Eventing Nation booted from covering Event in Unionville, PA

[Bearx2]

@Jealoushe

At the end of the day what’s more important? A name, or making POC feel welcome, safe and included.

if you pick name, then, you can’t see past your privilege.

The saddest part of this for me is seeing many UL eventers care not about inclusion but rather care more about their insanely elite sport and one event that might not happen again. Get the f over yourselves.

I honestly think the EN article would have carried more weight with me if they had actually talked to poc before they used their voice to criticize a major event. To me it’s a form of white privilege when a mainly white news organization decides what is offensive to poc without actually talking to them about it. Poc might have had other topics they would have rather seen discussed and might have had a better way to bring about a name change.

[Bearx2]

@RainWeasley

Wow, I’m a bit disappointed at some of the reactions to this.

I was chatting with a black girl in comments on a post about this. I asked her what she thought about all of this. You know what she said? "No one has ever asked me what my opinion is, you are the first one. Everyone just tells me what I should think about it " (paraphrasing slightly but almost word for word).

All of you saying no one was upset about the name, let that sink in. Just because you didn’t care, doesn’t mean no one else did. My first reaction was the same as yours, until I stopped and actually thought about it (and read the article, it so was not what people are saying it was).

Good for EN for standing up for this topic. Shame on the owner for just canceling the venue instead of trying to at least discuss it. That helps no one. Hopefully he comes back open for discussion after some time to cool off. Nothing said was an attack toward him or his family.

While I am sad that the event is going away I cannot say I blame the land owner for wanting no part in this. I did a quick google search and he seems to be a conservative lawyer who at one time was involved in republican politics. This is not the the type of guy who is going to want to be called racist on social media or risk protesters outside his home or business.

[Rnichols]

From what “the event” posted, it sounds like EN brought it up, USEA/USEF said they are no longer going to use the name in media and “the event” did a knee jerk reaction. I’m actually really disgusted by the whole thing. Remember when Rolex changed to Land Rover and everyone freaked out and then now we all just call it “Kentucky” anyway.

Like, the name of “the event” clearly offensive. And I’m going to go out there and say it I lost a LOT of respect for Boyd Martin today after his classless post about what the term means. Like there’s more to it besides the actual definition but okay. I actually lost a lot of respect for him when he posted the picture of Crackerjack basically having a rotational as his profile picture years ago so IDK why I’m even surprised by this.

I am honestly disgusted by the comments I’ve read on “the events” post and also on EN and from friends posts. I thought we were better than this. Apparently not.

[Rnichols]

@FitToBeTied

I thin EN has gone around the bend on the issue of racism/equality/social justice as, TBH, the Chronicle has as well. We seem to be a country that is looking to tie anything to racism and we have people looking to find their issue and it is more so they can say “look at me” rather than actually do something about the issue. Not using the name “Plantation Field” doesn’t do anything. I don’t know how EN approached Plantation Field about the issue but apparently from the Event’s reaction I would guess they did it in an obnoxious manner.

Quite frankly, seeing COTH, EN and others in the riding world getting up in arms seems laughable to me. Equestrian sports in the United States is the most minor of minor sports in the country. It doesn’t really matter who participates because its not going to change anything with regards to real racial discrimination issues.

That may be true, but as an avid NFL fan I can tell you that players and teams as a whole have done a “moment of silence” after the national anthem and people booed because of that. There’s people who have horrible things to say about the “end racism” painted behind the end zones, people have issues with what players have on their helmets and cleats…so, while equestrian sports may be the most “minor of minor” I can assure you this is a problem that exists in larger sports as well. It’s truly a problem within this country and I applaud EN for taking stance. It’s time for change. It’s BEEN time for change.

[LockeMeadows]

I’m not sure if anyone has pointed it out, but EN does not offer a very diverse staff. No POC. Literally it is run by white women. The USEA is not that diverse either. Perhaps since both are taking such a strong approach to promote inclusion, they can alter their demographics a bit? Always clean your own house before you tells others what is wrong with theirs.

[Xanthoria]

@LockeMeadows

I’m not sure if anyone has pointed it out, but EN does not offer a very diverse staff. No POC. Literally it is run by white women. The USEA is not that diverse either. Perhaps since both are taking such a strong approach to promote inclusion, they can alter their demographics a bit? Always clean your own house before you tells others what is wrong with theirs.

That’s a false dichotomy: it’s not either have a perfectly diverse workforce or you can’t take a stance against racism. A group doesn’t have to be perfectly diverse to be strong allies to other groups. In fact if we waited for all companies and groups to have flawless diversity before they did anything else we’d be effectively crushing forward progress in preventing racism. That could leave minority groups to do all the work in addressing these issues and that doesn’t feel very fair, does it?

