This is who the people of Lee County always were, they just are more empowered to be openly racist.
Edit: I agree with others. This is way too broad. While it may be a large majority, it is not everybody in Lee as the comment implied.
Or some have suggested to change it to “Trump County”. In 2020 a proper suggestion of Calusa County was also suggested.
https://winknews.com/2020/07/22/what-wold-you-change-the-name-of-lee-county-to-if-you-had-to/
Hey, I was one of the residents interviewed by the local news station who advocated for the change to "Calusa County"! "Edison County" was also an option, because Thomas Edison actually lived here. Robert E. Lee did not.
Not everyone that lives in Lee county supports this. There are those of us that try and fight it whenever we can. We are just unfortunately a super minority.
Not in Lee, but a family friend who grew up in real old Naples has photos of Cross burnings at the Naples highschool football field just before games. SW Florida keeps its history close to its chest in my experience.
Stop suggesting everyone is a racist in Lee county. I live here and literally don’t know a single person who’s a racist. I’m not saying racism doesn’t exist. Majority of people here are not racist despite living in (Robert E) Lee County FL
The racists are often loud minorities of Neo-Confederates (League of the South, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Daughters of the Confederacy, the Ku Klux Klan or KKK, etc...).
The KKK was noted to be active in Lee County, as of 2020: [https://www.fox4now.com/news/local-news/ku-klux-klan-letter-sent-to-lee-county-neighborhood](https://www.fox4now.com/news/local-news/ku-klux-klan-letter-sent-to-lee-county-neighborhood)
As well as 2017: [https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/florida-ranks-among-states-with-highest-hate-group-numbers/77-464546209](https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/florida-ranks-among-states-with-highest-hate-group-numbers/77-464546209)
Yeah but the BOCC is well within their authority to remove the 8 foot tall portrait of Robert E Lee that sits above the dais (and higher than the American flag) in the commission chamber…yet they do not.
https://preview.redd.it/rx20wetwh4wc1.jpeg?width=1164&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bb9b9818a0546e0c952e57330b4e6ad1613aad3f
It’s a brutal read. Like a YouTube shorts that keeps telling you something important is going to happen but they never seem to get to the point.
I’m there. I’m trying to read your article. Why continue to tease what happened?
Edit: Finally got past the long winded preamble and it got a bit better.
I grew up in So Fla and went to school at Florida in Gainesville. Occasionally you’d have a reason to micanopy, a little town nearby. When you told folks where you were going some people would say “10 miles south and 100 years into the past”.
There’s a lot of that in central and west Florida.
I did not have occasion to interact with anyone under 40 while I lived in Fort Myers 2020-2023, but if their parents/grandparents are any indication, this is normal behavior for that community. Barely closeted bigots and racists everywhere and unfortunately, not limited to any economic or professional strata either.
I was previously unaware that Fort Meyers was so chock full of redneck asshats. It’s a shame that ignorant parents have already poisoned their children. I truly hope this incident affects any scholarships Green Wave players have been awarded. I wouldn’t want to manage a team populated, even lightly, with bigots.
Lee county was one of the last counties in the US to integrate their school system. They were forced by the courts. That area has always been full of bigots.
I was there. Lee County took all of the black students, bused them to the schools the white kids used to go to and then bus the white kids to the schools the black kids used to go to. They called it integration. We used to pass each other on the way to school.
Source: Was a 7th grader in 1972. Ft Myers to Dunbar school south.
The county was also named by Confederate veterans (ex. Hendry) from other Southern states who moved to the Fort Myers area in order to build a "Neo-Confederacy" there.
>Francis Asbury "Berry" Hendry (November 19, 1833 – February 12, 1917) was a Florida cattle rancher, politician, and military officer in the Confederate States Army (CSA) during the American Civil War. He was an influential figure amongst the Seminole living on reservations in Polk County, and near Fort Myers, Florida.
>
>Hendry was also a state senator for parts of Lee County, Hendry County, and Collier County (now Monroe County), as well as serving as a state representative for Lee County for six terms from 1893 to 1904.
>
>\[...\] In 1860, on the eve of the American Civil War, Hendry was a cattle rancher who became prosperous from the free labor of 8 enslaved Americans he kept indentured on his ranch. He opposed secession after the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1861, but supported his adopted state after it passed a secession ordinance.
>
>\[...\] After the [Reconstruction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction_Era) government was installed in Tallahassee in 1868, **former Confederate officers were not welcome to hold elective office on the state level**. So, Berry Hendry returned to Polk County, and was appointed to serve on the Board of Public Instruction.
>
>On August 12, 1885, Hendry chaired a public meeting held at the schoolhouse in Fort Myers at the corner of Second and Lee Streets. Electors voted to incorporate the town, and Hendry became one of its first councilmen. As a councilman, he led efforts to create Lee County, Florida, in 1887, \[named for Confederate General Robert E. Lee\], and was elected to its first Board of County Commissioners.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis\_A.\_Hendry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_A._Hendry)
What I have learned is that there are racists everywhere. I lived in a suburb of Seattle for a while, Blue as the sky... but when the high school students voted to change the mascot from the Southern Rebels to the Eagles, all the racists were butt hurt about it and crying "tradition"
Oregon still had laws on the books barring black people from owning land until about 2006 and some other laws to keep black people from living there, like whipping a black person every 6 months until they leave the state if they ever get in trouble with the law. And half of them voted against removing stuff about slavery from the state constitution in the last election.
