Politics Vs. Truth
Tragic suicide of suburban football player provokes outrage, but are motivations misguided or justified?
(Photo Credit: Chicago Tribune)
Every movement, every campaign towards righting wrongs, have inflection points.
When wallpaper talking points become real. When a face is attached to a dirty little secret.
Over the last few days, we’ve hit an inflection point in #ReturnToPlay.
The optimism, the hopefulness, the youthful elation of what’s to be. We all know someone like Dylan Buckner.
On Jan. 7, Dylan Buckner, an 18-year-old senior at Glenbrook North High School, took his own life. Police reports say emergency crews responded to a 9-1-1 call from a ‘long fall off the balcony’ off a hotel in Deerfield. Buckner died of traumatic injuries from the fall, according to police.
The quarterback of the Spartans football team with multiple collegiate offers, Buckner appeared to be living a dream. Social media posts attached to his accounts are filled with photos and videos of him at collegiate camps, of workouts, of congratulations to teammates on their accomplishments.
These are all activities the leader of any team would want from a player captain, which Buckner was of the Spartans. Cursory glances at online profiles give no indication that Buckner was struggling with mental health.
But he was.
Buckner’s father, Chris, gave a statement to the news media upon his son’s death, saying that his son had been battling depression for a few years. But he expounded on that reveal, tweeting this out over the weekend:
As previously stated, Buckner admits to his son’s declining mental health. The above tweet doesn’t elaborate on how the country’s response to Covid could have been more ‘effective.’ But he is clear it stating how the existence of the virus contributed to his son’s death.
Chris Buckner’s tweet was part of a thread in response to an open letter written by Mike Donatucci.
Donatucci is a hall of fame Illinois high school football coach, with stops at Fremd and Hoffman Estates over almost a quarter century as a head coach. He is well known and respected amongst state coaches. Donatucci has had a Twitter account since April of 2017 but never used the social media platform before Saturday.
The letter, which Donatucci posted on Twitter Saturday, characterizes Dylan Buckner’s death as a ‘tragedy’ (which it is). Donatucci goes after Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker in the letter, essentially blaming the Illinois governor for Buckner’s death and writing how ‘JB you have blood on your hands.’
More in the letter from Donatucci:
JB your lack of foresight has created consequences. It’s your political overreach and power grab that has led to the circumstances that have led to feelings of isolation, anxiety, depression and yes…suicide among young people.
You give smug, well-rehearsed, overly emphatic press conferences that state the purpose of your lockdowns. “All we want to do is save lives.” How did that work out for Dylan?
The anger and frustration expressed by Donatucci is shared by many across the state. Readers of this newsletter know my feelings. Kids need to be in school and playing sports. We are far enough down the road with Covid to know any argument against #ReturnToLearn and #ReturnToPlay is fear-driven and data-vacant.
According to the Cook County Medical Examiner database, Buckner’s suicide is the first in the county in 2021 of anyone 18 and younger. All deaths by suicide of a young person in that age range is tragic, but when it happens to a suburban white kid (let’s just say it, OK?) with a 34 ACT, 4.7 GPA and an offer from MIT (amongst many others), it raises awareness not just of Dylan Buckner, but of the larger issue of mental health and suicide amongst teens. And that’s not a negative.
If someone called a friend over the weekend and talked them out of suicide, that’s one life saved. If one person saw a tweet about calling the suicide prevention hotline and that call kept them from taking their own life, that is an extraordinary event.
But I’m not willing to go as far as Donatucci. Yes, Pritzker is most responsible for unnecessary lockdowns in Illinois. He has repeatedly put political self-interests above the needs of the state, of the citizens whom regrettably elected him to office in 2018. But the issue of suicide is too thorny, too layered to say that one man has ‘blood on his hands’ as it pertains to Dylan Buckner’s death.
This is another tweet from Chris Buckner in response to Donatucci’s letter:
We hear from Chris Buckner how much sports meant to his son. We know from his comments that if we had a football season in 2020, Dylan Buckner would have played, his commitment to his training, his team, his future, overriding any potential risk to health and safety due to the virus.
This is a father speaking his truth about his son.
Last week, I wrote about the code of silence in Illinois. How if citizens want in-person school and sports, they need to demand it’s return. It doesn’t guarantee the desired outcome, but it’s the only way those directly impacted by lockdowns can affect change.
In the days since Dylan Buckner’s death, there has been a steady stream of litigants.
This tweet, from a teammate of Buckner’s named Drayton Charlton-Perrin, strikes a different tone:
Charlton-Perrin’s sentiment is shared by others about Buckner and raises an important question about how publicity around Buckner’s death is framed.
Is it appropriate to use this young man’s suicide as a talking point in #ReturnToPlay?
Friday, I dug up some notes of interviews I did with two of Buckner’s football coaches, Bob Pieper and Matt Purdy. Pieper and Purdy coached Buckner at Glenbrook North in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
Both coaches spoke of Buckner’s intelligence. They lauded his competitive spirit and ability to elevate those around him. They trusted Buckner, an essential dynamic between any coach and quarterback.
What they spoke then and since his death is nothing but the heartfelt truth.
His teammates at Glenbrook North have been equally straightforward in remembering Buckner.
No mention of Pritzker or IDPH. Just love and affection for ‘Buck.’
Catastrophes are often catalysts for monocultural debates in this country.
When there is a school shooting, the immediate aftermath is another round of debates about gun violence.
When hackers break into databases, we trot out experts to expound on the immorality of big data and concerns over privacy.
Once unfortunate events happen, global politicization is predictable. The internet spreads ideas like digital wildfire. The rapid and voluminous algorithms that feed social media escalates the reach of those ideas, some disastrously for our democracy. This incites another essential debate in 2021: What speech should be free and what should be censored?
Here’s one suggestion on a granular level—recognizing the difference between politicizing a topic and speaking one’s truth.
The truth is what is most needed right now.
If school and sports are to return, more people need to speak about why it matters to them. And what is being taken away when autocrats remove personal freedoms. Speak from the heart. Speak our truth.
I didn’t know Dylan Buckner. I do know from others he was a special young man gone from this earth much too soon.
When we speak of him, it’s probably best to speak not of what we want him to represent to us. That’s when intentions get murky.
I think it’s best to speak what we know to be true about Dylan Buckner. Of his kindness. His passion for competition, his charity of self.
In that truth therein lies power.