Mizzou. It appears you have a serious problem on your hands.
So, we have heard about the hunger strike? A graduate student has refused to eat after proclaiming that Mizzou officials do not care about the racial tension or protection of their marginalized students on campus. And today, the Black students on the football team have said that they will no participate in football related activities until Tim Wolfe, the President of the school, resigns.
Black Lives Matter? Let me introduce you to Our Money Matters.
See, when this was just a lowly graduate student, this was ignored. When the idealist Black man with no athletic ability speaks and does something drastic, the nation sweeps his actions under the rug - much like the student at Ole Miss who guarded James Meredith's statue or like the member of Phi Beta Sigma who ran across country to bring attention to the issues in Ferguson and Baltimore. These actions, powerful in their own right, went ignored - by media and people alike.
But for some reason - when you play games with people's weekend hobbies and when you threaten the fabric of a unit - that catches momentum.
This is not to slam the student-athletes. On the contrary - I support them. I hope their families support them. I hope those who call themselves the founders of BLM supports them. And I hope their fellow student athletes support them AND join them in their strike. But what I find sad is the calls to have these men - these Black men who are using their freedom of speech and assembly to bring light to an action - are being railroaded and treated as if they are scum. As if they haven't brought the university millions in jersey and game ticket sales. As if they aren't star students. As if they aren't ambassadors for the school. Have you seen the tweets? The statuses? My gawd. Calls to take away scholarships, suspend players, and take legal action are coming from fans. Fans, mind you. Those who, if a player were accused of rape or some other crime, would stand by the player until the end of time. But because they are standing against a system, they are now the enemy.
BLM meets Our Football Game Matters So Fuck Your Rights.