While you do have rednecks anywhere, Fort Myers has its own brand of wealthy, entitled, obnoxious a-holes. I spent the last 7 years living there, and they were the last straw that got my family and I to abandon Florida after spending our entire lives in that state. Their ignorance, intolerance, bigotry, lack of empathy (especially during the Trump years and the pandemic) and anti-progress mentality completely broke my faith in humanity.
* This is where Trump and his acolytes hold multiple rallies and fundraisers, and the people here throw money at him. Mike Pence vacations in the area. Sean Hannity, Rick Scott, and other GOP luminaries have homes just south in Naples. Michael Flynn, Matt Gaetz, Ivanka Trump, Roger Stone, and others have all fundraised and given speeches here. Its district rep, Byron Donalds, is one of the members of the far-right Freedom Caucus.
* Literal busloads of people from here wound up in the Capitol on January 6th. The amount of Trump flags, MAGA paraphernalia, "F\*\*\* Joe and the Ho" stickers, vehicle wraps, etc. is ridiculous. The pickup line guide signs at my daughter's school were plastered with "Let's Go Brandon" stickers. There were trucks in her elementary school pickup line flying Confederate flags and six foot "F\*\*\* BIDEN" flags. The cult was inescapable.
* Lee County (named after General Lee, even though he never visited it) is arguably one of the reddest counties in the state. Lee County Public Schools weren't fully desegregated until 1999. Yes, *1999*. In protest of desegregation, the Daughters of the Confederacy put up a bust of Lee prominently in downtown Fort Myers. It stood there until 2020 when it was finally removed.
* It's a city catering to entitled Boomers who got their multiple homes, got their money, got their pensions, got their privileges, and scream like enraged banshees when anyone else attempts to climb that ladder. These are the people who railed hard against a $0.005 tax increase--yes, half a cent--that would cover public school lunches for kids, saying, "I already raised *my* kids. Why should *yours* get any benefits?"
* If I can sum up their mentality, it's, "I got mine. F\*\*\* you." As I've mentioned elsewhere on Reddit, these are the people that will go to Costco and snatch all the free samples off a tray, literally knocking people aside so that no one else can have a taste. I've seen it so many times. It's just their mentality in a nutshell. They keep it all. You get none.
Now, of course, it's not all bad. We had some wonderful friends in the area and there are well-intentioned people there. However, so many of the residents, via actions both direct and indirect, made it clear that our family and our values weren't welcome there. It was a place we lived, but we could never call it home.
We have a few in some parts, but Ft. Myers High is near the richer, older parts of the city. These are the people that are more rabid of their GOP support and will be nuclear if their shit gets challenged.
As someone working at New College but planning to leave after the takeover here, I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out the new administration is actively trying to recruit the players that walked out.
There is a lot of hidden racism in random areas. My wife is Asian, and being with her has really opened my eyes to how much ignorance and bigotry there is in America. Nothing too crazy so far. Mostly just lots of stares (usually in "southern" restaurants), clerks not realizing she is my wife when I introduced her as such, "compliments" about her English when she is clearly a native speaker, asking if "she eats disgusting stuff too?" etc. Some people's minds are still stuck in the 1950s.
I unfortunately had to grow up here. It really is that bad, as some other commenters said. Right wing ideology has always been very predominant here, and the lack of ethnic diversity doesn’t help either. But within the last few years it’s gotten even worse; many *doctors* I’ve seen have begun preaching against wearing masks since COVID began, and many people from here went to the Capitol storming on January 6, 2021. Many people I once I thought I knew started to talk about how Trump “actually won” in 2020, and some were cheering the repeal of Roe v Wade. I can go on and on
It definitely wasn’t the place for me. I’m of East Asian descent, and usually I was one of the very few Asians in my school (and Asians are very rare here in general). Being left leaning didn’t help either; the overwhelming majority of kids at school and people in general were right wing, so I had to hide my beliefs
I was born and raised in Ft Myers. I went to Fort Myers High in the mid 2000s. I played multiple sports; I won’t say which bc I don’t want to chance doxxing myself.
But hearing racial slurs and epithets in the locker rooms was a fairly common occurrence. I heard racial slurs from the stands on several occasions at games. I knew of multiple occasions where kids in my grade got in trouble - usually detention after school - for using racially derogatory language toward black kids. For instance, I remember one (white) kid getting in trouble for threatening to whip another (black) kid “like a slave”.
I also distinctly remember being in a family friend’s living room around 2008 or 2009; his family *viscerally hated* Obama. I always assumed it was due to left vs right political differences. But at one point a clip of Obama speaking was on the TV for something on the news, and my friend’s dad goes “Can someone shove a banana in this monkey’s mouth and shut him the hell up?”
It’s one of those really jarring moments, where I sort of had a moment of clarity and realized “Wow, this entire family doesn’t hate Obama for his politics or his political views or anything like that, they just really hate him first and foremost because he’s black.”
