Kentucky Governor: Black Kids Playing Chess 'Not Something You Would've Thought of...'

[MrScorpio]

Kentucky Governor: Black Kids Playing Chess 'Not Something You Would've Thought of' in Black Part of Town

Michael Harriot

Apparently, astounded that all black children don’t spend their time shooting hoops or exploring new avenues of committing black-on-black crime, the governor of Kentucky regurgitated a small amount of previously digested racism when he declared how surprised he was that black kids could play chess.

On Tuesday, Republican Gov. Matt Bevin visited Nativity Academy at St. Boniface, a Louisville, Ky., middle school that is 86 percent black and only 1 percent white. Before entering, Gov. Bevin recorded a brief introduction for his Twitter followers.

“I’m about to go in and meet the members of the West Louisville Chess Club,” he explained. “Not necessarily something you would’ve thought of when you think of this section of town.”

The video montage, appropriately set to Appalachian banjo riffs, shows Bevin actually standing next to the blacks and imploring teachers to “give them the chance to succeed, to pursue the American dream.”

Link to tweet

While I could point out how Bevin doesn’t give a damn about black kids or their dreams being that he supports Donald Trump, the Tea Party, the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, lowering the minimum wage, gun-toting teachers and the Blue Lives Matter law, I’d rather focus on a more important question:

What does Matt Bevin, and other white people expect from that “part of town?”

Well, The Root has obtained an exclusive copy of an internal memo circulated by the Bevin administration listing the top 10 things Gov. Bevin expects to see when he visits black schools:

10. Dance-offs: We’ve all seen the movies. When white people go to black schools, the first person they want to meet is the liberal, white woman who took a job at an inner-city school and saved the miniature negroes from a life of gangbanging by teaching them how to channel their anger and pain into the annual statewide dance competition usually dominated by nonblack students from the Becky Y. P. Pull Ballet Academy.


https://www.theroot.com/kentucky-governor-black-kids-playing-chess-not-somethi-1827515372?utm_source=theroot_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

[Glimmer of Hope]

1. Neanderthal.

[saidsimplesimon]

2. Bevin needs a checkmate come election time.

Take him and his white chess pieces off the board with moves they never saw coming.

[DBoon]

3. Hip Hop Chess Federation

http://www.hiphopchess.com/press

[Bayard]

4. JUST about as embarrassing as tRump

[Norbert]

5. I hope he enjoys his next year and a half as governor

Andy Beshear is going to smoke his ass in 2019.

[Gothmog]

6. Bevin is an idiot

I have been to a few chess tournaments in my day and went to one with my son when he was in middle school. The chess tournament that my son attended had a very diverse group of competitors and that was 20 years ago

[lunasun]

7. I'm in Chicago . Chess is very popular here and it's not just Chicago . He is an idiot

http://www.thechessdrum.net/newsbriefs/newsbriefs.html

[MrScorpio]

8. Kids from my old elementary school went to compete at the Chess SuperNationals...

https://rollingout.com/2017/05/12/detroits-youngest-chess-champions-are-off-to-compete-at-the-supernationals/

The same chess club were also crowned champions
https://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2010/03/video_detroit_kids_become_ches.html

[lunasun]

12. It's in the streets here .

not just for kids . He is an idiot

https://perceptivetravel.com/blog/2009/06/25/summer-in-the-city-street-chess/
They took another area for chess away for a new park a few yrs ago but it's ok IMO it's a great new park
Some really old men can get easy money off of dapper know it alls they are still good.
Glad to see that new chess generation by your house looking good.

[Solly Mack]

9. Damn

[politicaljunkie41910]

10. I played chess as a young black girl growing up; and my black son-in-law played golf in high school

and still does. No he's not Tiger Woods, and his family wasn't wealthy, but he has played golf all his life. I just love how some people are so quick to judge.

[JI7]

11. He is an idiot but i guess it shows how bad things have gotten that i thought

at least he was still saying positive things and not being hateful.

[lunasun]

16. It's insulting because chess has a history in the black community in many places

What he said doesn't translate and I'm sure he was looking for Jordans and any other brand names
just like the article called out, because he has preconceived bigot ideas about how different that school would be from a white school and it backfired due to his idiocy that he mentions how unusual chess is at a black school

Imagine if someone made a big deal that you could count to fifty and amazed that you knew how to pronounce every number and commented to others how surprised they are that you being you could do that aren't we all amazed?

it is just not a posture thing at all to say IMO

Although I understand his appeal to his voters but I think this comment on the article said it well>
ARP2
7/11/18 5:09pm
This is the board game equivalent of calling a black person articulate.

I would say insulting or ldisappointing racist BS more than using the extreme word hateful
The article did not give the nuance that he was being hateful IMO ,
He is an idiot and let's hope we can expect more than hateful comments when visiting citizens of his state
I don't things have gotten bad , just some like him can not open past color and that's before trump but yes, certainly no push to change now
Chess is a very common board game amongst African Americans, at least in big cities with high AA population you see a lot more black people who are the top chess players

[GulfCoast66]

13. Only something racists would not have thought of.

[Sam McGee]

14. Do you suppose . . .

. . . he took off his Klan robe before visiting the school?

[Duppers]

17. 👍

R stands for racist. Always.

[NBachers]

15. Click the link; read the entire article; then read all the responses.

Thanks for introducing me to Michael Harriot.

[EffieBlack]

18. Go to a gathering place in just about any black neighborhood and you'll find people playing chess

Over decades and centuries, black folk have developed and honed the skills that make a great chess player - strategy, patience, insight, thinking seven moves ahead, inscrutability, etc. - so it's ridiculous for anyone to be surprised that black people chess ...

[AwakeAtLast]

19. That's exactly what I was thinking!

I was almost screaming at my phone!

[eleny]

20. And I bet they didn't ask for any m-f'ing iced tea, either

..... .....

[blogslut]

21. Underlying all that racism, Bevin also hates public education.

Nativity Academy at St. Boniface looks like a lovely facility but I'll bet Bevin, sure-as-shit, wouldn't approve funding for chess clubs in the public schools of Jefferson County.

[progressoid]

22. Wow.

[erpowers]

23. Episode of the Moth

On an episode of The Moth an African-American man detailed his journey to become and Chess Grand master. It was an interesting story. He talked about a group of African-American in I think New York who were very good at Chess. He stated that these individuals "studied Chess like Rabbinical students studied the Torah". Much of the story centered on his quest to beat a member of this team. Eventually, he was able to beat one because he realized that even though they were very good at Chess, they mainly excelled at playing fast paced Chess. He decided to slow the pace and be more strategic in his play and somehow that cause one of the members of the team to become a little out of sorts.