18 — Wednesday, September 2, 2020
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
On Sunday afternoon,
student-athletes
gathered together. Not
for practice, not for a
game or team meeting,
but for a protest.
The march in support
of Black Lives Matter
was a joint effort from
Michigan and Eastern
Michigan
athletes.
Eagles linebacker Tariq
Speights and Wolverines
senior
defensive
back
Hunter Reynolds were
the official organizers of
the event. The football
players are members of
the group College Athlete
Unity — an organization
that aims to “collectively
address
injustice
and
affect positive change
using our privilege and
considerable platforms.”
“Today, we are going
to
unite
as
student-
athletes, we’re going to
unite as a community,
we’re
going
to
unite
as fellow brothers and
sisters,” Speights said
to
the
crowd
from
the steps of Hatcher
Graduate Library. “And
we will take the first
steps
to
rebuild
the
relationship
between
African Americans and
law enforcement in this
community.”
After
speeches
from
Speights
and
Reynolds,
athletes
standing on the steps
next to the organizers
put on shirts that read
“RACISM” with a red
line through the word.
With megaphones, the
organizers led a sizable
crowd out of the Diag
and onto State St.
“I think the issue is
important,” Washtenaw
County
Sheriff
Jerry
Clayton told The Daily.
“I admire the young
folks. They have a voice;
they’re using their voice
and I want to support
everything that they’re
talking about.”
“Before I was sheriff,
I was a Black man — 55
years on this planet,”
Clayton
said
to
the
crowd
later
in
the
protest. “As sheriff, I’m
a Black man. When I’m
not sheriff anymore, I’ll
be a Black man. I have
three sons from 20 to 32
and my wife and I are
traumatized every time
we see another situation
of a Black person being
shot, hurt, brutalized,
not just by the police but
by society in
and of itself.
And
If
it
doesn’t stop
now, when is
it ever going
to stop.”
Amid
chants
of
“No justice!
No peace!,”
“Black Lives
Matter” and
“Hands up! Don’t shoot!,”
Ann
Arbor
residents
watched on. The front of
the protest, spearheaded
by the athletes, caught
the eye of those in stores,
driving by and eating
lunch. Staring back at
them were signs held by
the marchers:
“SKIN
COLOR
IS
NOT
A
CRIME,”
“I
can’t breathe,” “Black
Lives
Matter”
and
“White Silence = White
Compliance.”
After
rounding
the final corner onto
William
Street
the
march made its way back
to the Diag and people
took the opportunity to
speak after Speights and
Reynolds
opened
up
the
megaphone
to everyone.
Morgan
Iverson,
an
Eastern
Michigan
track
athlete, was
one of the
first to take
the stage. Her message
was clear: vote. Iverson
urged those attending
to make a difference in
their local elections, not
just presidential.
Following
her
announcement, Eastern
Michigan football coach
Chris Creighton stepped
up to take his turn to
speak.
“Look around and I’d
imagine
every
single
one of us has somebody
here in this courtyard
that we love,” Creighton
said. “It’s really easy
when you think about
it that way to say that
Black Lives Matter when
you love someone who’s
sitting in this courtyard
right now. It’s a big thing
in the world right now,
but it becomes really
personal and individual
when you take the time
to think about the people
that you’re with, the
people that you know
and the people that you
love.”
LSA
sophomore
student Maya Ferguson
came
to
pledge
her
support. She expressed
that she’s tried to do all
she could this summer
to support Black Lives
Matter
and
incite
change and found it most
important to simply talk
to people.
“Social media is such
a big thing right now,”
Ferguson said. “So it
reaches so many people.
So I really feel like when
you have conversations
with people and you
talk about what’s going
on sometimes you can
really change people’s
perspective or minds.
So many people say
don’t mix politics with
sports,
but
human
rights is not politics. It’s
something that needs to
be discussed.”
In that, Ferguson and
the protest’s organizers
are in harmony. The
event was advertised and
spread via social media,
and the protest was a
way to create and engage
people in conversations
about race and society.
To the student-athletes
and people in attendance,
that is the way forward.
“Trust me, I don’t
want to hold (this) in all
to myself,” Speights said.
“I’ve been doing that my
entire life. Ask me the
questions. I’m here, we’re
all here, we want to have
those
conversations.
We want to break down
those barriers. We want
change.”
Student-athletes organize protest
for Black Lives Matter
NICHOLAS STOLL
Daily Sports Writer
So many people
say don’t mix
politics with
sports, but human
rights is not
politics.
MORE THAN
AN ATHLETE
Allison Engkvist/Daily | Design by Jack Silberman