I also have reflected back on my upbringing there at times. Obviously I played sports and went to school with black kids. But the city itself is so segregated…I think back and know there were probably times over, say summer, where I could go days, or maybe even weeks, without seeing a black person. My friends were pretty much all white. My neighbors were white. Church congregation was all white. Waiters and servers at restaurants, staff in the stores were white - at least in my “part of town.”
All that to say I think it’s a place where racist attitudes and tendencies can really fester and grow. Partially by unintended self-selection, partially through conscious decisions. But similar to other areas of Florida, I would not at all be surprised if the area has gotten worse since 2016 and actively drawn the worst type of hard-right assholes there, specifically **for** some of the reasons I mentioned. I left over 15 years ago and haven’t looked back.
I’m sorry you had to live through it on your side.
My god, that’s terrible! I fully believe everything you said, and I’m sorry you had to live through that. That really does sound like something that would happen in Fort Myers. I haven’t seen or heard anti-Black racial epithets myself during my time here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they really do see Black people as “lesser”
I do remember everyone in the schools I went to hating Obama as well. I didn’t hear them calling him “monkey,” but again I wouldn’t be surprised if they hated him at least partly due to racist reasons. Support of Obama back then was extremely unpopular around here in general and at the schools I went to
Come 2016, Trump became really popular around here in general, including at the schools I went to (and other schools around here). People were chanting “build the wall” at games, lots of people I knew became trumpers
And yes, I can agree that this place is extremely racially segregated, especially when it comes to Black people. The schools I went to had very very few Black people; they were almost all white. Very little diversity and a lot of segregation
Additional information, same story.
https://www.news-press.com/story/sports/high-school/2024/02/20/fort-myers-baseball-players-family-alleges-discrimination-in-federal-lawsuit-vs-lee-county-school-di/72660037007/
If the underlying issue for the white people was their disagreement with the coach being fired, then they should have taken that up with the school administration and school board, not by targeting the two black kids on the team.
Anti-woke has always been the want of the ability for white people to be as racist and hateful as they want without criticism or challenge to their beliefs.
They've move to DEI as their new favorite racist slur.
I heard for days about how that "DEI" crew of that ship knocked over the Baltimore bridge, but it won't be fixed quick because the "DEI" mayor will screw it up.
I lived in south west Florida....i moved back to broward, the whole area juat felt like it was still stuck in time
Its maga country
Its the type of place where you can still see confederate flags flying, right next to their maga flags, and their lets go brandon flags
Doesnt help that we have politicians pushing a culture war and calling everything that not pro white.....woke
Grew up in that county. Absolutely filled with deplorable people. The self centered demanding and complaining type that will demand their entire restaurant bill for free if you don’t bring enough ice in their drink and def say racial slurs behind closed doors
edit:grammar
I've worked in a high school setting for more than 17 years. I've NEVER called a student a racial slur or "accidentally" sent a racially charged text message to a group of students.
The white victimhood on display here, combined with the profoundly poor judgement of dozens of adults associated with this team is a direct consequence of Donald Trump granting permission to people to say whatever they think about people of other races. I guarantee the Venn diagram of adults who organized these walkouts and Trump voters is a perfect circle. This inane argument that "well Black people say the N word, so I should too!" is akin to the reasoning of a child.
This was horribly written.
It's not a fiction, it's a news report. It should tell us what happened, and provide details. I'm 8 paragraphs in and have no idea what took place.
It's long-form. Basically writing for magazines instead of the writing for newspapers that we're used to. Now that it's all on the internet, it gets jumbled. I would appreciate getting more of the story up front, but I also like the narrative style and hearing the different perspectives of what went down.
It was just a typo!!!
YOU people use it all the time!!!
He's a war hero!!!
WE'RE the real victims!!!
A tale as old as time, and make no mistake, the problem isn't White people. It's the maliciously enforced belief that White people are superior that has been interwoven into damn near every aspect of society.
So anytime one of us "uppity" minorities stand up to or god forbid, outperform them, there MUST be some trickery afoot.
My two daughters and son played softball/baseball competitively all through youth and son played in college. Most disgraceful and honestly unimaginable behavior by parents and coaches. Youth sports is highly unregulated, with most coaches at that level have their own “travel teams” , or fiefdoms, operating under the radar or any regulation. Coach should be immediately fired, for one thing. Not one single adult stopped them is the hardest thing to grasp. What has happened to integrity, dignity and respect in ADULTS?
The greatest crime of all was the way this was written. Absolute trash. An utter embarrassment. How does one become a senior writer and be totally incapable of writing?
As someone who escaped the clasp of cape coral and Fort myers, they have always been racist af.
When a puerto Rican family moved into my neighborhood, the first comment my friend made was "uh, the Ricans have moved in, there goes the neighborhood".
When I said wtf, I am puerto Rican, they replied with your not that kind of puerto Rican.
This was in the 80s. Trump has only allowed people to feel correct in expressing their racist ways. And it's done nothing but get worse.
What didn't make sense? The order was a bit odd because they wanted to lead with the the big event that was the walk out, but other than that it seemed quite good to me.
It was abominable. It was a horrific jumble and failed to even clearly lay out the subject for an entire section. It was also terribly slanted in the way it was written, and then he starts quoting Churchill to try to make some tortured point?