[GPjumper]

A friend of mine who lives in PA (and identifies as BIPOC) gave me the best response I’ve heard yet.

 “Do you think your family will ever get over the pain of the Holocaust?”
 I know my answer. And I also know I would not want Holocaust connotations being used in the name of an event......

[cbsh13]

My thoughts on the whole “Plantation horse trial fiasco” in case anyone cares.

Let me preface by saying I am biracial but look white. My husband is a black man and my child is a beautiful brown little girl.

When I initially ready ENs report about asking Plantation HT to change its name or to be allowed to refer to it as something else, I honestly had a moment of “well that’s a bit ridiculous…”

Then I took a moment to think about it. And I asked my husband what he thought of the word “Plantation” and he said “It’s TERRIBLE”.

If we are trying to create a culture of inclusion and diversity in our sport we need to take a hard look in the mirror. I am married to a black man and my initial reaction was “eh Plantation not such a big deal.” But then I did some thinking and reflection and asked someone who it is a big deal to…and whom I care about. And then I changed my thought process.

It’s ok to have that inital gut reaction…but I implore you to look at why you’re having it. And then investigate the other side.

I have a brown child who wants to be involved in this sport. I want her to see other brown children and for them to all feel like they belong.

If changing the name of the event just allowed 1 person of color to feel more welcome then why wouldn’t we?

Just my thoughts…

[Darkwave]

So…I have no issue personally with changing the name - as said directly above, if it makes another person who felt excluded now feel welcome, then that’s reason enough. Language is living, and evolves, and making others feel more comfortable is a great reason to move that evolution along.

But… I have concerns with the way this was approached.

In horse sports, we have the principal of escalating the aids. You ask for the canter with your seat, then with your legs, and then with your whip if you still haven’t gotten the desired response.

As far as I can tell, Eventing Nation never contacted the land owner directly and privately to suggest the name change. Instead they went directly to USEA and USEF, and then published the op-ed. Metaphorically, they started with the spurs and whip, rather than first asking with the seat. Which makes this seem less like an honest effort at change and more like self-promotion on Eventing Nation’s part.

[enjoytheride]

@Jealoushe

At the end of the day what’s more important? A name, or making POC feel welcome, safe and included.

if you pick name, then, you can’t see past your privilege.

The saddest part of this for me is seeing many UL eventers care not about inclusion but rather care more about their insanely elite sport and one event that might not happen again. Get the f over yourselves.

Not a single one of my “black friends” care. If it were a vacation plantation where white people reminisced about the good ol days they would care. Honestly most of them don’t even know what eventing is. They care more about more black people being arrested and convicted, they care about crime in poor black neighborhoods, they care about police violence, they care about profiling, they care about real issues. They care about paying rent. I think that most of the EN staff wouldn’t set foot in an inner city neighborhood at night so deciding all of a sudden to care about the name of a HT that doesn’t have anything to do with slavery is ridiculous.

Instead of actually speaking to black eventers who’d actually heard of the venue they went directly to an aggressive op - ed.

I wonder how many of you that are glad this event is gone ever attended it, or currently event.

[FrittSkritt]

@Darkwave

As far as I can tell, Eventing Nation never contacted the land owner directly and privately to suggest the name change. Instead they went directly to USEA and USEF, and then published the op-ed. Metaphorically, they started with the spurs and whip, rather than first asking with the seat. Which makes this seem less like an honest effort at change and more like self-promotion on Eventing Nation’s part.

Maybe they did. (Honestly, no idea, just playing devil’s advocate.) And maybe they did, and the landowner along with the organizer were resistant to changing the name, so they went to the next level to ask for some support. If that’s the case, my guess is EN did not publicize the fact that the landowner/organizer were pushing back against a name change in hopes of keeping the peace (for the time being).

The FB thread is full of comments claiming EN called them racist. No, the letter from Denis inferred that the landowners felt they were being called racist because of the reasons listed in the article. They basically felt triggered by something that made them feel uncomfortable, which is typical of intolerant bigots. :lol:

Someone on the FB comment thread mentioned it would be prudent to change it to the Leni-Lenape name for the land in that area. (Forgot what it is, but it’s buried in there somewhere. ) FWIW, the local high school in Unionville voted 9-0 in favor of changing the name from “Indians” after 66 years…

[Bearx2]

@Xanthoria

That’s a false dichotomy: it’s not either have a perfectly diverse workforce or you can’t take a stance against racism. A group doesn’t have to be perfectly diverse to be strong allies to other groups. In fact if we waited for all companies and groups to have flawless diversity before they did anything else we’d be effectively crushing forward progress in preventing racism. That could leave minority groups to do all the work in addressing these issues and that doesn’t feel very fair, does it?

