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 Objavljeno: 21 Sep 2017 07:33 Naslov sporočila: lives were revealed during the team s small group discussio |
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In August, a few days after a car driven into counter demonstrators protesting KKK and neo Nazi groups in Charlottesville killed one and injured more than a dozen others, Oregon Ducks football coach Willie Taggart broke the UO roster into small groups.
The discussion that followed, redshirt junior safety Khalil Oliver said a few weeks later, was probably one of the most important things we ve done since I ve been here.
Their assigned topic was neither base defenses nor pass routes, but their own backgrounds and the paths that brought each to Oregon.
This dude who grew up in this city, it sounds like it s a great city, but you have no idea how he was raised, Oliver said. It s eye opening. You sit there like, this dude had it rough. I m fighting for him, and fighting for his family, not just the team anymore.
The conversation did not stick to sports.
And that was the goal Kavell Bigby-Williams Jersey, several players said.
Whether on social media or in person on campus , Ducks upperclassmen say they feel compelled, and perhaps emboldened in recent months, to use their visibility and followings to talk about issues ranging from NCAA limitations on athletes to inequality and race.
Where others might demur, some Ducks say they re ready to discuss.
As athletes we should take advantage of our platform and speak on social injustice that s going on, senior cornerback Arrion Springs said. Instead of us being silent, we should speak out about it.
I m on my Twitter all the time, and I see all the feed and stuff that s going on, it s kind of https://www.uobasketballjersey.com/evan-gross-jersey-c-9.html hard for me to ignore it because it could happen to me. Why would I ignore what s happening?
In speaking out, none of the Ducks has come remotely close to becoming lightning rod figures in the way of NFL players Colin Kaepernick and Michael Bennett, who have become nationally known while protesting inequality and police brutality through kneeling during the national anthem, or even UCLA s Josh Rosen, whose disapproval of President Trump and critique of the demands on college athletes time have caused instant pushback.
When players such as Springs, running back Royce Freeman or linebacker Troy Dye some of the most well known athletes on the team share their thoughts on difficult topics online, their preferred method is often the retweet, a subtle way to share their stance without injecting their own voice directly.
But they say that shouldn t be confused with sidestepping the issues.
I think we should all talk about it, Freeman said. I feel like no individual can by themselves turn the tide. I feel like guys taking knees in the NFL, protesting the national anthem, that s a group thing. I feel like it takes more than one person. One person can bring attention to it but I feel like more people can advance it and change it.
Freeman, one of the top running backs in the country and a potential first round pick in the 2018 NFL draft, said his notoriety hasn t made him less interested in joining in.
I m interested in being a part of it and seeing where it goes from here, he said. A lot of guys have gotten backlash from it. I feel like those individuals are strong on a personal level, standing up for what they believe in. That s something I admire.
Taggart declined to be interviewed for this story, with a UO spokesman saying he prefers to keep those conversations of that nature between him and the student athletes. But before a preseason practice last month, the coach said that post Charlottesville he wanted to make sure that we re still on the same page from that standpoint and didn t want our guys just talking about it among themselves.
Springs was pleased that the first year UO coach has met with players at times to discuss hot button issues, and said that when Taggart says he would prefer such discussions stay in house he means well, because he is trying to protect us. Others applauded how Taggart, during team dinners in the offseason, would ask players at random to stand and speak about a current event, saying it forced them to think more broadly than their assignments in football or school.
After sitting, then kneeling, during the national anthem in 2016, and because he remains without a place on an NFL team this season, Kaepernick has been at the center of many news cycles during the past year. Numerous other players have followed by kneeling themselves, undeterred by the controversy, including three at the college level last season, from Nebraska. Oregon spends home games in its locker room during the anthem, but if that were not the case, Springs said he would kneel 100 percent during the anthem, and believes many other teammates would do the same.
But Kaepernick s larger influence, Springs and linebacker AJ Hotchkins said, was taking a sensitive topic and turning it into a national discussion.
He s definitely got a lot of conversations going around the country, Hotchkins said. The dialogue and the discussion of those topics, I think that s good.
Whether with frat guys or in classes where he says he s often one of few black https://www.uobasketballjersey.com/paul-white-jersey-c-8.html students, Springs said he s talked openly about what it means to be black since arriving on campus in 2014. According to UO enrollment data from the fall academic quarter of 2016 , 25.3 percent of its 23,634 students were persons of color; collegefactual.com rated UO s ethnic diversity above average.
Those discussions were brought into sharper focus last fall when a UO law professor was disciplined after wearing blackface to a Halloween party. The professor apologized, and said it was meant to provoke a thoughtful discussion on racism in our society. Less than two weeks later, in mid November, three people were seen wearing blackface outside the university s business school. At the time, the incidents drew quick rebukes from football players.
We know it still exists, racism still exists, but just to see it out in the open like that? Springs said. In the South it s more overt, you see some stuff like that, but I know where I m at. But here in Oregon? ... You wouldn t think it would just be out in the open on the campus.
Those incidents came after the school removed the name of a former Ku Klux Klansman and UO professor from one of its campus buildings. Months later, the university announced that it would keep the name of Matthew Deady, a former Board of Regent president who supported slavery in the 1850s before later advocating for Native Americans and immigrants, on its oldest building.
Oliver took to Twitter to share his opinions after the latter naming decision, but speaking out doesn t always lead to the desired effect, he said.
His status as an athlete has raised his profile but led some to discount his opinion, he said.
It s very upsetting when you show your frustration online and then somebody says, You re not there for that https://www.uobasketballjersey.com/keith-smith-jersey-c-7.html, Oliver said. Some of us may stay and live here or may stay connected to the university and we care about this place. We didn t just come here to play football. We came here to get education and we came here to pursue different opportunities and we care about this place. So it s hard to see when people say Stay in your lane.
Their goal is to change that reception.
Said Hotchkins When people say stick to sports, that s like telling someone who s a cook to stick to cooking. Can he not express his opinion about anything else? I see that a lot online and I just think it s funny. People have lives outside of football, basketball or whatever your occupation might be.
Those lives were revealed during the team s small group discussions after Charlottesville. Oregon s roster is exceptionally diverse, with more than 100 players coming from 18 states, but the team is so big you don t really know the background of every player, senior defensive lineman Henry Mondeaux said.
Oliver, who grew up in the Boise suburb of Meridian, said that in his case everybody just assumes Idaho, blah blah blah. But they don t realize if you go north just a little bit you ve got KKK. ... Where I grew up, there s not a lot of friendly faces. It was really eye opening for a lot of people.
Taggart, who has said he inherited a team whose players did not like each other, has made rebuilding trust a top priority since his hiring, and numerous players pointed to his post Charlottesville response as a poignant moment in that process.
It was an important discussion. And one of many Ducks players hope to continue this season.
I think that we can have discussions like that because this team is so close and we don t have to worry about stuff like that breaking us up, Mondeaux said. It s nice to be able to talk with our brothers about tougher things, because you have to trust everybody. |
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