Guilt by association? What was his relationship with the players? Did they have any issues with the coach. One parent protesting takes down a person who has done nothing illegal or even threatening. Society should look for those that are actually guilty of doing something wrong before they complain. Heck, I could complain about anyone with a tattoo that I feel is offensive to me, but I don’t because tattoos are simply protected by the First Amendment. Free speech is not just verbal.
– John Chroniger
John Chroniger is writing here about our stories on James Carter, who was the girls basketball coach at Stuarts Draft High School for the past three years, and his Three Percenters tattoo.
To correct one thing that Chroniger wrote about the issue with the SDHS coaching job becoming open after the 2022-2023 season, “one parent protesting” didn’t end up taking down Carter, as Chroniger asserts here.
Carter addressed his departure in a Facebook post this week.
“I stepped away from coaching on my own accord, and I have my reasons why,” he wrote in the post.
So, no, Carter wasn’t taken down, forced out, anything of that nature.
Carter first came to our attention due to that prominent Three Percenters tattoo on his right forearm.
The Three Percenters are a loosely affiliated militia outfit that advocates armed resistance to the federal government. Members of Three Percenters groups have been involved in multiple threats aimed at federal authorities, state legislators and the plot to kidnap and kill Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Our follow-up story on Carter this week reported that the coaching job had quietly become open since our first report on him back in February. This only became public knowledge with a story in the News Leader on Monday announcing that the school had hired a new head coach, Chad Seibert, a former assistant coach at Bridgewater College and Mary Baldwin University.
Siebert takes over a program that went 4-18 in 2022-2023 under Carter, whose teams compiled a cumulative 70-71 record in his eight years as the head coach at Stuarts Draft, including a 22-7 mark in 2016-2017, when Carter led the team to a state tournament berth.
Carter defended the tattoo in the Facebook post with the claim that the Three Percenters symbol “represents the population that fought against tyranny during the Revolutionary War.”
That claim, which dramatically underestimates the number of American colonists who resisted British rule, is commonly touted by those who advance the Three Percenters ideology to argue that the U.S. government is tyrannical, and that those among the modern-day Three Percent are needed to stand up and resist that tyranny.
“I am 100% true to the core, red, white, and blue blooded AMERICAN, PATRIOT!!!” Carter wrote in his Facebook post. “I love this great country and I honor and respect those that gave all and those that came home and those that serve this nation!! I am a firm believer in our CONSTITUTION!!”
That Carter was free to be able to post his thoughts on the matter on Facebook is our indication here that the Constitution is alive and well.
And hey, Mr. Chroniger, that First Amendment that protects Mr. Carter’s right to a Three Percenters tattoo also protects the right of the parent who first raised this issue to be able to complain.
Neat, huh, how free speech works for everybody, not just those with whom you agree.
Share
Chris Graham
