Whitesboro Teacher Says 'All Lives Matter' During Awards Ceremony

A Whitesboro English teacher is getting noticed on Twitter for his use of the phrase, "All Lives Matter" during a virtual senior awards ceremony. The controversial phrase has already led to the firing of one long-time NBA play-by-play.

A Twitter user known as "Mealz" posted a video excerpt from a virtual award ceremony held on June 10th, 2020. The tweet read, "Alright twitter, do your thing!! Here is Mr. Puckney, an English teacher at Whitesboro High School. This is him delivering a speech at a senior award ceremony on 6/10/2020. He concludes by saying 'remember, in whitesboro, all lives matter.'" "Mealz" then followed up with another tweet giving other users his email address, with the hopes they would bombard his inbox.

Longtime Sacramento Kings play-by-play announcer Grant Napear resigned from his role at the organization and from his daily sports talk show due to his comments on Twitter. Napear responded to a tweet from NBA star DeMarcus Cousins requesting comment on "Black Lives Matter." Napear responded saying, "Hey!!!! How are you? Thought you forgot about me," Napear responded. "Haven't heard from you in years. ALL LIVES MATTER...EVERY SINGLE ONE!!!"

In the wake of the unjustified and unfortunate death of George Floyd the issue of race relations has taken over the news cycle, the social media feeds, and conversations at dinner tables around the country. People critical of the use of the phrase "All Lives Matter" say those uttering the phrase are misunderstanding the meaning of "Black Lives Matter."

In a New York Times article titled Why 'All Lives Matter' Is Such a Perilous Phrase the organizer of the New York Chapter of Black Lives Matter, Allen Kwabena Frimpong, says "It's irresponsible." Frimpong uses the analogy, "You’re watering the house that’s not burning, but you’re choosing to leave the house that’s burning unattended."

Should the teacher have used that platform, at this moment in history to get that point across? Share your thoughts at andrew@wibx950.com. We reached out to Mr. Puckey and are awaiting his comments. Since the "Mealz" tweet on Thursday it has been retweeted and liked over 200 times.