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Stop Asking Black Student Athletes to Fix America’s DEI Mess

THE AFRO — There is no definitive answer to this dilemma. If student-athletes covet their individual earnings and opportunities more than the collective justice for the silent, minoritized, and marginalized communities lacking the power to speak up for themselves, then the conversation about risk doesn’t matter.
The post Stop Asking Black Student Athletes to Fix America’s DEI Mess first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

Published

6 months ago

June 10, 2024

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By John Celestand | Word in Black | The AFRO

John Celestand is the program director of the Knight x LMA BloomLab, a $3.2 million initiative that supports the advancement and sustainability of local Black-owned news publications. He is a former freelance sports broadcaster and writer who covered the NBA and college basketball for multiple networks such as ESPN Regional Television, SNY, and Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia. John was a member of the 2000 Los Angeles Lakers NBA Championship Team, playing alongside the late great Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. He currently resides in Silver Spring, Maryland, with his wife and son. Credit: Courtesy photo

Back in early March, in a statement released on social media, legendary Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith blasted his alma mater, the University of Florida, for eliminating its diversity, equity, and inclusion program. Smith warned minority athletes at Florida to “please be aware and vocal” about the decision the university was making, which in essence meant closing the doors on students of color.

A few days later, NAACP president and CEO Derrick Johnson asked “current and prospective” student-athletes to “reconsider any potential decision to attend, and compete at a predominantly white institution in the state of Florida.” He pointed out that “these institutions reap considerable financial benefits from the very individuals they fail to stand by in matters of diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

So, should Black athletes refuse to attend schools that defund DEI?

After all, today’s athletes command major coin when it comes to NIL (name, image, and likeness) dollars. Their ability to enter the portal and transfer to other universities without repercussion could, if leveraged correctly, have a tremendous influence on how universities handle DEI.

The question came up again this week for me after news broke that the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, plans to divert the school’s entire $2.3M DEI budget toward public safety and policing.

Basically, UNC “said that the opposite of funding DEI programming is funding police,” writer, researcher, and Harvard Kennedy fellow Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman wrote on X this week.

North Carolina brought in nearly $123 million in revenue from athletics in 2022. If every Black athlete at the school refused to play until the DEI budget was restored, that would undoubtedly put pressure on the school.

But even though today’s college athletes are in a prime position to effect change around DEI at universities because of their platforms, power, and heavy influence, is this really their responsibility?

Who should stand up for DEI?

“I don’t think it is their responsibility” says Leashia Lewis, assistant athletic director for diversity equity and inclusion at Villanova University.“They have an opportunity to use their platform and voices to make change, but it is also the responsibility of athletic departments to support them in doing that. My question would be, are athletic departments willing to or in a position to support student-athletes when they have something to say or want to fight for change?”

There’s also the reality that Black athletes of the past were fighting for basic civil rights, which made it easier to think from a collective standpoint.

“The risk of being a social justice activist and using your platform is different now. Many student-athletes are not willing to take the risk,” Lewis says.

“The risk is playing time, reputation, belief that your coach may see you as an outcast —, especially if you are not the superstar. There is also their personal branding and NIL deals they may not want to risk. Especially for football and basketball players who have the highest platforms. Some of them are not prepared to take that risk.”

How did we get here?

The murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, opened a floodgate of pledges to support DEI across corporate America and beyond. Companies and universities jostled to be first in line to beat their chests and voice their support and commitment to increasing opportunities to hire, accept, and retain people from underrepresented, underprivileged, and less advantaged communities.

I was always skeptical. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. And now it has — falling harder than Humpty Dumpty ever did.

In 2023, Florida, under the leadership of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, became one of the first states to enact a law restricting DEI efforts. It banned the state’s public universities from spending money on DEI initiatives and placed restrictions on how educators could discuss discrimination in mandatory courses. Texas, North Carolina, and North Dakota passed similar bills later in the year. So far in 2024, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and Alabama have passed bills that are set to go into effect July 1.

The University of Texas and Alabama are both ranked in the top five of the AP Top 25 College Football Poll. According to USA Today’s tracking, in 2022, these schools brought in over $239 million and $214 million, respectively.

Translation: Athletes most definitely have some pull.

Athletes have always been on the frontlines.