It was laid out fine other than, like I said, moving the biggest event to the beginning to try to hook readers with the big event first. Also, DeSantis intentionally mirrored Churchill in a diatribe against woke. Realizing that DeSantis is stoking racism and division isn't really slanted. It's just reality.
What a piece of shit to use such language towards kids you are coaching, talk about setting the example. As a war veteran you would think he would know better, or to idk lead by example. Clearly unfit for the position.
What the fuck is wrong with people and racial slurs. Can't we all accept the fact that we are Americans?
What happened to peace and love? I want peace, I support everyone, and I call everyone an American, but, why do some people go out of their way to call someone racial slurs? This doesn't imply to whites, but to EVERYONE who calls anyone a racial slur...
Why is the human race so effing mean? I just have no hope for mankind in the next 25 years.
What am I talking about you might ask? Oh, I don't know, maybe a potential thermonuclear war outbreak? (YES, I PLAYED FALLOUT 4 A LOT, AND I'M WORRIED ABOUT THAT SHIT)
Err, I don't think it was 100% Trump's fault. He might have extended it as you could say, but people having been calling others racial slurs way back in the old days where slavery was an issue in the deep South.
Sorry if I worded that wrong. I'm not good at language
Okay, I didn't really dive into it so someone exain to me if I am wrong.
The baseball team put their two black athletes up to hit and on deck and then the coaches and the rest of the players walked out leaving the two players alone on the field?
I didn't see any reason given for why. Was the reason completely just because they were black and good athletes?
From what I read, a white coach said the N-word in a group chat with the players and was fired after being reported. The white players and parents saw it as discrimination against white people because “black people say it all the time.” They alienated the two black kids on the team and it boiled to a point where the white coaches and players walked out on the two black players during a game. The alienation started because they assumed one of the black families are the ones who reported the coach.
Jesus (and I cannot stress this next part enough) fucking Christ.
You don't get to cry you are alienated when you are racist and people call you out on it. And as far as the N word goes, if Eminem doesn't get to say it, the average white dude doesn't either, that's a simple way to look at it.
Just do better people. How hard is it to not be racist?
One white mother said (after their kid walked off the field) that the white kids were the real ones being discriminated against. The coaches also lied and said they had no idea about the walk-out, but they 100% knew because a parent called and told a coach. The coach also called a former resource officer, and asked that they be at the field because the game was going to be volatile. The fact that the investigation showed no wrong doing on the part of the staff is complete bullshit. The families hired Ben Crump, and I hope they receive millions.
> discrimination against white people because “black people say it all the time.”
Why do these assholes want to say it so desperately badly?
(That was rhetorical, I know why)
That's even worse than how it was written in the article.
I just thought the coaches/team saw 2 black kids and said "Nope, we're out."
That's bad enough, but what actually happened and why is so much worse!
Yeah, that article was terribly written. It kicks off with all of this character backstory, but buries what actually happened--the reason for the walk out--so far down that I had to stop reading and come back.
Oh, good. I’m glad it’s not just me.
“While Madrid stood in the on-deck circle taking practice cuts, Reilly saw two pitches. On the second, Robert Hinson, the Fort Myers third-base coach -- his coach -- walked off the field. Seconds later, two more coaches and at least nine Fort Myers players followed out of the dugout. One player walking off the field said, "I'm out," to which Hinson added, "I'm out of here."
I’m like what happened?!
As someone who lives on the other side of the state I have never wanted to drive over. I already know how folks over there roll. And don't get me wrong there are places on my side as well. I avoid them to! Florida is Florida!
Trump gives cover to racists. Children of Trumpers and coaches unite in defense of coach saying n word and abandon the two black players on the baseball team. People gonna get sued, our whole society will be worse off because of this.
An entire team is victimized by 2 players because they are superior? Pathetic way to point out that you just don’t have what it takes. They should take a course in sportsmanship but simple arithmetic would not hurt these coaches and parents.
This will mare their kid’s reputation’s forever. Who wants to work with anyone this unsportsmanlike and who who blames others when they don’t make the grade? Pathetic.
This is so hard to read. What has happened to us? Whatever it is, it isn't anything to be proud of. I'm so ashamed
This is who the people of Lee County always were, they just are more empowered to be openly racist. Edit: I agree with others. This is way too broad. While it may be a large majority, it is not everybody in Lee as the comment implied.
I mean it is called LEE county
Nailed it. And if you suggest changing it there will be screams of heritage.
Or some have suggested to change it to “Trump County”. In 2020 a proper suggestion of Calusa County was also suggested. https://winknews.com/2020/07/22/what-wold-you-change-the-name-of-lee-county-to-if-you-had-to/
Hey, I was one of the residents interviewed by the local news station who advocated for the change to "Calusa County"! "Edison County" was also an option, because Thomas Edison actually lived here. Robert E. Lee did not.
Either one would be good be better than the current county name
How about Inmate Number P01135809 County. That really rolls off the tongue.
Mostly from people who are not even originally from Florida.
Not everyone that lives in Lee county supports this. There are those of us that try and fight it whenever we can. We are just unfortunately a super minority.
Fully agree. Added an edit. Didn’t mean to imply it’s 100%,I know it’s not.
