Like any good journo in Ferguson, Sports Illustrated writer Robert Klemko was arrested in Ferguson earlier in the week. He kindly live tweeted the incident, pointing out that his arrest lasted two minutes. The discomfort of being tear gassed lasted a bit longer. And now he’s on NPR talking about his story on football in Ferguson.
It’s opening game of the season at McCluer High School, a few miles from where Michael Brown was fatally shot, and Klemko spent time with the players.
“Don’t say anything or do anything that you’re going to regret,” Klemko said the coach told the players. “Learn about the history of protest and do what you think is best.”
The players knew nothing about the Black Panthers. Klemko said he learned they’re getting a “sanitized” version of black history in school.
The coach also told his players, “Any of you could be Michael Brown.”
Klemko had this to say about the journalists in Ferguson: “I met two kinds of journalists in #Ferguson. There are those who think that sort of thing is fun, and those who think it’s important.”
Which one was he?
Klemko appears to consider his visit to Ferguson worthwhile. “Was a surreal few days out there,” he wrote on Twitter this morning. “Puts things in perspective.”