Athletes and college students have almost always been on the frontline of change. Many professional athletes, such as Muhammad Ali, Bill Russell, Jim Brown, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Colin Kaepernick, Tommie Smith, and John Carlos, took stances but also sacrificed their personal lives and careers.

“Historically, athletes have used their platforms to speak for justice or to make change and bring attention to injustices that are in our society,” Lewis says.

“Much of the DEI work in athletics right now has existed as a result of athletes speaking up in response to Colin Kaepernick in 2017 taking a knee and also in response to George Floyd being murdered,” she says.

As everyone knows, though, Kaepernick’s football career was destroyed by his decision to protest.

Is this what we are expecting of today’s college athletes?

What if they are prepared to take that risk?

“Right now, the climate in college athletics across the country in terms of DEI is not as active as it was in 2020,” Lewis says. “There are other things taking priority now like NIL, the transfer portal, unionizing the student-athlete, and having them be considered employees for the institution.”

There is no definitive answer to this dilemma. If student-athletes covet their individual earnings and opportunities more than the collective justice for the silent, minoritized, and marginalized communities lacking the power to speak up for themselves, then the conversation about risk doesn’t matter.

And riddle me this: What would I have done back when I was a student-athlete in the late 1990s if I had a million-dollar NIL deal on the table?

Would I have sacrificed for the collective? If that were the case, then should I have even been asked to?

Lewis doesn’t believe so.

“My call to action is to the ecosystem around them,” she says. “Why do they (athletes) have to risk everything for justice when we’ve talked so much about supporting the whole athlete and that we need to give them everything they need to perform? So, in a sense, this is a performance, and we need to give them everything they need to succeed.”

This article was originally published by Word in Black.

The post Stop Asking Black Student Athletes to Fix America’s DEI Mess first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

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PRESS ROOM: Clyburn, Pressley, Scanlon, Colleagues Urge Biden to Use Clemency Power to Address Mass Incarceration Before Leaving Office

NNPA NEWSWIRE — Mass incarceration remains a persistent, systemic injustice that erodes the soul of America. Our nation has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with nearly two million people locked in jails and prisons throughout the country.

Published

2 days ago

November 21, 2024

Oakland Post

Read the letter here.

Watch the press conference here.

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman James E. Clyburn (SC-06), Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), and Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05) led 60 of their colleagues in sending a letter to President Biden urging him to use his executive clemency power in the final months of his presidency to reunite families, address longstanding injustices in our legal system, and set our nation on the path toward ending mass incarceration.

The lawmakers hosted a press conference earlier today to discuss the letter. A full video of their press conference is available here and photos are available here.

“Now is the time to use your clemency authority to rectify unjust and unnecessary criminal laws passed by Congress and draconian sentences given by judges,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter. “The grant of pardons and commutations and the restoration of rights will undoubtedly send a powerful message across the country in support of fundamental fairness and furthering meaningful criminal justice reform.”

Mass incarceration remains a persistent, systemic injustice that erodes the soul of America. Our nation has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with nearly two million people locked in jails and prisons throughout the country. The extreme use of incarceration has resulted in one in two adults having had an incarcerated family member. People of color are disproportionately put behind bars, along with individuals from low-income communities, LGBTQIA+ folks, and those with disabilities. The bloated prison system reflects and emboldens biases that undermine the ideals of our nation and diminish trust in the rule of law. Mass incarceration attacks the most vulnerable Americans, thereby destabilizing families and inflicting intergenerational trauma.

In their letter to President Biden, the lawmakers praised the President’s efforts to create a fair and just criminal legal system by pardoning people convicted of simple marijuana possession and LGBTQ+ former servicemembers and urged the President to use his clemency powers to help broad classes of people and cases, including the elderly and chronically ill, those on death row, people with unjustified sentencing disparities, and women who were punished for defending themselves against their abusers. The lawmakers also outlined the fiscal toll of the growing mass incarceration crisis.

“You have the support of millions of people across the country who have felt the harms of mass incarceration: young children longing to hug their grandparents, people who have taken responsibility for their mistakes, and those who simply were never given a fair chance,” the lawmakers wrote. “These are the people seeking help that only you can provide through the use of your presidential clemency power.”

