It’s January, a time when organizations, politicians and individuals who hated Dr. Martin Luther King when he was alive partake in fake “wokeness” by invoking his words. So, it’s only fitting that the UCLA gymnastics team’s IG account would follow suit.
At UCLA, former freshman gymnast Alexis Jeffrey was using racial slurs against both Black and Asian people. Despite her fellow teammates expressing their offense to her, she continued. Realizing that their teammate obviously didn’t care about their feelings or warnings, they alerted their coaches. However, rather than confronting and penalizing the student for her derogatory language, the coaches told the young women that they needed to embrace her and be more supportive of her because she threatened to harm herself if she were to get in trouble.
Ultimately, rather than face consequences, which seemed unlikely based upon the coach’s response to the incident, the offending gymnast put in a transfer to LSU. Afterward the gymnasts who stood up against racism were told not to speak about the situation to the NCAA.
Then, during a recent meet in support of Black Lives Matter where the gymnasts wore BLM emblazoned leotards, the UCLA IG account posted a photo with the Martin Luther King Jr. quote, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
To date, the information has been gathered in bits and pieces from various Twitter accounts, as well as a full video post by comedian and actress Amanda Seales on her IG account. That the information is hard to come by, yet consistent across sources says a lot in and of itself.
Nevertheless, with what we do know about the story, the issues abound.
White Women’s Tears
Far too often people are allowed to be racist, even to the point of violence, and people remain silent.
In this case, the UCLA gymnasts who refused to remain silent were shut down and silenced by school officials. That the coaches would side with the racist student and encourage her teammates to “embrace her” as a solution is a problem.
Another problem is the offending gymnast threatening to harm herself if she was punished. Threatening self-harm to avoid taking responsibility for their racism feels more like a power move employed by the privileged via their racialization as white, as opposed to an actual cry for help due to mental health issues. This is harmful to those who actually inflict self-harm for various reasons not linked to fear of punishment for being the perpetrators of racist assaults.
Complementing this tactic is the added privilege of a white woman’s tears.
The strategy of weaponized sadness used by white women is not a new phenomenon. It’s one strategically used to portray themselves as the victim in a conflict situation to vilify others involved.
This is exactly what has happened at UCLA.
To make matters worse, UCLA is still not addressing the problem even after the offending gymnast left the program. Instead, UCLA gymnasts took to social media to get the athletic department’s attention.
“We are saddened that we’ve exhausted every avenue to have this issue addressed and have not heard or seen from you in over 3 months,” tweeted senior gymnast Norah Flatley to UCLA Athletics Director Martin Jarmond. “Please respond to the email I sent you.”
So far Jarmond hasn’t responded to the gymnasts.
And their coach, Chris Waller said he wouldn’t comment on his athlete’s tweets. When asked about Alexis Jeffrey, his response was just as underwhelming.
“I can’t comment on anything with Alexis as she’s no longer a student at UCLA,” said Waller.
The UCLA athleti department needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror. These athletes deserve to have their voices heard and their concerns about blatant racism taken seriously.
For a program that supports BLM and themes like Black excellence, this incident conflicts with the face they’re trying to portray to the world. Then again, it isn’t the athletic department that’s doing the social justice work.
It’s always been the gymnasts themselves.
UCLA Gymnasts for the Culture
In 2020, we saw UCLA gymnastics take to social media to speak in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter Movement, following the murder of George Floyd. His death revitalized the movement for the fight for Black lives against state-sanctioned police violence.
In 2021, Black gymnasts Nia Dennis, Margzetta Frazier, Sekia Wright, and Chae Campbell were photographed wearing Black Excellence uniforms with raised fists in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. That same year, Nia Dennis became a viral sensation with her floor routine when she noted in a deeply personal way, “I know who I am as a woman and a Black woman at that.”
In a world where anti-Black racism and misogynoir meet, naming and claiming our Black womanhood out loud is a form of protest against the subtle and overt forms of anti-Black racism that we face daily.
This time, however, it seems as though the UCLA athletics department has decided not to take its cue from those gymnasts who fight for racial and social justice. That the situation wasn’t immediately handled is a problem. That the gymnast in question was able to transfer without reprimand or punishment is a problem because she is free to continue her racist behavior in a new program.
The weaponization of white women’s tears can lead to irreparable damage including the loss of someone’s life.
I stand with the gymnasts of UCLA who are calling on their athletics department to address their concerns.
Their concerns and emails should have been answered, but when they weren’t these brave young women did what needed to be done in order to be heard. That is not only worthy of our attention, but also of emulation.
There is a legacy of racism in sports, one that is not going away no matter how much people desire sports to be an apolitical space.
Racism is a part of sports, and they cannot be disentangled unless we are upfront about it.
