Keenan Montgomery reflects on being a young black in Wyoming

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MrTitleist
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Interesting stuff..
http://wyomingpublicmedia.org/post/keen ... -wyoming-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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WYO1016
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Very well said, and a sad reminder of how far we have to go. It saddens me that this happens to anyone, especially out here in the Equality State.
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fromolwyoming
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WYO1016 wrote:Very well said, and a sad reminder of how far we have to go. It saddens me that this happens to anyone, especially out here in the Equality State.
Ditto. Makes me want to threaten those douchebags who hung a noose out of their window at him. Smack those little f-word.
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pokefanchaz7
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I think the saddest part is that I think it's a vocal minority. I know I would never and nobody in my circle of friends would hang a noose out a window at a black man. (Who the hell carries a noose around in there truck btw)
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Aaron
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Techers I imagine
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MrTitleist
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Definitely low-educated folks are the ones keeping this kind of behavior alive. I would say the majority doesn't care one way or the other, but when you pull a boy out of the trailer park and hardly educate him, well, things like this happen.
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PokeOLoco
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Anybody remember when Jeff Lark complained about Laramie and we all gave him poop including me as someone we figured was just upset because he was buried on the depth chart? Well lark was in the car with Montgomery when that happened, so if that's what set him off then I say all is forgiven. What an embarrassment, I hope it was techers. I never knew anyone that would do that but who knows.
“Being around Colorado State, I saw that football wasn’t really a big sport there," Parker said Sunday night.
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wyocowboy2014
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Aaron wrote:Techers I imagine
it's not just techers
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PokeOLoco
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Makes me want to round up an old fashioned posse.
“Being around Colorado State, I saw that football wasn’t really a big sport there," Parker said Sunday night.
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fromolwyoming
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LasCrucesPoke wrote:Makes me want to round up an old fashioned posse.
Interesting little note on that, Laramie actually does have a history of rounding up a posse and lynching criminals when they wouldn't put up with those criminal's poop.
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Keenan Montgomery's piece was very impressive. Very articulate, and strong stuff he spoke of.

With that said, it sucks that there is racism, and what he said about waking up and quit trying to be colorblind and be open to the colorful was an interesting thing.
I wouldn't be surprised if this got more publicity in the next few weeks. It was just, really good.
If you ever need to laugh, just remember there was some idiot who wanted Bohl fired after 2 seasons.
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this doesn't surprise me at all.. being a gay male, and not a very "flamboyant" one at that, I still received my fair share of rude words and threats in my short time in Laramie. I came to UWyo, from a pretty cultural diverse area in eastern PA, having a slight idea of what I could end up getting into, in terms of "hate." We all know the story of what happened in the late 90s. The couple stories I could share, are a bit shocking, but I wasn't surprised to have gone through them. A couple of them involved were Techers and a bunch of UWyo students.

It's not just Laramie though. Its all over the country and world. Racism will always be around, along with the deed and homophobia. There are always going to be those who don't like people who are "different." It's just going to be more noticeable in areas with lower population and a less diverse community. Rather sad and disturbing, but its the truth.

I still plan on moving back into Laramie or Cheyenne. A lot of people are just idiots.
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The Virginian
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fromolwyoming wrote:
LasCrucesPoke wrote:Makes me want to round up an old fashioned posse.
Interesting little note on that, Laramie actually does have a history of rounding up a posse and lynching criminals when they wouldn't put up with those criminal's poop.
Here's a page about vigilante actions in Laramie: Click Here
This post submitted anonymously by Jeff Fry aka DCPoke
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PokeOLoco
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Trust me that comment was made with historical context in mind : ) , those guys are just lucky nobody took down their license plate number. That being said I respect Jeff and Keenan for exercising more restraint than I ever could.
“Being around Colorado State, I saw that football wasn’t really a big sport there," Parker said Sunday night.
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PokeOLoco
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And you're absolutely right that this could happen anywhere, I'm just sick of poop people making a bad name for such a wonderful place. As a country we have a long ways to go but we have progressed.
“Being around Colorado State, I saw that football wasn’t really a big sport there," Parker said Sunday night.
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The Virginian wrote:
fromolwyoming wrote:
LasCrucesPoke wrote:Makes me want to round up an old fashioned posse.
Interesting little note on that, Laramie actually does have a history of rounding up a posse and lynching criminals when they wouldn't put up with those criminal's poop.
Here's a page about vigilante actions in Laramie: Click Here
Laramie's "Hell On Wheels" past is pretty fascinating stuff. Bit of Gangs of New York on the frontier. I've spent quite a bit of time digging into it, including hearing some interesting oral history accounts from several, since-passed Laramie natives including T.A. Larson.

The article isn't quite accurate as to where the Moyer Gang was hanged- it was actually an unfinished cabin just south of what is now Kearney along what would become Third Street. Steve Long was discovered hiding in a UP building a few hours later and was subsequently strung up. All of them were actually strangled to death, hauled up by their necks, not dropped to the end of the rope.

