel culture.”
It was “heartening” to see community support of Thomas, including “other alumni and elected officials,” according to Crane, following his initial email to USCA officials.
Kenny Thomas is not the only “victim of this kind of political cancel-culture,” according to Crane, stating his similar experiences with personal backlash.
“I have had people attempt to damage my career due to my political opinions and votes; rather than simply disagreeing with me or debating, those individuals preferred to attack my livelihood and means of supporting my family,” Crane shared.
Crane continued, “The parallels to the similar calls against Coach Thomas are obvious, unfortunately. Anyone who demands a man lose his career for having a political viewpoint with which they disagree is the definition of a cultural Marxist.”
Crane also emphasized his belief in freedom of speech, stating that he finds “anything that makes an American fearful of speaking his mind to be damaging not only to the community but the national discourse,” in reference to Thomas’s support of the “Back the blue” comment on the original Facebook post.
While Crane does “not support them (Black Lives Matter) as a political entity,” citing wealth redistribution, dissolving national borders, and destruction of the traditional nuclear family as points of contention, he has firm belief “that black lives absolutely matter,” and “Anyone who thinks otherwise is worthy only of our pity and scorn.”
Independent from Crane’s support of Thomas, a second personal belief garnered attention of the student body.
As for Chancellor Sandra Jordan, he regards her as an “unimpressive leader” and “engaging in bullying.” He stated, “I find it unimpressive specifically that the chancellor would feel the current student body is incapable of hearing an opposing viewpoint that challenges a preconception without feeling the need to offer counseling.”
