Bluefield College basketball players have decided to stay in the locker room during the national anthem’s preliminary game for the rest of the season, rather than risk the potential to penalize additional game losses, Stanley Christian said Friday.
A day after the Virginia school lost its Naial Appalachian Athletic Conference game to Reinhardt after suspending all players for kneeling during the national anthem before several games in January and February, Christian said the players were met and agreed to save the team’s season, but did not intend to refrain from speaking out against racial injustice and police brutality.
“He’s older than us and we don’t want our season to be taken,” the Norfolk, Virginia senior told ESPN. “We feel that we are in an excellent position to bring a title to this school. So we will stay in the locker room during the national anthem. They don’t want any reaction and we would certainly kneel during the anthem. “
In a statement on Thursday, school president David Olive announced the suspension of the entire team after the players knelt for the anthem before the home game on February 9th.
Christian said the team “had a few meetings” and decided to kneel for the anthem in January in response to the January 6 riots in the US Chapter. Players knelt before several road games, but Christian said the school told them to stop only after the local press ran a story about the protests.
Olive said in a statement that he tried to work with players to find other ways to express their concern, without disturbing “our graduates, friends and donors of the College,” but Christian said the players are not happy with Olive’s suggestions and thought the school simply wanted to force them out of the public eye.
“In that meeting we had with him, he didn’t hear us at all. We tried to tell him our opinion about the story and it was like talking to a wall,” Christian said. “He showed us that he didn’t care about the meeting, so we were going to stand up for what we thought. They wanted us to do it their way, so that they wouldn’t have to deal with the media or the people in the outside Bluefield “.
Christian said the players specifically referred to a large recent rally on campus in support of former President Donald Trump, which stretched from the school’s basketball arena to the football stadium and during which Confederate flags were flown. , as an example of the school allowing forms of protest on the previous campus.
“So it’s okay for everyone to have a Trump rally with Confederate flags, but it’s not okay for us to kneel for our fallen people,” Christian said. – He didn’t have an answer for that.
ESPN emailed Olive, athletic director Tonia Walker and student counseling coordinator for comments, but none responded.
Following the announcements of the suspensions, Bluefield men’s basketball players, along with others in football, women’s basketball and women’s football, joined a video call to discuss their options and disappoint frustrations that their rights to the First Amendment have been violated.
In Olive’s statement, he specifically addressed these concerns.
“We are a private entity, not a government entity,” Olive said in a statement. “We have policies and guidelines in the student handbook and in the academic catalog that limit certain rights that you would otherwise have elsewhere, such as at home or in a public place. However, the most important thing for me, on this issue, is what I shared earlier. When someone wears a uniform or performs a function on behalf of Bluefield College, that person now represents Bluefield College. Increased expectations are now placed on that person about what he or she can and cannot do as a College representative. “
Christian expressed frustration with this response and argued that the position of the players in the team should not determine their ability to speak out against racism.
“Dr. Olive told us that our rights are limited when we put Bluefield on our chests, “said Christian. “Well, that T-shirt is essentially for us. Now we feel like we’re chained now and it’s not fair. And when that T-shirt comes off us, we’re still black in America and I have to face that reality.”
A Bluefield footballer also left training on Thursday to protest the suspensions, and footballer Collin O’Donnell, a military veteran, issued a statement in support of basketball players. And Christian said he grew up in a military household, and his grandfather is a veteran.
“We do not respect the flag or the country. That is not our intention,” Christian said. “People assume that because they don’t try to understand why we do it.”
Christian said he hopes the public debate over the protests will force Bluefield to make major changes, including hiring more faculty and black staff and setting up more student groups to discuss and engage on important social justice issues.
Bluefield’s next game is at home Monday against Milligan University.