Prior to the events of October, vigilantes had lynched an associate of the gang now known only as "The Kid" right behind what is now Dodds Shoe Company for the robbery and murder of a miner near Dale Creek. Moyer was suspected of running a pretty wide-ranging organization (he was also, at the time, not a self-appointed marshal, but the mayor) that was involved with claim-jumping, armed robbery, livestock theft, and the robbery and murders of numerous customers of his saloon. Anyway, Moyer and his minions doubled down on their activities for the rest of the Summer and into October. It was the robbery and murder of a tie-hack in the Laramies between Laramie and Cheyenne that supposedly triggered the October vigilantes, who met and organized in the Tivoli Beer Hall (where Elmer Lovejoy's now sits) the week before the mob action. That's kind of the accepted historical version based on records. However, there's some things that don't add up...

Several of the old-timers I spoke to said there was heavy speculation that there was someone behind Moyer and some other local outlaws who were run out of town, but subsequently lynched in Colorado within about a year of the events of '68. For one thing- there's some uncertainty as to Steve Long's loyalty to Moyer. He was serving as an assistant marshal prior to Moyer's pseudo-legitimate elevation to Mayor (there are several references to an election he supposedly won). There was also the matter of a rather strange episode in which Long, supposedly wounded during the robbery and murder of the tie-hack in October, sought refuge with a local "friendly ladies" and confessed his crime to her, and her supposed attempt to turn him in to Nathan Boswell, who was one of the leaders of the vigilance committee (and would go on to be one of the most feared lawmen in the territory and state). There was also the matter of someone firing a shot early that gave warning to the people the mob was after. It wasn't just Moyer's saloon that was to be raided- there were around ten teams of approximately twenty men each that were to raid various locations. The shot that was prematurely fired resulted in many of the other Hell-On-Wheels denizens that had hung on in Laramie to clamber aboard a couple of UP flat cars and were subsequently hauled down the tracks. Moyer and his gang were actually trapped in their saloon after trying to hole up and return fire to the crowd that swelled to around a hundred after the other teams gave up on their assignments. Now here's where it gets really interesting- Boswell and most of his main guys, once Moyer and the other two were hanged, headed up into the area between Tie Siding and the old town of Sherman (roughly where Ames Monument now is) looking for Long. By several accounts, Boswell was looking to take Long into protective custody. It was while Boswell was up there that someone found Long in the UP building in the railyard near University Avenue. Some of the men Boswell had left in Laramie acted like Boswell and tried to take him into custody and away from the mob, but when the mob began to turn on them, they surrendered him and he was hanged just to the south of the old UP Railroad Hotel that stood on the west side of First (Front) Street roughly between Ivinson and University. When Boswell got back to town early the following afternoon he was very dismayed at what had happened to Long. In short order, however, with no real competition or objection, Boswell was appointed town marshal and was elected county Sheriff, and he pursued the matter no further.

The questions that were raised by Larson, et al, were- who was Moyer and the gang selling their stolen livestock to? Where did many of the deeds they stole pass to before they wound up recorded to people other than Moyer or his people? Who fired the premature shot? If Boswell (and others) did, indeed intend to take Long into custody (as opposed to hanging him the same as Moyer and the others), why? There was some pretty serious speculation that one of the now-respected, and perhaps even revered town fathers or UP bosses had benefited greatly from Moyer, et al's activities, and that Long's lynching was to silence the last person who knew about this connection.

Any way, that's the short version of things. For some good reading on these events and others, I recommend The Front Streets of Laramie and Saints and Sinners, both by Gladys Beery, and Boswell: the Story of a Frontier Lawman, by Mary Lou Pence.
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I had always hoped for a movie portrayal of some of this stuff. The Young Guns movies were some of my favorite remade portrayal of historical events. They weren't always extremely accurate but I think the content of the time frame would make for a great movie.
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alyssa
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It's a bad thing. I don't like that it happened to him. I can tell that KM is very young through his words. ETC.
I experience racism every day. It has happened all my life. It's every day and sometimes I ignore it and other times I can't ignore it.

If I were talking to him I would ask him some questions to test him and see what he does or says that is racist ETC. to others.
For example, if he has ever used the "R" word, the Washington "mascot" name, then that is racist to many peoples.

I'd like to say a lot more but....
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DocHolliday
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Stop grandstanding, Keenan. Racism abounds in all walks with all people and with all colors.

If you don't like Wyoming or Laramie nobody is forcing you to stay.

I don't apologize.
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Stop grandstanding, Keenan. Racism abounds in all walks with all people and with all colors.

If you don't like Wyoming or Laramie nobody is forcing you to stay.

I don't apologize.
Somebody asked you to apologize? (If you have a point, I wish you'd make it.)
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