Today at 1:00 PM, a group of around 50 people gathered in front of Just Orthodontics in Manitowoc to listen to Jeff Just address a controversial photo that was taken of him.
Just was 45 minutes late to the meeting he set up, so Jay Meeks, the President of Lakeshore’s United Visionaries, led a conversation with the group, with Brennan Seehafer in attendance.
Meeks told the crowd, “I’m not here to judge anyone or recognize if they are a good or bad person. That’s not my job. After today whatever he (Brennan) or Jeff do, that is up to them…I’m moving forward.”
The photo in question showed Just, Seehafer, and two other men on a boat, with one of them holding what appears to be a noose. Just captioned the photo with “It really is a garage door pull,” referring to the Bubba Wallace NASCAR situation.
There was a lot of back and forth between those in attendance, with one woman voicing her desire to move forward. She said she was going to give Just the benefit of the doubt, but “Hopefully this will go somewhere.”
Another woman addressed the history of this country and the racism that has and continues to exist. “Certain things in history have allowed those pictures to be ok…That has to change to move forward.”
When Just did arrive, the rain began to come down, and he addressed the situation, specifically Seehafer’s involvement. He stated, “I feel terrible for Brennan Seehafer here. He’s had so much backlash over the last week, and the only thing he is really guilty of is being in the picture with me.”
As for how the picture came about, Just explained that he took several photos of the group pulling in the rope, and asked his wife to take a picture of the entire group. Just then told the crowd that he posted that picture, and added the caption. He said, “I posted it and obviously it was a terrible comment. I feel terrible about this.”
Members of the community continued to ask questions of Just, and as Meeks put it, “It’s up to him to decide how he wants to move forward.”