Joining Representatives Clyburn, Pressley, and Scanlon in sending the letter are Representatives Joyce Beatty, Sanford Bishop, Shontel Brown, Cori Bush, André Carson, Troy Carter, Yvette Clarke, Jasmine Crockett, Valerie Foushee, Al Green, Jahana Hayes, Steven Horsford, Jonathan Jackson, Pramila Jayapal, Henry Johnson, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Robin Kelly, Summer Lee, Jennifer McClellan, Gregory Meeks, Delia Ramirez, Jan Schakowsky, Robert Scott, Terri Sewell, Marilyn Strickland, Bennie Thompson, Rashida Tlaib, and Bonnie Watson Coleman.

The lawmakers’ letter is supported by the American Civil Liberties Union; Center for Popular Democracy; Last Prisoner Project; Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; Death Penalty Action; The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls; The Faith Leaders of Color Coalition; Second Chance Justice of MCAN; JustLeadershipUSA; FAMM; The Episcopal Church; The Bambi Fund; Free Billie Allen Campaign; People’s Coalition for Safety and Freedom; Prophetic Resistance Boston; and Families Against Mandatory Minimums.

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Tennessee State University Set to Debut the First Division I Hockey Team at An HBCU

THE AFRO — “I am incredibly excited to embark on building this program, supported by God, my family, TSU students, alumni, and all those eagerly awaiting this moment,” said Duanté Abercrombie, the head coach of the Tennessee State Tigers ice hockey team, in a press release courtesy of TSU Athletics. “I firmly believe that one day, TSU will be recognized not only as a powerhouse on the ice but also as a program whose student-athletes leave a profound legacy on the world, enriched by the lessons learned at TSU.”

Published

2 days ago

November 21, 2024

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By Mekhi Abbott
Special to the AFRO
mabbott@afro.com

Tennessee State University (TSU) continues to break ground on a historic journey to become the first historically Black college or university (HBCU) to field a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I ice hockey team. Alongside some assistance from the National Hockey League (NHL), the NHL Players’ Association and the Nashville Predators, the TSU Tigers have already named their official head coach, unveiled their jersey and received their first official commitment from a student-athlete.

TSU held an official press conference to announce the plan in June 2023. Their first official season as a sanctioned Division I program is planned to commence in 2025-26. On April 18, TSU named Duanté Abercrombie as the head coach of the Tennessee State Tigers ice hockey team.

“I am incredibly excited to embark on building this program, supported by God, my family, TSU students, alumni, and all those eagerly awaiting this moment,” said Abercrombie in a press release courtesy of TSU Athletics. “I firmly believe that one day, TSU will be recognized not only as a powerhouse on the ice but also as a program whose student-athletes leave a profound legacy on the world, enriched by the lessons learned at TSU.”

Abercrombie was raised in Washington, D.C., and was mentored by hockey legend Neal Henderson, the first Black man to be inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame. Abercrombie attended Gonzaga College High School and graduated from Hampton University, where he was a track and field athlete prior to retiring due to an injury. After college, Abercrombie briefly played professional hockey in both the New Zealand Ice Hockey League as well as the Federal Hockey League.

After his career as a professional hockey player, Abercrombie moved onto coaching, including stints with his alma mater Gonzaga and Georgetown Preparatory School. In 2022-23, Abercrombie was a member of the coaching staff for NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs organization.

“We are no longer doing club play in 2024-25. We are going right into D1 play for 2025-26,” Nick Guerriero told the AFRO. Guerriero is the assistant athletic director of communications and creative content at Tennessee State.

On Jan. 19, TSU got their first official commitment from an ice hockey recruit, Xavier Abel. Abel played at Drury University and scored 12 goals in 34 games, including three game-winning goals. Abel was recruited by Guerriero.

In July, the Tigers got their second commitment from forward Trey Fechko. In October, Trey’s brother Marcus Fechko also committed to Tennessee State. Since, the Tigers have also signed forward Greye Rampton, goaltender Johnny Hicks, Grady Hoffman and four-star forward Bowden Singleton. Singleton flipped his commitment from North Dakota to Tennessee State. Guerriero said that TSU has a “few” other recruits that they are waiting to announce during their November signing period.

