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Dear John.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is no longer only exploiting Black student-athletes.1 It is now humiliating them for having Black hair too. Tyler Williams was dismissed from the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith basketball team by their new head coach for having dreadlocks.2 The coach didn’t care that Tyler was the second leading scorer in the previous season. He cared only about forcing Tyler to conform to outdated and blatantly racist standards to appease him, a white coach. This is an abuse of power. Degrading a kid just because he is Black is unacceptable, even for NCAA standards. Color Of Change is demanding the NCAA do the right thing by creating an anti-hair-discrimination policy.
Demand the NCAA be on the right side of justice and protect Black athletes from discrimination!
The NCAA makes billions of dollars off the likenesses of its players, TV deals, video games, and other money streams, but the association’s players — the majority of whom are Black — receive no compensation. The gross injustice of selling the image of Black kids while condemning their hair whenever it suits a coach or school’s fancy is appalling. Black student-athletes in the NCAA are vulnerable to systemic abuse, but we can put an end to it today.
Right now, Tyler and his family are locked in a legal battle for justice, and they can’t do it alone. We have the power to make the NCAA create an anti-hair-discrimination policy, not only because what Tyler endured is wrong, but because this kind of prejudice is an epidemic in America. The effort to control Black hair is nothing new; it is part of a long-standing tradition of coded racism intended to keep Black people out of jobs, educational opportunities, and now, athletics. These obstacles are meant to make spaces unreachable for Black people and control how they access them by imposing ridiculous regulations on our expression. Black hair remains one of the completely legal ways you can discriminate against our folks in all but two states in America.
Tell the NCAA to put a stop to this perverse practice of policing Black hair!
Black children across America are being humiliated because of racist policies that discriminate against our hair. Last year, 6-year-old Clinton Stanley Jr. was sent home from A Book’s Christian Academy for having locks,3 and 11-year-old Faith Finnedy was sent home from Christ the King for wearing box braids to school.4 These policies shape the way Black kids see themselves and give permission to institutions to discriminate against them without repercussions.
Until justice is real,
-- Future, Brandi, Rashad, Arisha, Jade, Evan, Johnny, Corina, Chad, Eesha, Marcus, Folasade and the rest of the Color Of Change team
References:
- “NCAA’s Amateurism Rule Exploits Black Athletes as Slave Labor,” The Undefeated, March 27, 2019, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/149120?t=10&akid=36821%2E4731121%2EpN6tau
- College Basketball Player in Arkansas Says Coach Dismissed Him because of His Dreadlocks,” Washington Post, September 6, 2019, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/195290?t=12&akid=36821%2E4731121%2EpN6tau
- “6-Year-Old Boy with Dreadlocks Banned from Private School in Orange County,” Orlando Sentinel, August 14, 2018, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/163219?t=14&akid=36821%2E4731121%2EpN6tau
- “Louisiana Girl Sent Home from School over Braided Hair Extensions” NBC News, August 22, 2018, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/163220?t=16&akid=36821%2E4731121%2EpN6tau
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