Editor’s note: Stan Shingles, Thomas Brown and Rickie Johnson, who were interviewed for this article, are African Americans and college friends of BCR Sports Editor Kevin Hieronymus.
The George Floyd and Breonna Taylor deaths this year fanned the flames of racism in America that date back decades.
Protests and riots broke out across the country in response to the most recent deaths. These things just didn’t happen over night, Rickie Johnson, 57, of Bloomington-Normal, a former Illinois State University basketball star from Indianapolis, said.
“If you look back at the Rodney King riots or the riots that happened after the OJ Simpson murder case, you’ve got to understand these things do not happen overnight. They’re a culmination of a buildup of things. When you light a powder keg, it’s usually going to take one incident. These are things from a societal standpoint that have been building up,” he said.
“We know one thing. It didn’t happen over night and it’s not going to be solved over night.”
Stan Shingles, who grew up on the West Side of Chicago and witnessed the riots following the Martin Luther King assassination but was too young to understand, said, “It’s almost like in a lot of ways history and time is repeating itself. Of course as an 8 year old, I can’t impact racial injustices as I can today at 61.
“We had our first black president 12 years ago. I think some people were OK with that, but a lot of people were not. Because that’s not what anybody ever thought would happen in this country,” Shingles said. “We can talk what people are politically and what side of the aisle you are. There was a lot of divisiveness that took part at that time. Of course, four years ago, we had a new president elected and probably had more separation of people that we’ve ever had before. Instead of bringing everybody together, it’s probably been one of the most divisive times since the ’60s.
“That saddens me. I really worry about my grandkids. What is their life going to look like? I don’t want them to look outside their window and see their neighborhood on fire. I want them to see prosperity and what their opportunities can be if they treat people like they want to be treated. Do the right thing. And if it’s of their interest to trust in God, you do those things. Then there will be prosperity.”
Equal opportunities
African Americans have made great strides when it comes to equal opportunities. But are they enough?
“The playing field is not level and we don’t know if it ever will, but we do know it’s going to have to be balanced a little bit more. Movements only go so long. Now is the time to push some things in action,” Johnson said.
Shingles said the Rooney Rule, which the NFL adopted in 2003 requiring all teams to interview at least one minority candidate for any head coaching and senior football operations vacancy, was a good step.
He sees himself as a product of affirmative action, having many more opportunities than his parents. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Illinois State University and has worked for ISU, Northern Illinois University and, for the past 32 years, at Central Michigan University. He was named interim VP and Chief Diversity Officer at CMU in August.
“The only thing I needed was an opportunity. I went to an all-black high school on the south side of Chicago, but in the ’70s I was able to find different experiences that were not available to me in the ’50s and ’60s,” Shingles said. “I feel I stand on the shoulders of my parents in that my life is expeditiously better than theirs, economically and socially in terms of the opportunities I’ve been provided that were just not available to them. I feel very fortunate. Much of my adult life, I’ve lived in small, rural, predominantly white college towns, and I’ve been able to still find positive experiences and opportunities despite the lack of diversity in the places I’ve lived.”
Shingles’ wife, Dr. René Shingles, is a pioneer in her field. She became the 13th black woman in the U.S. to become a certified athletic trainer in 1987. In 2018, she was the first African-American woman to be inducted into the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Fame.
Shingles desires for opportunities to be even better for his son and grandchildren.
“We often say my parents’ ceiling should be my floor. And I truly believe that. It’s like my ceiling should be my son’s floor. And my son’s ceiling should be my grandkids’ floor,” he said.
The Shingleses are doing their part in providing opportunities for minorities. They recently made a donation to their alma mater to support renovations and upgrades within Illinois State’s Multicultural Center. The Black Student Union Office will be named the Mr. Stan L. and Dr. René R. Shingles Black Student Union Office in recognition of their generosity.
Where do we go from here?
Thomas Brown, 60, a father of five from Plainfield, who spent his childhood in Mississippi and Chicago, applies the Golden Rule when it comes to racism: treat others as you want to be treated.
“We have to stick together, man. I don’t care what race you are. We’re only here for a short time,” Brown said. “I think God created these different races to see how we can get along with one another. I don’t think he just wanted one race. He created this whole big world to see how well people work together. When we don’t work together as one unit, I think that’s when He brings these plagues and started tearing everything back down and say, ‘Hey, I’m the powerful one here. Either you get on board or I’ll shut everything back down.’
“We just have to get along and just survive and get along as best we can. This racist stuff got to cease. It’s just got come to an end.”
Brown said the cycle of racism needs to be broken.
“The older generation who has been taught (racism) by their fathers, they need to not teach their kids to be that way. We need to break the cycle with the younger generations. They don’t need to see what they used to do back in the day,” he said.
Brown learned a lot about getting along with people of other backgrounds when he attended Illinois State University in the fall of 1979 and became friends with many white kids.
“I would like for every underprivileged race to have a chance to go to college and be able to see different races and be able to communicate like we used to (at ISU). People need to get together work out differences instead of trying to beat it into somebody and trying to hurt somebody,” he said.
Shingles said it’s all about having respect for one another.
“We’ve got to treat people with respect and get past the racial division that we’re experiencing. There’s enough prosperity in this country to go around. My success does not disservice your success. And unfortunately that’s the way sometimes we think,” he said. “I think we’ve got to get back to respecting one another, listening to understand rather than listening to respond. The world is very, very different, especially with technology. Technology today has connected in ways we’ve never been connected before.”
Johnson said you have to be emphatic to everyone’s position.
Brown just wishes everyone would make the most of life.
“We’re not here forever. Why not be happy? Why not enjoy the life that God as given us?” he said. “When I wake up in the morning and I can smell that fresh air, and look up and see another day, the first thing I say, ‘Thank you, God, for another day.’ Because once it’s gone it’s gone. I haven’t seen my mother and my father since they’ve been gone. I think we should all just get along and enjoy each other’s company while we’re here.”
Wednesday: Black Lives Matter.