San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
UCLA GYMNASTS MAKE STATEMENT
One after another, UCLA gymnasts repeated the same silent message. When the music stopped after their floor routines, each Bruin raised a fist in the air, holding final poses intentionally modified to make the perfect punctuation to UCLA’S first Black excellence meet.
What started as an offhand suggestion from choreographer BJ Das turned into one of the most poignant details of UCLA’S first meet dedicated to racial justice as the 13th-ranked Bruins won 197.025-196.5 over Oregon State on Saturday at Pauley Pavilion. Not only did all four of UCLA’S Black gymnasts — Sekai Wright, Margzetta Frazier, Chae Campbell and Nia Dennis — compete in the floor rotation and flash the symbol of racial equality at the end of their routines, but so did two of their White teammates, Emma Andres and Pauline Tratz.
The extra effort from the entire team “shook me to my core in a way that was so emotionally beautiful,” Frazier said.
“Something as bold as a power fist, which is very historical to Black people, something that can be seen as evil by some ignorant people, for them to do that really meant the world to me,” said the junior, who tied her allaround career high with a 39.55.
UCLA was planning the meet for months after the team had candid conversations about last summer’s protests about racial inequality and police brutality. In addition to special leotards that featured a picture of a raised fist on the right shoulder and the modified floor routines, the Bruins (5-1, 4-1 Pac-12) peppered the event with tributes to Black culture like a pre-meet rendition of the Black national anthem “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and “Black lives matter” T-shirts that the team wore during warmups and at the awards ceremony.