Bluefield College basketball players decided to stay in the locker room during the period before the national anthem game for the rest of the season, rather than taking the risk of suffering an additional game loss penalty, striker Stanley Christian said on Friday. .
The day after the Virginia school lost its NAIA Appalachian Athletic Conference game against Reinhardt after suspending all players for kneeling during the national anthem before several games in January and February, Christian said the players met and agreed to save the team’s season, but have no intention of refraining from speaking out against racial injustice and police brutality.
“It’s bigger than us and we don’t want the season to be taken away from us,” the Norfolk, Virginia, veteran told ESPN. “We feel that we are in a great position to bring a title to this school. Therefore, we will be in the locker room during the national anthem. They don’t want any more negative reactions and we would definitely kneel down during the hymn. “
In a statement on Thursday, school president David Olive announced the suspension of the entire team after the players knelt to hear the anthem before the home game on February 9.
Christian said the team “had some meetings” and decided to kneel down to hear the hymn in January in response to the January 6 riots at the United States Capitol. The players knelt before several street games, but Christian said it was only after the local media released a story about the protests that the school told them to stop.
Olive said in a statement that she tried to work with the players to find other ways to express their concerns, without disturbing “our alumni, friends and donors from the College”, but Christian said that the players were not satisfied with Olive and he believed that the school simply wanted to get them out of the public eye.
“At that meeting we had with him, he wasn’t really listening to us. We tried to tell him our side of the story and it was like we were talking to a wall, ”said Christian. “He showed us that he didn’t care at the meeting, so we were going to stand up for what we believed in. They wanted us to do it their way, so they wouldn’t have to deal with the media or people outside of Bluefield.”
Christian said the players specifically mentioned a large rally held recently 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 raised, as an example of the school allowing for forms of protest on campus previously.
“So it is normal for everyone to have a Trump demonstration with Confederate flags, but we cannot kneel for our fallen people,” said Christian. “He didn’t have an answer for that.”
ESPN contacted Olive, athletic director Tonia Walker and the school’s student advisory coordinator by email for comment, but no one responded.
After the suspensions were announced, players on the Bluefield men’s basketball team, along with others from football, women’s basketball and women’s football, participated in a video call to discuss their options and express frustrations about the feeling that their First Amendment rights were violated.
In Olive’s statement, he specifically addressed these concerns.
“We are a private, non-governmental entity,” Olive said in his statement. “We have policies and guidelines throughout the student manual and in the academic catalog that limit certain rights that you could have elsewhere, such as at home or in a public place. Most importantly for me in this regard, however, that’s what I shared earlier. When someone wears a uniform or is performing a role on behalf of Bluefield College, that person is now representing Bluefield College. Increased expectations are now placed on that individual as to what he can or cannot do do or say as a representative of the College. “
Christian said he was frustrated with the response and argued that the players’ position on 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 in our chest,” said Christian. “Well, that shirt is basically a shackle for us. Now we feel like we’re in chains now, and that’s not right. And when that shirt comes out of us, we’re still black in America, and I have to face that reality.”
A Bluefield football player left practice on Thursday in protest against the suspensions as well, and football veteran Collin O’Donnell, a military veteran, released a statement of support for basketball players. Christian also said that he grew up in a military family and that his grandfather is a veteran.
“We are not disrespecting the flag or the country. These are not our intentions,” said Christian. “People assume this because they are not trying to understand why we are doing this.”
Christian said he hoped that the public debate over the protests would force Bluefield to enact major changes, including hiring more black teachers and staff and establishing more student groups to discuss and get involved in important social justice issues.
Bluefield’s next game is at home on Monday against Milligan University.