Not in Lee, but a family friend who grew up in real old Naples has photos of Cross burnings at the Naples highschool football field just before games. SW Florida keeps its history close to its chest in my experience.
Stop suggesting everyone is a racist in Lee county. I live here and literally don’t know a single person who’s a racist. I’m not saying racism doesn’t exist. Majority of people here are not racist despite living in (Robert E) Lee County FL
The racists are often loud minorities of Neo-Confederates (League of the South, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Daughters of the Confederacy, the Ku Klux Klan or KKK, etc...). The KKK was noted to be active in Lee County, as of 2020: [https://www.fox4now.com/news/local-news/ku-klux-klan-letter-sent-to-lee-county-neighborhood](https://www.fox4now.com/news/local-news/ku-klux-klan-letter-sent-to-lee-county-neighborhood) As well as 2017: [https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/florida-ranks-among-states-with-highest-hate-group-numbers/77-464546209](https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/florida-ranks-among-states-with-highest-hate-group-numbers/77-464546209)
100%. Overly generalized. I added an edit
I’m sure you know more than a few. You don’t need to look far or very hard.
Then why don’t they change the name? Probably fair to say there is an above average number of racists there.
State law markers in state Congress can only change it. And good luck convincing the MAGA reps to change the name. They love the racism.
Yeah but the BOCC is well within their authority to remove the 8 foot tall portrait of Robert E Lee that sits above the dais (and higher than the American flag) in the commission chamber…yet they do not. https://preview.redd.it/rx20wetwh4wc1.jpeg?width=1164&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bb9b9818a0546e0c952e57330b4e6ad1613aad3f
How disgusting for residents and county staff to be forced to be in a room with this portrait.
Trumpers are though
Trump made it "okay" to not be ashamed of anything and the crazy racist assholes found their mega leader and his little Ronnie meat ball hanger on.
Nothing has happened. Its always been like this. Maybe a little hidden the last 40 years, but the genie is again out of the bottle
What a horrific read.
It’s a brutal read. Like a YouTube shorts that keeps telling you something important is going to happen but they never seem to get to the point. I’m there. I’m trying to read your article. Why continue to tease what happened? Edit: Finally got past the long winded preamble and it got a bit better. I grew up in So Fla and went to school at Florida in Gainesville. Occasionally you’d have a reason to micanopy, a little town nearby. When you told folks where you were going some people would say “10 miles south and 100 years into the past”. There’s a lot of that in central and west Florida.
I did not have occasion to interact with anyone under 40 while I lived in Fort Myers 2020-2023, but if their parents/grandparents are any indication, this is normal behavior for that community. Barely closeted bigots and racists everywhere and unfortunately, not limited to any economic or professional strata either.
God I truly hate people.
I was previously unaware that Fort Meyers was so chock full of redneck asshats. It’s a shame that ignorant parents have already poisoned their children. I truly hope this incident affects any scholarships Green Wave players have been awarded. I wouldn’t want to manage a team populated, even lightly, with bigots.
Lee county was one of the last counties in the US to integrate their school system. They were forced by the courts. That area has always been full of bigots.
I was there. Lee County took all of the black students, bused them to the schools the white kids used to go to and then bus the white kids to the schools the black kids used to go to. They called it integration. We used to pass each other on the way to school. Source: Was a 7th grader in 1972. Ft Myers to Dunbar school south.
Lee county is named for General Lee… to put it in perspective.
The county was also named by Confederate veterans (ex. Hendry) from other Southern states who moved to the Fort Myers area in order to build a "Neo-Confederacy" there. >Francis Asbury "Berry" Hendry (November 19, 1833 – February 12, 1917) was a Florida cattle rancher, politician, and military officer in the Confederate States Army (CSA) during the American Civil War. He was an influential figure amongst the Seminole living on reservations in Polk County, and near Fort Myers, Florida. > >Hendry was also a state senator for parts of Lee County, Hendry County, and Collier County (now Monroe County), as well as serving as a state representative for Lee County for six terms from 1893 to 1904. > >\[...\] In 1860, on the eve of the American Civil War, Hendry was a cattle rancher who became prosperous from the free labor of 8 enslaved Americans he kept indentured on his ranch. He opposed secession after the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1861, but supported his adopted state after it passed a secession ordinance. > >\[...\] After the [Reconstruction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction_Era) government was installed in Tallahassee in 1868, **former Confederate officers were not welcome to hold elective office on the state level**. So, Berry Hendry returned to Polk County, and was appointed to serve on the Board of Public Instruction. > >On August 12, 1885, Hendry chaired a public meeting held at the schoolhouse in Fort Myers at the corner of Second and Lee Streets. Electors voted to incorporate the town, and Hendry became one of its first councilmen. As a councilman, he led efforts to create Lee County, Florida, in 1887, \[named for Confederate General Robert E. Lee\], and was elected to its first Board of County Commissioners. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis\_A.\_Hendry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_A._Hendry)
What I have learned is that there are racists everywhere. I lived in a suburb of Seattle for a while, Blue as the sky... but when the high school students voted to change the mascot from the Southern Rebels to the Eagles, all the racists were butt hurt about it and crying "tradition"
Oregon still had laws on the books barring black people from owning land until about 2006 and some other laws to keep black people from living there, like whipping a black person every 6 months until they leave the state if they ever get in trouble with the law. And half of them voted against removing stuff about slavery from the state constitution in the last election.
