Bethel School District Investigates Wrestling Coach’s George Floyd Post: ‘Not Dead Yet. This Is For All The Race Baiters’’

Racism is not inherited; it’s passed down, which is why we should be mindful of who we allow in certain positions, especially positions that require teaching children; the future of America.

We are living in a time where it’s no longer up to black citizens to fight for justice. We ask that white Americans also break their silence in support of the injustice that continuously takes place.

Bethel School District in Washington State is investigating a social media post by first-year Washington High School wrestling coach, Dave Hollenbeck. The social media post shows a picture of Hollenbeck with a knee pressed on the back of his neck, with a  caption that reads:

“Not dead yet I’m doing this for Are police officers the media is a race-baiting machine, and I’m tired of it I’m going to speak out every time if you don’t like that I’m sorry, but I love All people…Wake up, America.”

The post is in response to the Minneapolis police officer who was filmed pinning his knee on George Floyd’s neck, while handcuffed and telling the officer he couldn’t breathe. Floyd later died. All four officers who responded have been fired.

Local Seattle news KOMO spoke to Hollenbeck on Wednesday regarding his controversial Facebook post, and he admitted it was insensitive.

“I’m not a racist man,” Hollenbeck proclaimed. “I don’t have that in me, my children don’t have that in them, I didn’t instill that in them. I’m sorry that I offended anybody, that was not my point. I was trying to show something.” What the coach was defending was the technique used by the police officer to pin down Floyd.

“I have a specialty in fighting on the ground, and I know that just putting your knee on the back to me, I would say that’s not going to lead to death,” said Hollenbeck. “Now, did he have other underlying issues?” It looks like Hollenbeck’s pictures show the knee kneeling more on his back than Floyd’s video, which shows the knee digging into his neck.

Hollenbeck’s post has since been deleted from his page, reports local news Kiro7. He told reporters that he was not trying to divide an already fractured world. “The picture was not intended to be racist.”

But the damage has been done; his post has already caught media attention as well as parents in the school district who feel it was unacceptable and outrageous.

“There is no reasonable rationale for him to post anything like that,” said Jay Davenport, one of the district parents, who is also a youth sports coach, stated. “It’s about humanity, it’s about integrity; that post lacks both.”

“You have young impressionable lives that you’re mentoring, and you’re making stuff like this?’ said Davenport. “I have no tolerance for that.”

School district leaders announced an investigation is underway. However, Hollenbeck has not been terminated even though some parents are calling for the coach to be fired.

“We are investigating the post,” Bethel School District spokesperson Doug Boyles said in an email to KIRO 7. “Dave Hollenbeck is not a teacher. This was his first year as a wrestling coach at Bethel High School. As wrestling season is over, he is not working for us right now.” The district declined an on-camera interview with KIRO7 on Wednesday.

“When this happened, I was completely blown,” said George-Jean Edwards, a parent who has two daughters in the district. “Disbelief and really quite frankly sick to know that someone that people trust with their kids was speaking and interpreting such a horrifying situation in the manner that he did….The picture and the caption attached to the picture definitely exuded racial tendencies. I don’t think you can come back from that.”