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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that did not deter the team’s momentum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n