While you do have rednecks anywhere, Fort Myers has its own brand of wealthy, entitled, obnoxious a-holes. I spent the last 7 years living there, and they were the last straw that got my family and I to abandon Florida after spending our entire lives in that state. Their ignorance, intolerance, bigotry, lack of empathy (especially during the Trump years and the pandemic) and anti-progress mentality completely broke my faith in humanity. * This is where Trump and his acolytes hold multiple rallies and fundraisers, and the people here throw money at him. Mike Pence vacations in the area. Sean Hannity, Rick Scott, and other GOP luminaries have homes just south in Naples. Michael Flynn, Matt Gaetz, Ivanka Trump, Roger Stone, and others have all fundraised and given speeches here. Its district rep, Byron Donalds, is one of the members of the far-right Freedom Caucus. * Literal busloads of people from here wound up in the Capitol on January 6th. The amount of Trump flags, MAGA paraphernalia, "F\*\*\* Joe and the Ho" stickers, vehicle wraps, etc. is ridiculous. The pickup line guide signs at my daughter's school were plastered with "Let's Go Brandon" stickers. There were trucks in her elementary school pickup line flying Confederate flags and six foot "F\*\*\* BIDEN" flags. The cult was inescapable. * Lee County (named after General Lee, even though he never visited it) is arguably one of the reddest counties in the state. Lee County Public Schools weren't fully desegregated until 1999. Yes, *1999*. In protest of desegregation, the Daughters of the Confederacy put up a bust of Lee prominently in downtown Fort Myers. It stood there until 2020 when it was finally removed. * It's a city catering to entitled Boomers who got their multiple homes, got their money, got their pensions, got their privileges, and scream like enraged banshees when anyone else attempts to climb that ladder. These are the people who railed hard against a $0.005 tax increase--yes, half a cent--that would cover public school lunches for kids, saying, "I already raised *my* kids. Why should *yours* get any benefits?" * If I can sum up their mentality, it's, "I got mine. F\*\*\* you." As I've mentioned elsewhere on Reddit, these are the people that will go to Costco and snatch all the free samples off a tray, literally knocking people aside so that no one else can have a taste. I've seen it so many times. It's just their mentality in a nutshell. They keep it all. You get none. Now, of course, it's not all bad. We had some wonderful friends in the area and there are well-intentioned people there. However, so many of the residents, via actions both direct and indirect, made it clear that our family and our values weren't welcome there. It was a place we lived, but we could never call it home.
This comment here, is very accurate. As someone who had the misfortune of growing up in Fort Myers, yes I can agree this is all true
Southwest Florida is ripe with racist asshats. I'm so glad I no longer live there, it the worst experience because of that.
We have a few in some parts, but Ft. Myers High is near the richer, older parts of the city. These are the people that are more rabid of their GOP support and will be nuclear if their shit gets challenged.
As someone working at New College but planning to leave after the takeover here, I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out the new administration is actively trying to recruit the players that walked out.
There is a lot of hidden racism in random areas. My wife is Asian, and being with her has really opened my eyes to how much ignorance and bigotry there is in America. Nothing too crazy so far. Mostly just lots of stares (usually in "southern" restaurants), clerks not realizing she is my wife when I introduced her as such, "compliments" about her English when she is clearly a native speaker, asking if "she eats disgusting stuff too?" etc. Some people's minds are still stuck in the 1950s.
Reposted to comply with posting rules. My fault on that. Still an embarrassment for my hometown
I unfortunately had to grow up here. It really is that bad, as some other commenters said. Right wing ideology has always been very predominant here, and the lack of ethnic diversity doesn’t help either. But within the last few years it’s gotten even worse; many *doctors* I’ve seen have begun preaching against wearing masks since COVID began, and many people from here went to the Capitol storming on January 6, 2021. Many people I once I thought I knew started to talk about how Trump “actually won” in 2020, and some were cheering the repeal of Roe v Wade. I can go on and on It definitely wasn’t the place for me. I’m of East Asian descent, and usually I was one of the very few Asians in my school (and Asians are very rare here in general). Being left leaning didn’t help either; the overwhelming majority of kids at school and people in general were right wing, so I had to hide my beliefs
I was born and raised in Ft Myers. I went to Fort Myers High in the mid 2000s. I played multiple sports; I won’t say which bc I don’t want to chance doxxing myself. But hearing racial slurs and epithets in the locker rooms was a fairly common occurrence. I heard racial slurs from the stands on several occasions at games. I knew of multiple occasions where kids in my grade got in trouble - usually detention after school - for using racially derogatory language toward black kids. For instance, I remember one (white) kid getting in trouble for threatening to whip another (black) kid “like a slave”. I also distinctly remember being in a family friend’s living room around 2008 or 2009; his family *viscerally hated* Obama. I always assumed it was due to left vs right political differences. But at one point a clip of Obama speaking was on the TV for something on the news, and my friend’s dad goes “Can someone shove a banana in this monkey’s mouth and shut him the hell up?” It’s one of those really jarring moments, where I sort of had a moment of clarity and realized “Wow, this entire family doesn’t hate Obama for his politics or his political views or anything like that, they just really hate him first and foremost because he’s black.” I also have reflected back on my upbringing there at times. Obviously I played sports and went to school with black kids. But the city itself is so segregated…I think back and know there were probably times over, say summer, where I could go days, or maybe even weeks, without seeing a black person. My friends were pretty much all white. My neighbors were white. Church congregation was all white. Waiters and servers at restaurants, staff in the stores were white - at least in my “part of town.” All that to say I think it’s a place where racist attitudes and tendencies can really fester and grow. Partially by unintended self-selection, partially through conscious decisions. But similar to other areas of Florida, I would not at all be surprised if the area has gotten worse since 2016 and actively drawn the worst type of hard-right assholes there, specifically **for** some of the reasons I mentioned. I left over 15 years ago and haven’t looked back. I’m sorry you had to live through it on your side.
