Florida continues to find a way to mess up this whole race-relations thing. This week it's Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott, who is calling out Florida Gulf Coast University President Wilson Bradshaw.
Lee's issue? Students at FGCU who have booked Kendrick Lamar and Ludacris to perform at their annual student concert, known as Eaglepalooza. In a series of emails obtained by Fort Myers' News-Press, Scott takes Bradshaw to task for allowing his students to give Lamar and Ludacris an opportunity to perform, especially because, Scott says, Bradshaw is black.
In a series of emails The News-Press obtained through public records requests, Scott challenges President Wilson Bradshaw to overrule a student group's decision to bring the nationally known rappers to Southwest Florida.
"I am amazed that a black university president would sanction such a disgrace; especially during the 50th anniversary of Dr. King's speech," Scott wrote to his senior staffers.
Scott sent a similar message directly to Bradshaw: "I can't for the life of me begin to imagine why a black university president would sanction such vile content."
Instead of treating these emails like the spam that they are, Bradshaw respectfully replied to Scott.
Bradshaw, who was raised in the segregated South, declined to comment Wednesday on issues related to race. He did, however, respond to Scott via email.
"As a university president — black or white — periodically there are expressed views related to students and faculty that the president doesn't personally or professionally sanction or share," Bradshaw wrote. "In this case, our students indicated a strong interest in inviting these performers to Eaglepalooza, and our staff assures me they are doing everything possible to ensure a safe and enjoyable event for the attendees."
The show is scheduled for Nov. 24 at JetBlue Park.
Read more at the News-Press.
Jozen Cummings is the author and creator of the popular relationship blog Until I Get Married, which is currently in development for a television series with Warner Bros. He also hosts a weekly podcast with WNYC about Empire called Empire Afterparty, is a contributor at VerySmartBrothas.com and works at Twitter as an editorial curator. Follow him on Twitter.