“I think it’s important to invest in these unorthodox sports for Black athletes because it allows Black children to have more opportunities to play sports in general,” said Zion Williams, a 2024 Gettysburg College graduate and former collegiate athlete. “The more opportunities that children have, the better. They won’t feel like they are boxed into one thing or sport.”

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HBCU Champions Advance to Postseason Play

WASHINGTON INFORMER — From HBCU football teams, to the University of the District of Columbia’s soccer program, and Howard University’s volleyball players, athletes are still working to capture titles and garner bragging rights in their various conferences.

Published

2 days ago

November 21, 2024

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By Ed Hill | The Washington Informer

As the semester quickly winds down, several teams at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are hoping to find success in the postseason.

From HBCU football teams, to the University of the District of Columbia’s soccer program, and Howard University’s volleyball players, athletes are still working to capture titles and garner bragging rights in their various conferences.

South Carolina State proved all the prognosticators wrong by winning the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) regular season title after being picked to finish fourth in the preseason poll.

As a result of their success, defeating the Morgan State Bears 54-7 on Nov. 16, the South Carolina Bulldogs now qualify for the Cricket Celebration Bowl on Dec. 14 in Atlanta, kicking off at noon and streaming on ABC.

However, another game between Jackson State and Southern University must happen a week before the big matchup in Atlanta, before the Bulldogs (8-2, 4-0 MEAC) know who they’ll be going against.

The Bulldogs, who have one game remaining on the schedule against Delaware State on Saturday, Nov. 23, will square off against the winner of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) title game between Jackson State and Southern University on Dec. 7.

The Southern Jaguars (7-4, 6-1 SWAC) won the West Division, while the Jackson State Tigers (9-2, 7-0 SWAC) captured the East Division and the two will now meet up on Jackson, Mississippi at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium, kicking off at 1 p.m. and streaming on ESPN2.

In the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) championship game, it was Virginia Union University that defeated rival Virginia State 21-17 for the title in Salem, Virginia, on Nov. 16.

Virginia Union University celebrates after defeating Virginia State University, and winning the regular season CIAA title in Salem, Virginia, on Nov. 16. (Courtesy photo)

It was the Virginia Union University Panthers’ second straight CIAA title, avenging a 35-28 loss to the Virginia State University Trojans on Nov. 9. The Panthers (8-3 overall, 6-1 in the CIAA) got an effort of 178 yards rushing on 32 carries and a touchdown from Jodo Byers.

Virginia Union will open the playoffs with a road game at Wingate in Wingate, North Carolina on Nov. 23, with kickoff at 1 p.m.

In the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAC) championship, it was Miles College (9-2) overwhelming Clark Atlanta (7-3), 53-25 in the title game. The Miles College Golden Bears piled up over 430 yards of total offense, giving them a NCAA Division 2 bid as they host Carson-Newman on Nov. 23 at 11 a.m.

Miles boasts one of the top defenses in the country in Division 2, having forced 33 turnovers.

University of the District of Columbia Soccer Team Defeats Molloy

In men’s soccer, the University of the District of Columbia defeated Molloy University in the East Coast Conference (ECC) championships final on Nov. 17.

The University of the District of Columbia men’s soccer team celebrates after winning the East Coast Conference championship game on Nov. 17 (Courtesy photo)

Mustafa Tahir scored the game-winning goal in the 100th minute. It was Tahir’s third game winner of the season.

The Firebirds (8-7-4, 3-4-1 in the ECC) earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Division 2 tournament against the No. 7 seed Post University. on Friday, Nov. 22. UDC enters the game on a four-game win streak.

Howard University Volleyball Dominating in the MEAC

Howard University is one of the hottest women’s college volleyball teams.

Howard University’s volleyball team has been on fire at 21-5 overall and undefeated in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. (Courtesy photo)

The Bison (21-5 overall, 14-0 MEAC) went undefeated in league play and are on a current 15-game game win streak headed into Friday’s tournament in Dover, Delaware.

The final is scheduled for Sunday at 8:30 pm on ESPNU.

Howard is the top seed, and they will be looking to capture their sixth tournament title and NCAA bid in the past nine years.

The Bison boast one of the top players in the country in junior outside hitter Rya McKinnon, who is headed for an unprecedented third straight Player of the Year honor.