Recently, local GOP voter suppression efforts have accelerated. But in Tennessee, local GOP officials have taken aim at a new target.
Kneeling student-athletes.
The Volunteer State’s suppression history is well known. From Jim Crow to the passage of Bill HB 8005 in 2020, which, according to CNN.com, “increases the punishment for camping on state property from a misdemeanor to a class E felony that is punishable by up to six years in prison” Tennessee is unabashed in their suppression tactics.
Now they’re shifting the battleground to the sports arena.
According to WPLN News, all of Tennessee’s GOP state senators signed a letter whose goal is to have chancellors and presidents of Tennessee state universities punish student-athletes who protest during sporting events.
This follows on the heels of the Bluefield College men’s basketball team. When they refused to stop kneeling, the school’s president suspended them for one game.
But in Tennessee, the actual government wants these players punished.
“Most of us are thinking that when you are in that uniform and you are acting as an ambassador for the university and the state, there possibly is a line there that differentiates that freedom of speech,” said State Senator Rusty Crowe.
This action stems from the East Tennessee State University (ETSU) men’s basketball team kneeling at last week’s game at Chattanooga. This wasn’t the first time the team kneeled during the anthem. But it went viral and landed on the Tennessee state GOP’s radar.
In now-deleted tweets captured by WJHL, State Representative Scotty Campbell voiced his criticism of the team’s decision to kneel.
“If they are practicing their 1st Amendment right and just kneeling it protest, why don’t they kneel at halftime or the end of the game? Why during our National Anthem?
“If it isn’t out of disrespect and they cared about how many of their fans feel they wouldn’t do it during that song. $250k annual salary and can’t see fit to have players respect our anthem as Americans? Disappointing!”
Campbell directed his venom squarely at ETSU head coach, Jason Shay, who further angered folks like Campbell by defending his team.
“Our intentions by no means involve disrespecting our country’s flag or the servicemen and women that put their lives on the line for our nation,” Shay said to the Johnson City Press. “You know we hold those heroes near and dear to our hearts, including two generals that have served our country right here in our backyard.
“No one knows the sacrifice, the fear, the pain, the anxiety, the loss that they’ve experienced fighting for our country’s freedom and rights,” said Shay, who is white. “But many of us don’t know the same sacrifice, fear, pain and loss the people of color have had to endure over 400 years.”
The Continued False Narratives
As is the norm in every post-kneeling storm, the usual false narratives arise and are addressed. Campbell perpetuated the former and Shay performed the latter.
“Is there racial injustice in this country, in this region? I have no doubt about it,” said Campbell. “Is this a proper way to address it? Some argue it is. I think that people have fought and bled and died for the rights and freedoms we have, including the First Amendment. And I believe there’s a better time than that song, the national anthem, for members to protest how they feel or make a statement.”
Peaceful protest, in this case kneeling, is designed to occur during periods of maximum exposure. It’s enacted to generate attention, regardless of your position. Kneeling at halftime when most are getting refreshments would be, as Tennessee state GOP members are well aware, a wasted effort.
But the players understand their goal. They recognize their power and are no longer afraid to wield it.
“I feel like they’re using their platforms to highlight an issue that’s going on,” said former star player T.J. Cromer in an interview with WJHL. “Whether it’s in Tennessee, whether it’s back at their homes. You know, we never know what they dealt with before they become a student-athlete.”
Many are expressing their support for the players. This includes students, alumni and local residents.
ETSU’s VP of Equity and Inclusion, Keith Johnson, issued a strong statement in support of the players.
“We believe that ‘disrespecting the flag’ serves as a red herring fallacy to divert attention away from police brutality, racism, and issues which create much deeper and broader conversations that people just are not ready to have. If ‘disrespecting the flag’ were the real issue, uproar would have erupted on January 6th when violent rioters could be seen beating police officers with the
American flag.”
“The young men on our basketball team are not entertainers;” he wrote. “They are living, breathing human beings who once they step off the court, have the potential to be the next George Floyd.”
University President Brian Noland hopes that kneeling stirs conversation about where we are as a country and a people.
“It’s my sincere hope that the image of our students expressing their beliefs on the field of play gives us an opportunity to come together to heal, have dialogue and to replace strife with unity,” said Noland.
He also stated, per that Johnson City Press story, that while he does not believe that “the team intended to disrespect the flag or the military”, others might have been affected by the team’s actions.
“When they put on the blue and gold of their uniforms, they not only represent their teammates, they carry the hopes and dreams and aspirations of this region,” Noland said.
“When you put on a uniform, you take on a unique responsibility, and I know that the actions of the past few days have caused tension and strife and emotion within our community. I also know that we’ve had a lot of purposeful and intentional conversations regarding social justice and equity and structural disparities in our region.
“Those conversations are healthy and healing and I know that they’re going to plant seeds that will allow roots to grow for change,”
We hope these roots can take hold. But as the nation experiences change, GOP state representatives across the country are seeking to pull those roots out of the ground.
HB 8005 was one tool in this effort. Now they’re adding the college campus to the suppression battleground.
