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Former Indianapolis Colts lineman and WFNI-1070 The Fan radio co-host Joe Staysniak told his listeners Wednesday morning that black people need to say 'I'm going to stop being a victim.'
To do so, 'Well, you know, get an education, you know, get a second job,' he said.
Listen to Trackside with Curt Cavin and Kevin Lee podcast by 1070 The Fan, Indianapolis. More than 1 million podcasts online for free on mytuner-radio.com.
Staysniak and his co-host, Jeff Rickard, were discussing the protests in Indianapolis and across America that were prompted by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died last month after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, pressed his knee to Floyd's neck for almost nine minutes while Floyd lay handcuffed facedown.
As they discussed jobs, Rickard told Staysniak that in some cases work isn't available for everyone.
'It is available if you want to find it. It’s available if you are wiling to work for it,' Staysniak said. 'Nothing is going to be handed to you.'
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Attempts late Wednesday night by IndyStar to reach Emmis Communications for comment were unsuccessful. After IndyStar published the story, the podcast was removed from the station's website.
On the show Thursday morning, Staysniak talked about his comments the day before.
'What I do here every day comes from the heart. What I do here every day is meant to help not hurt,' he said. 'What I do here every day is maybe bring you a little different perspective. And this is maybe the most important part. I don’t think of myself as being a divider or anything like that. I obviously don’t think of myself as ignorant although I throw the word around a lot. And some listeners yesterday threw it right back at me as far as how ignorant I am to certain things and that's fair.'
'It's hurtful, man'
As Staysniak discussed Floyd's death Wednesday, he said the incident and others involving police officers and African Americans aren't a black-white issue. It is an issue with leadership, he said, and who is elected to office.
'My dad used to tell me one thing,' said Staysniak, whose dad and brother have been police officers. 'Don’t put yourself in a situation where police are called.'
That prompted Rickard to speak out: 'But some of them don’t feel like they were in a situation where they felt like they were doing anything wrong.'
Rickard went on to talk about a statistic he read that said a black driver is six times more likely to get pulled over than a white driver in some parts of Indiana.
'OK and then you have to look at why,' Staysniak said. 'Is that racism or is that the time of day? Is that the car they’re driving? Are lights out? Are turn signals working?'
'Six times, Joe,' Rickard said.
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'It comes down to a cultural thing too,' Staysniak said. 'Are we putting ourselves in a situation where we don’t need to be? Again, when we have multiracial police officers...cell phones out...it just becomes harder and harder to believe you are being targeted like that.'
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Rickard told Staysniak that many black friends say they feel like they get pulled over simply because of their race.
'I can’t think of a single one (of my African American friends) that ever said he's been targeted, just been pulled over because he’s black,' Staysniak said. 'I’m not saying it doesn’t happen. I'm just saying it depends on who you talk to.'
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Minutes later, a police officer called in and said he agreed with Staysniak.Next, a black caller said he was outraged by Staysniak's beliefs.
'I just wanted to say… just from a perspective of a black man, Joe, what you’re saying it’s hurtful man. It really is,' he said. 'You are completely tone deaf. We are telling you what’s happening with our experience and you are giving every single excuse under the sun as to not to see it.'
Staysniak responded: 'You're denying anything. You're denying responsibility, denying anything that could be on your part that has to go toward making this better.'
The caller said some blacks are poor and uneducated.
'So you hate a police officer, you’re afraid of a police officer because of that?' Staysniak asked him. 'At some point you have to stand up and you have to say 'I'm going to stop being a victim' and say 'This isn’t going to happen to me anymore.'
Throughout the show, Rickard continued to counter Staysniak's comments.
'The African American community feels that they have been unfairly targeted... feels like it’s been going on a long time,' he said. 'They feel it's an extension of systemic racism and they want to be heard and I think it’s time we listen to them.'
Grady's take
Staysniak's former co-host Michael Grady, who is black, was a guest on the show Thursday morning. While he didn't address specifically what Staysniak said Wednesday, Grady did discuss at length his thoughts on the racial tension in America.
'It's really important that we come together. It's important that we are careful with our words,' said Grady, now with the YES Network in New York. 'It is important that we listen. It's important we have uncomfortable conversations.'
© Joe Vitti/IndyStar Michael Grady is now with the YES Network in New York.There are far too many George Floyds and examples of that where lives have been taken away, Grady said.
'Listen there are a lot of people hurting,' he said. 'I want you and I want everyone who doesn’t have a full understanding to make an effort to understand why.'
Staysniak mentioned how he and Grady had discussions on the air as co-hosts and walked 'arm-in-arm' to figure it out when they disagreed. Grady said he was encouraged by the support he's seeing all across the country.
'There are a lot of mixed emotions with everything. It’s warming my heart to see so many people coming together for this cause,' said Grady. 'And there are a lot of people who are tired... saying 'Enough is enough and something needs to be done about it and something needs to be done about it now.'
Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com.
C’mon Big Joe🤦🏾♂️. This shows just how out of touch you are. This is how you turn away listeners. Be careful @1075thefan. @MorningShow1075
— Bobby_Mack_II (@CampJefferson) June 3, 2020@1075thefan#BIGJOE I’ve asked it a dozen times: Why do you let him talk? Not saying his points on racism aren’t food for thought, but he is ranting and too emotional. He needs to pull it in a notch. He’s too stuck in his ways and only sees things through his desired narrative.
— Greg (@GLouisChez) June 3, 2020@1075thefan big Joe was really hard to listen to this morning. He's incredibly tone deaf. You have some pretty insensitive hosts right now.
— teddyj_2 (@blarkermann) June 4, 2020@1075thefan Cut Joe’s mic off. It’s pointless listening to him. He’s more interested in talking about spewing his views rather than listen to what’s really going on. Take some of Jeff’s cues to choose a different outlook. @CampJefferson I’m with you bro. I’ll tune in @ 3p.
— T.D (@TDarby1) June 3, 2020This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Comments by ex-Colts lineman, 1070 The Fan radio host Joe Staysniak 'hurtful' to some black listeners