While I agree that we all should be doing our part to fight racism and that we must do it now I also think asking EN and USEA what steps they are taking to make a more inclusive workforce is fair. Both those organizations should be able to put themselves in a position to offer jobs or internships to Poc. To me it’s not that these two organizations are not perfectly diverse it that they are not diverse at all and asking what steps these groups are taking to correct that should be part of fighting racism and making our sport more diverse.

[Djones]

@Jealoushe

At the end of the day what’s more important? A name, or making POC feel welcome, safe and included.

if you pick name, then, you can’t see past your privilege.

The saddest part of this for me is seeing many UL eventers care not about inclusion but rather care more about their insanely elite sport and one event that might not happen again. Get the f over yourselves.

No, because the world is not that black and white. Life would be much simpler if it were that straightforward.

I don’t recall which poster offered that had the owner been approached more gently, and given time to consider the possibility of modifying the name, then in time they might have considered renaming it.

Life is not a movie, things don’t magically come together in one hour and 38 minutes, TADA, we fixed it, folks!

Remember what Obama said about cancel culture? Because I do, and it’s resonating loudly with me now.

[atl_hunter]

@Djones

Remember what Obama said about cancel culture? Because I do, and it’s resonating loudly with me now.

I had to look that up, but it’s always interesting to hear his perspective. Thank you for sharing.

What is interesting is that this took cancel culture a step further - EN attempted to “cancel” the name PF, so they pulled their trump card and canceled Eventing. I don’t agree with how EN went about this and agree with others who have mentioned that the optics of their actions make it look more like they were attempting to project wokeness and inclusion while ironically not actually including the venue. Perhaps their intentions to be inclusive were good, but their actions were ultimately exclusive. They may be an equestrian publication, but as equestrians they should know just as you can’t force a horse to do something, you also cannot force a person to do something - you always have to start by ASKING.

[trubandloki]

@Marigold

(that’s a pretty black-and-white fact that seems pointless to lie about)

Is that an acceptable phrase in a thread where the entire topic is - that word can mean something else?

Shouldn’t we come up with something else to say things are opposites?

Question from someone who is afraid to google it on their work computer - what does ‘woke’ and ‘wokeness’ mean?

[Jealoushe]

Disappointing that Doug Payne just shared this article that totally misses the mark https://www.thehorseofdelawarevalley.com/news/3270-plantation-field-eventing-doomed-because-of-usea-s-ridiculous-political-correctness-gone-overboard?fbclid=IwAR0ldijgawlaBeh3VcS27_VJT9D618R8FEYP7L-FztXnIM0POiSEprRpfi8

[Sticky_Situation]

This has to be the most 2020 thing that’s happened in the horse world this year.

[Jealoushe]

@enjoytheride

Not a single one of my “black friends” care. If it were a vacation plantation where white people reminisced about the good ol days they would care. Honestly most of them don’t even know what eventing is. They care more about more black people being arrested and convicted, they care about crime in poor black neighborhoods, they care about police violence, they care about profiling, they care about real issues. They care about paying rent. I think that most of the EN staff wouldn’t set foot in an inner city neighborhood at night so deciding all of a sudden to care about the name of a HT that doesn’t have anything to do with slavery is ridiculous.

Instead of actually speaking to black eventers who’d actually heard of the venue they went directly to an aggressive op - ed.
Moo
I wonder how many of you that are glad this event is gone ever attended it, or currently event.

Oh your black friends eh, that’s a typical response to bring up the fact you have black friends.

did you check out the Instagram of youngblackequestrians? Doubt you did because you would see plenty of black equestrians are hurt by this.

And well I have a black brother in law and I asked my sister and him last night and I will share you my sisters response via screen shot. They are not horsey.

my brother in law laughed for 5 minutes and said it was totally ridiculous and completely American white privilege for these people to not understand the connotation. He’s American btw.

I asked a friend who hasn’t heard of the event before and her reaction was the same.

just because YOU don’t see the problem doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

[RacetrackReject]

@seriously?

You have some research for this as well? You really think that the goal of Black people is to make money looting? They are unconcerned about years of systemic racism?

Sorry, I wasn’t able to attach the screenshots from my phone, but this is the stuff that Denis posts on his page.

[riderboy]

Well said…

https://www.thehorseofdelawarevalley…T7vhTfb177qpSE

Plantation Field Eventing doomed because of USEA’s ridiculous political correctness gone overboard