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Voices and perspectives

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Our feeds are teeming with the critical voices of leading black athletes in athletics and sports, both Canadian and worldwide.

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When I was at the University of Alabama, I would go in the student athlete building to this quiet room to do my work or just chill in between classes or before practice. And everytime I went there, I saw this janitor, cleaning but always smiling. This is the same janitor I spoke about in a previous video. I spoke to this man whenever I saw him. One day in particular, I was on my way to training, and I dapped him quickly because I was rushing, and he yelled out, ā€œAye son, donā€™t forget to learn the language.ā€ . . Man, that whole day I kept thinking to myself, ā€œLearn the language? My guy is going mad. He just talking.ā€ The next day I asked him, ā€œ What did you mean by learn the language? You forgot to take your meds today or what?ā€ . . . He laughed and said, ā€œSon, do you know what happened in June 1967?ā€ I said, "No sir, I apologize I donā€™t." He said, "In 1967, Bill Russell, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, and Lew Alcindor came together to make a point. You know those names because they are in the public eye. But most people forget who was behind them at that same table. You had political and community leaders like Carl Stokes, Walter Beach, Bobby Mitchell, Sid Williams, Curtis Mclinton, Willie Davis, Jim Shorter and John Wooten. My point is this, true change and impact in this world comes from learning the language of certain institutions and bringing it back to our communities and equipping our people with the right knowledge so each community can be uplifted and spark change from within. Learn the language of the system, son, or spark the brain of someone that will change the system." #keepthefaith #stayhopeful

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STILL!!!! šŸ¤¬šŸ˜¢šŸ˜¤

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Eric Garner, 2014.
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Past few days Iā€™ve been stunned trying make sense of George Floydā€™s death. The video. The plea for breath. The callous response. The racism. The killing. This is our ongoing disease. Iā€™ve had cops in my family. Good men. And thereā€™s a cop code, granting you the authority to use force if your life is in danger. But when a man is handcuffed, on the ground, no longer a threat, with your brothers in arms standing around watching and he struggles to say, ā€œplease I canā€™t breatheā€ when your knee is on his neck.. not his back, but his neck – cutting off his air. Cop code must become moral code. Ethics code. HUMANITY code. Knowing that if you donā€™t ease up, then that man is going to die. So when you decide to not ease up, your intention is to kill. And thatā€™s what this was. George Floyd, said ā€œofficer I canā€™t breatheā€ as he struggled for air. He said these words a total of 15 times. Not once. Not twice. 15 times. These officers will be charged, Iā€™m positive of that. Held accountable. But then whereā€™s the greater accountability? The leadership to healing. More importantly, the leadership to EQUALITY. We ultimately win when we can normalize equality. Iā€™m so sorry to the Floyd family. My heart breaks for you. Let the process begin now. #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #NormalizeEquality

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