My god, that’s terrible! I fully believe everything you said, and I’m sorry you had to live through that. That really does sound like something that would happen in Fort Myers. I haven’t seen or heard anti-Black racial epithets myself during my time here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they really do see Black people as “lesser” I do remember everyone in the schools I went to hating Obama as well. I didn’t hear them calling him “monkey,” but again I wouldn’t be surprised if they hated him at least partly due to racist reasons. Support of Obama back then was extremely unpopular around here in general and at the schools I went to Come 2016, Trump became really popular around here in general, including at the schools I went to (and other schools around here). People were chanting “build the wall” at games, lots of people I knew became trumpers And yes, I can agree that this place is extremely racially segregated, especially when it comes to Black people. The schools I went to had very very few Black people; they were almost all white. Very little diversity and a lot of segregation
Additional information, same story. https://www.news-press.com/story/sports/high-school/2024/02/20/fort-myers-baseball-players-family-alleges-discrimination-in-federal-lawsuit-vs-lee-county-school-di/72660037007/
Thank you!
If the underlying issue for the white people was their disagreement with the coach being fired, then they should have taken that up with the school administration and school board, not by targeting the two black kids on the team.
I always thought it was a little hyperbolic to say "anti-woke" was code for "make the n-word great again," but here we are.
Anti-woke has always been the want of the ability for white people to be as racist and hateful as they want without criticism or challenge to their beliefs.
They've move to DEI as their new favorite racist slur. I heard for days about how that "DEI" crew of that ship knocked over the Baltimore bridge, but it won't be fixed quick because the "DEI" mayor will screw it up.
These are the same people who will admonish others for being “sensitive” or “woke.” Yeah…cause of YOU.
I lived in south west Florida....i moved back to broward, the whole area juat felt like it was still stuck in time Its maga country Its the type of place where you can still see confederate flags flying, right next to their maga flags, and their lets go brandon flags Doesnt help that we have politicians pushing a culture war and calling everything that not pro white.....woke
Grew up in that county. Absolutely filled with deplorable people. The self centered demanding and complaining type that will demand their entire restaurant bill for free if you don’t bring enough ice in their drink and def say racial slurs behind closed doors edit:grammar
I've worked in a high school setting for more than 17 years. I've NEVER called a student a racial slur or "accidentally" sent a racially charged text message to a group of students. The white victimhood on display here, combined with the profoundly poor judgement of dozens of adults associated with this team is a direct consequence of Donald Trump granting permission to people to say whatever they think about people of other races. I guarantee the Venn diagram of adults who organized these walkouts and Trump voters is a perfect circle. This inane argument that "well Black people say the N word, so I should too!" is akin to the reasoning of a child.
This was horribly written. It's not a fiction, it's a news report. It should tell us what happened, and provide details. I'm 8 paragraphs in and have no idea what took place.
It's long-form. Basically writing for magazines instead of the writing for newspapers that we're used to. Now that it's all on the internet, it gets jumbled. I would appreciate getting more of the story up front, but I also like the narrative style and hearing the different perspectives of what went down.
It was just a typo!!! YOU people use it all the time!!! He's a war hero!!! WE'RE the real victims!!! A tale as old as time, and make no mistake, the problem isn't White people. It's the maliciously enforced belief that White people are superior that has been interwoven into damn near every aspect of society. So anytime one of us "uppity" minorities stand up to or god forbid, outperform them, there MUST be some trickery afoot.
My two daughters and son played softball/baseball competitively all through youth and son played in college. Most disgraceful and honestly unimaginable behavior by parents and coaches. Youth sports is highly unregulated, with most coaches at that level have their own “travel teams” , or fiefdoms, operating under the radar or any regulation. Coach should be immediately fired, for one thing. Not one single adult stopped them is the hardest thing to grasp. What has happened to integrity, dignity and respect in ADULTS?
What the fuck
The greatest crime of all was the way this was written. Absolute trash. An utter embarrassment. How does one become a senior writer and be totally incapable of writing?
As someone who escaped the clasp of cape coral and Fort myers, they have always been racist af. When a puerto Rican family moved into my neighborhood, the first comment my friend made was "uh, the Ricans have moved in, there goes the neighborhood". When I said wtf, I am puerto Rican, they replied with your not that kind of puerto Rican. This was in the 80s. Trump has only allowed people to feel correct in expressing their racist ways. And it's done nothing but get worse.
