{"id":433909,"date":"2020-05-31T11:33:59","date_gmt":"2020-05-31T18:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=433909"},"modified":"2024-10-28T11:36:24","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T18:36:24","slug":"sorry-simone-manuel-your-voice-on-usa-troubled-times-heard-by-swimming-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/sorry-simone-manuel-your-voice-on-usa-troubled-times-heard-by-swimming-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Sorry Simone Manuel – Your Voice On USA Troubled Times Heard By Swimming World"},"content":{"rendered":"

Commentary:<\/em><\/strong> We live in troubled times in many places and on many fronts. Silence is only the friend of those who would silence you. In that context, the best news this Sunday of Pentecost is this: we were called out by Simone Manuel<\/strong> for a headline and article that gave priority to what her USA and Stanford teammate Katie Ledecky<\/strong> had to say about the tragic death of George Floyd<\/strong><\/a> in woeful circumstances that led to a murder charge being laid on a policeman and sparked riots across the United States.<\/p>\n

The missing words in the above are these: black and white. George Floyd was black, Derek Chauvin is white. Note the tense: the now former policeman remains among us to face the consequence of decisions caught on camera that left a flabbergasted world, black, white and every other color and creed, asking \u201c2020: how?\u201d; Mr. Floyd is no more.<\/p>\n

Big questions on some of the biggest causes of human misery and conflict flow. Those questions are hardly new to this world, pre-date slavery and are with us yet despite laws, knowledge and cultural revolution and change.<\/p>\n

In the welter of response across America – and indeed the wider world – to film an American police officer with his knee on a man’s neck failing to respond for almost nine minutes while the victim tells the officers present that he’s in pain, that he is claustrophobic and repeatedly gasps “I can’t breathe”, Swimming World’s eye is drawn to the views of swimmers.<\/p>\n

Among the first big response seen was that of Katie Ledecky. At 16:38, Swimming World posted a story headlined “Katie Ledecky<\/strong> Weighs in on George Floyd Tragedy: “Let’s Listen, Engage & Build”.<\/p>\n

The story reflected Ledecky’s anger, dismay, solidarity with teammates and call for change of the kind all must build together. The author of the article also noticed that Simone Manuel <\/strong>and Natalie Hinds<\/strong> had spoken out on the tragic events unfolding. He added a brief introductory line, along with the full social media posts of Manuel and Hinds. The headline and the image on the story included only Ledecky and it was pushed to social media, including the twitter handles of Ledecky and Manuel. There it sat for some time, picking up many shares and likes on social media.<\/p>\n

As such, Simone Manuel noted what she saw on twitter, a headline without her name in it and photo without her image in it.<\/p>\n

This is how she responded, her reaction triggering a spectrum of responses:<\/p>\n

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Article title should be: \u201cSimone Manuel, Natalie Hinds, and Katie Ledecky Weigh in…\u201d As someone who is SO SO SO mentally, emotionally, and physically directly affected by this racism, this is exactly what I\u2019m talking about! IM SOOOO TIRED! SO SO TIRED!!! https:\/\/t.co\/E61WzaBDSy<\/a><\/p>\n

— Simone Manuel (@swimone) May 31, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n