Protests against social injustice have occurred at the professional and collegiate sports levels. But for the men’s basketball team at Bluefield College, their protest resulted in punishment.
Since last season, the team had been debating how to contribute to the fight against social injustice since last season. The riots at the Capitol were the stimulus they needed.
During the pregame anthem on January 30th, players at the NAIA school in southwest Virginia donned black shirts with “Unity” on the back and collectively kneeled. After the player’s actions went viral, Bluefischool president David Olive instructed coach Richard Morgan and college Vice President Toia Walker that “kneeling during the anthem would not be allowed going forward.” He also instructed Walked to “communicate this prohibition to all the head coaches so that similar incidents would not occur with other teams.”
As it turns out, the viral protest before their January 30th game against Bryan College wasn’t the team’s first time kneeling. They did it before the games against Bryan and Kentucky Christian on January 23rd and 26th, respectively. But their actions going viral attracted media attention and that’s when Olive intervened.
But that did not deter the team’s momentum.
They kneeled at away games on February 2nd and February 4th against Truett McConnell University and Columbia International University, respectively. In their next game at Montreat College on February 6th, the team remained in the locker room during the anthem. But when they returned home for their game against Tennessee Wesleyan University on February 9th, they resume kneeling. That’s when Olive took action and punished the team with a one-game suspension.
“I had conversations with Officers of the Board of Trustees, VP Walker and other college leaders, along with a conferral with Coach Morgan, VP Walker, and myself before reaching a decision on the sanction.” wrote Olive in a statement.
In his statement, Olive discussed his meeting with the players.
“As I shared with the team and these other students, you give up some of those rights when you step foot on our campus. We are a private entity, not a governmental entity. We have policies and guidelines throughout the student handbook and the academic catalog that limit certain rights you otherwise might have elsewhere, such as in your home or in a public venue. The most important to me as it pertains to this matter, however, is what I shared earlier. When someone puts on a uniform or is performing a function on behalf of Bluefield College, that person is now representing Bluefield College. Heightened expectations are now placed on that individual as to what s/he can and cannot do or say as a representative of the College.”
He even offered to support campus’ fight for social justice, as long as it was outside of kneeling during the anthem.
“I close by making the same offer that I shared with the basketball team; I will kneel with you anywhere at any time as an expression of my solidarity with you to bring about racial justice and equality, except during the National Anthem. I am with you. The College’s leadership is with you. With God’s help and his endless mercy and grace, we will make a positive impact in raising awareness of racial injustices and bringing about change.”
But the players left that meeting frustrated and unsupported. As a result, they stood firm in their decision to continue kneeling.
“In that meeting we had with him, he wasn’t really hearing us out at all. We tried to tell him our side of the story, and it was like we were talking to a wall,” said team forward Stanley Christian to ESPN. “He showed us he didn’t care in the meeting, so we were going to stand up for what we believed in. They wanted us to do it their way so they didn’t have to deal with media or people outside Bluefield.”
Christian told ESPN about the hypocrisy of the college in that meeting, referring to a rally in support of Trump that was held on campus.
“So it’s OK for everyone to have a Trump rally with Confederate flags, but it’s not OK for us to kneel for our people who’ve fallen,” said Christian. “He didn’t have an answer for that.”
A school spokeswoman told ESPN network that Bluefield did not host the rally. She indicated that it was held on roads adjacent to the college that were not affiliated with the school. She also went on to say that the rally’s proximity to the campus was upsetting to students and that president Olive expressed his apologies to the students over the event.
But that did nothing to quell the emotions of the players.
“Dr. Olive told us our rights are limited when we put Bluefield across our chests,” said Christian. “Well, that jersey is basically shackles to us. Now we feel like we’re chained up now, and that’s not right. And when that jersey comes off us, we’re still Black in America, and I have to face that reality.”
That one-game suspension forfeited their game against NAIA Appalachian Athletic Conference opponent Reinhardt University. As the team enters a final push to make the postseason tournament, that was a major setback.
But it’s one Bluefield college basketball players are bravely willing to take as this is about much more than a tournament trophy.
