ETSU President Brian Noland promised, “a taskforce specifically focused on supporting diversity and inclusion and addressing social injustices,” in a statement released to the ETSU community April 2. In the same breath, he mentioned the Mary V. Jordan Multicultural Center, the Women’s Resource Center and the Black Faculty and Staff Association.
In a few months, when the university and people of Johnson City show their feelings again, he will list off those same organizations, as well as this newfound taskforce. No amount of taskforces or meetings about the African American community will fix what is happening. The only solution: let Black people have a voice.
Wavering in the face of pressure from donors gives no justice to the people of color murdered by cops every day. These donors, like Johnson City Honda, reclaimed cars from coaches when the men’s basketball team kneeled during the national anthem as a way to speak their minds about the fear for their lives.
Believe Black people.
Believe people when they say their community is hurting. Racism benefits from their power dynamics. Wealth lives from white supremacy. These systems of racism exist to benefit from the entertainment of the Black man, but when they so chose to kneel for their right to life, then they should, as Facebook comments suggest, “have their scholarships taken away and forced to pay for school if they don’t like America that much.” When in fact, these players are often stolen from in their production. In a lot of cases, basketball players generate more wealth than they are given in scholarships. According to a CNBC article, a 2020 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that less than 7% of the revenue from college basketball and football programs is given to those athletes in scholarships money.
Believe people when they demonstrate. You cannot protest in the street. You cannot call the systems of power racist. You cannot defund the police. You cannot kneel for your life. When can Black people talk of the injustices done to their community?
I think the objection to kneeling, as a disgrace to military members, is vacuous and exploitative. These service members, often wrecked by the same systems of power, are used to scapegoat, shift the conversation and shut down Black people for daring to speak their mind. Military members deserve to be thanked. Black people deserve to live. These ideas are not mutually exclusive.
The donors have effectively shifted the conversation. Instead of efforts being focused on African American people, they are focused on coach Shay. Kneeling is a minor act of defiance against police brutality. That is what is at hand here. Instead we are now talking about a white man’s struggle for his belief in their right to protest.
No amount of committees or talks or talks of talks will ever stop the hurt of the community. People of color need to be in power. People of color cannot be given a mic when the situation calls for it, then have it taken away the moment protests quiet down. It cannot happen. There needs to be structural changes to the way ETSU operates.
No longer can the ETSU administration behold their standards to that of the white men. Want to stop funding because basketball players interrupted a minute of your entertainment? OK. Allowing people to have say in the life of a Black person cannot and should not be standard. As a white person, speaking to other white people, we have to respect and believe the community before speaking. Morals have to come before all else, eventually.