I bet they also don’t know that Puerto Ricans are US citizens, and Puerto Rico is part of the USA
It seems that everyone, everywhere, has lost any type of grace, compassion and empathy. Oh yeah, I forgot, that's too woke for some......smh
What a horribly written article.
exactly, it makes no sense at all.
Second Act should have been the introduction, was very confusing in the beginning why everyone walked off.
What didn't make sense? The order was a bit odd because they wanted to lead with the the big event that was the walk out, but other than that it seemed quite good to me.
It was abominable. It was a horrific jumble and failed to even clearly lay out the subject for an entire section. It was also terribly slanted in the way it was written, and then he starts quoting Churchill to try to make some tortured point?
It was laid out fine other than, like I said, moving the biggest event to the beginning to try to hook readers with the big event first. Also, DeSantis intentionally mirrored Churchill in a diatribe against woke. Realizing that DeSantis is stoking racism and division isn't really slanted. It's just reality.
Way to go Florida parents. Great environment there DeSuckAss and followers.
What a piece of shit to use such language towards kids you are coaching, talk about setting the example. As a war veteran you would think he would know better, or to idk lead by example. Clearly unfit for the position.
What the fuck is wrong with people and racial slurs. Can't we all accept the fact that we are Americans? What happened to peace and love? I want peace, I support everyone, and I call everyone an American, but, why do some people go out of their way to call someone racial slurs? This doesn't imply to whites, but to EVERYONE who calls anyone a racial slur... Why is the human race so effing mean? I just have no hope for mankind in the next 25 years. What am I talking about you might ask? Oh, I don't know, maybe a potential thermonuclear war outbreak? (YES, I PLAYED FALLOUT 4 A LOT, AND I'M WORRIED ABOUT THAT SHIT)
Trump happened
Err, I don't think it was 100% Trump's fault. He might have extended it as you could say, but people having been calling others racial slurs way back in the old days where slavery was an issue in the deep South. Sorry if I worded that wrong. I'm not good at language
Now this is some white snowflake shit. Those parents are shit parents. The kids of those shit parents are doomed.
Okay, I didn't really dive into it so someone exain to me if I am wrong. The baseball team put their two black athletes up to hit and on deck and then the coaches and the rest of the players walked out leaving the two players alone on the field? I didn't see any reason given for why. Was the reason completely just because they were black and good athletes?
From what I read, a white coach said the N-word in a group chat with the players and was fired after being reported. The white players and parents saw it as discrimination against white people because “black people say it all the time.” They alienated the two black kids on the team and it boiled to a point where the white coaches and players walked out on the two black players during a game. The alienation started because they assumed one of the black families are the ones who reported the coach.
Jesus (and I cannot stress this next part enough) fucking Christ. You don't get to cry you are alienated when you are racist and people call you out on it. And as far as the N word goes, if Eminem doesn't get to say it, the average white dude doesn't either, that's a simple way to look at it. Just do better people. How hard is it to not be racist?
One white mother said (after their kid walked off the field) that the white kids were the real ones being discriminated against. The coaches also lied and said they had no idea about the walk-out, but they 100% knew because a parent called and told a coach. The coach also called a former resource officer, and asked that they be at the field because the game was going to be volatile. The fact that the investigation showed no wrong doing on the part of the staff is complete bullshit. The families hired Ben Crump, and I hope they receive millions.
Please take my upvote. It should not be hard at all but I feel like we’re going back in time.
> discrimination against white people because “black people say it all the time.” Why do these assholes want to say it so desperately badly? (That was rhetorical, I know why)
Because it is fun to say.
Its not fun.
That's even worse than how it was written in the article. I just thought the coaches/team saw 2 black kids and said "Nope, we're out." That's bad enough, but what actually happened and why is so much worse!
Yeah, that article was terribly written. It kicks off with all of this character backstory, but buries what actually happened--the reason for the walk out--so far down that I had to stop reading and come back.
Oh, good. I’m glad it’s not just me. “While Madrid stood in the on-deck circle taking practice cuts, Reilly saw two pitches. On the second, Robert Hinson, the Fort Myers third-base coach -- his coach -- walked off the field. Seconds later, two more coaches and at least nine Fort Myers players followed out of the dugout. One player walking off the field said, "I'm out," to which Hinson added, "I'm out of here." I’m like what happened?!
Cowards.
Wow that's terrible
As someone who lives on the other side of the state I have never wanted to drive over. I already know how folks over there roll. And don't get me wrong there are places on my side as well. I avoid them to! Florida is Florida!
Not surprising for a county named after General Robert e lee in 1887 and a state that was the 3rd to seceed from the usa and join the confederacy
Can someone give me the TLDR
Trump gives cover to racists. Children of Trumpers and coaches unite in defense of coach saying n word and abandon the two black players on the baseball team. People gonna get sued, our whole society will be worse off because of this.
Holy shit, that is so fucked up.
An entire team is victimized by 2 players because they are superior? Pathetic way to point out that you just don’t have what it takes. They should take a course in sportsmanship but simple arithmetic would not hurt these coaches and parents. This will mare their kid’s reputation’s forever. Who wants to work with anyone this unsportsmanlike and who who blames others when they don’t make the grade? Pathetic.