Stanley Christian said Bluefield College basketball players decided to stay in the locker room while predicting the national anthem for the rest of the season, rather than risk the potential penalty of additional game forfeitures.
A day after the Virginia school forfeited its NAIA Appalachian Athletic Conference game against Reinhardt after kneeling all players before several games in January and February during the national anthem because they were kneeling, Christian said the players met and agreed to save the team’s season, but does not intend to refrain from speaking out against racial injustice and police brutality.
“It’s bigger than us, and we do not want to take the season away from us,” the Norfolk, Virginia senior told ESPN. “We feel we are in an excellent position to give this school a title. So we will stay in the locker room during the national anthem. They do not want any more setbacks, and we will definitely take a knee during the national anthem. . ‘
In a statement Thursday, school president David Olive announced the suspension of the entire team after players knelt before the home game on February 9 for the national anthem.
Christian said the team had several meetings and decided to kneel for the national anthem in January in response to the January 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol. Players knelt before several road games, but Christian said it was only after local media aired a story about the protests that the school had to stop them.
Olive said in a statement that he was trying to work with players to find other ways to express their concerns while not upsetting “our alumni, friends and donors of the College”, but Christian said that the players were not happy with Olive’s proposals and believe that the school simply wants to force them out of the public eye.
“In the meeting we had with him, he did not really hear us at all. We tried to tell him our side of the story, and it was as if we were talking to a wall,” Christian said. . “He showed us that he did not care in the meeting, and we would stand up for what we believed in. They wanted us to do it their way so they did not have to deal with media or people outside Bluefield. had not. “
Christian said players specifically referred to a large rally held on campus recently in support of former president Donald Trump, which stretched from the school’s basketball arena to the football stadium, during which the Confederate flags were flown, as a example of the school that forms of has previously protested on campus.
“So it’s OK for everyone to hold a Trump rally with Confederate flags, but it’s not good that we are kneeling for our people who have fallen,” Christian said. “He did not have an answer for that.”
ESPN emailed Olive, athletic director Tonia Walker, and the student’s advisory coordinator for comment, but no one responded.
Following the announcement of the suspensions, players from the Bluefield men’s basketball team, along with others from football, women’s basketball and women’s soccer, joined a video call to discuss their options and dispel frustrations over the fact that their rights to the first amendment was violated.
In Olive’s statement, he specifically addressed the concern.
“We are a private entity, not a government entity,” Olive said in a statement. “We have policies and guidelines in the student handbook and the academic catalog that limit certain rights that you may otherwise have elsewhere, such as in your home or in a public venue. The most important thing for me, however, is that this is what I am concerned about. When someone wears a uniform or performs a function on behalf of Bluefield College, the person now represents Bluefield College, and increased expectations are now placed on the individual as to what he or she may and may not do or say as a representative of the College. ‘
Christian said he was frustrated by the reaction, arguing that the players’ position in the team should not determine their ability to speak out against racism.
“Dr. Olive told us our rights are limited if we put Bluefield over our breasts,” Christian said. “Well, that sweater is basically a shackle for us. Now we feel like we’re chained now, and that’s not right. And if the sweater comes off of us, we’re still black in America, and I have to face reality. facing. “
One Bluefield soccer player also walked out of practice on Thursday in protest of the suspensions, and soccer player Collin O’Donnell, a military veteran, released a statement of support for the basketball players. Christian also said he grew up in a military household, and his grandfather is a veteran.
“We do not respect the flag or the country. That is not our intention,” Christian said. “People assume that because they are not trying to understand why we do it.”
Christian said he was hopeful that the public debate on the protests would force Bluefield to make important changes, including the appointment of more black faculties and staff and the formation of more student groups to discuss important issues of social justice.
Bluefield’s next game is Monday at home against the University of Milligan.