Black male athletes again show they can make changes on and off the field

14th November 2016   ·   0 Comments

By Frederick H. Lowe
Contributing Writer

(NorthStarNews Today) — Twenty University of Wisconsin Madison black football players, Nigel Hayes, a star basketball star, and other athletes on Monday posted a statement demanding that university officials address the racial inequalities on campus.

They issued the statement after a man dressed in a Halloween costume as President Barack Obama with a noose around his neck attended the University of Wisconsin-University of Nebraska football game October 29 at Camp Randall Stadium while many Black athletes were playing on the field.

The athletes said they are loved during competition but are subject to racial discrimination in their everyday lives.

“It is painful that someone in our community would show up to an athletic event with a mask of our sitting president who happens to look like us, with a noose around his neck,” the statement said. “That moment was like a punch in the face not only to student–athletes of color but also to current students, faculty and alumni of color. This incident was yet another blow and reminder that there are people in this community that may not value diverse populations.”

Stadium officials ordered the unidentified man to remove the noose, but he was allowed to continue watching the game, which angered some spectators.

After he removed the noose, Rebecca Blank, the school’s chancellor, said he met stadium’s dress-code guidelines.

Initially, Blank called the incident an issue of free speech, but her explanation angered some alumni and students who said the noose was hate speech.

“I believe our university must resist the desire to outlaw forms of speech and political dissent with which we disagree,” Blank said at the time.

By Monday, however, she had changed her tone. Alumni and students may have changed it for her.

Blank announced the school revoked the season tickets of the person and another man involved in the incident.

She also apologized for her earlier statement.

“I am personally very sorry for the hurt that this incident and our response to it caused,” Blank said at a Faculty Senate meeting. “I have heard from students, faculty and I understand why. A noose is the symbol of some of the worst forms of racial hatred and intimidation in our country’s history. We understand this, and we should have communicated that more forcefully from the very beginning…I understand the deeply hurtful impact this has had on our students and communities of color.”

School officials also announced a revised dress code would be in place before the Nov. 12 home game against the University of Illinois.

This is the second time black athletes working as a team have forced a change at a major university. Intercollegiate athletics, especially football, is a major source of school revenue.

Last November, Tim Wolfe, president of the University of Missouri, resigned amid an ongoing controversy regarding race relations at the school. Wolfe’s resignation came two days after the school’s African-American football players announced they would refuse to play until Wolfe’s resigned. If the game did not occur, the university would have lost $1 million.

This article originally published in the November 14, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.