Here’s what we know about protests by Mississippi teams
The topic of social injustice was not lost on the Magnolia State this week.
From Oxford to Starkville and on down to Hattiesburg, the Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Southern Miss athletic programs showed signs of solidarity for social reform.
Four days after Jacob Blake, a 29year-old black male, was shot in the back seven times by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and one day after NBA players boycotted three playoff games, Mississippi State football players boycotted their practice Thursday.
Ole Miss players boycotted Friday morning’s practice. Southern Miss players stayed off the field Friday, too. As the nation continues to grapple with racial strife, the state of Mississippi made sure it did not stay silent.
‘Much more than football players’
Mississippi State players convened at Unity Park in downtown Starkville instead of practicing Thursday.
Unity Park is the same site where many Mississippi State athletes gathered for the start of the Starkville Justice March started in June. The Bulldogs posed for a picture in front of a wall of plaques commemorating fame Civil Rights activists President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Medgar Evers and others.
That photo will forever be a memento of the message MSU football stood for –
a message coach Mike Leach shared support for in a tweet Thursday evening.
“I am proud to be the Head Football Coach at Mississippi State,” Leach said in his tweet. “I applaud our players for expressing some of their fears and anxieties today. I support them and look forward to working with them tomorrow, to use football to elevate us and the people around us. Hail State!”
While they were scheduled to be throwing, catching and tackling in preparation for Sept. 26’s season opener at LSU and before they congregated at the park, many of Mississippi State players took to Twitter to explain their stances.
“We are much more than football players!” sophomore defensive lineman Devon Robinson tweeted. “It’s a bigger picture.. #Blacklivesmatter I Stand with my team till the end . ... ”
“No more will we tolerate the injustice in this country the time for change is now and we can’t wait any longer #Blacklivesmatter,” sophomore safety Shawn Preston tweeted.
Taking Leach’s lead, multiple coaches praised the players.
“So proud to be on this football staff,” director of player development Jay Perry tweeted. “But even more excited to work with our players. Often they teach me much more than I could ever teach them. I’m with you, men!”
A march to The Square
Ole Miss got in on the activism less than 24 hours after Mississippi State’s display.
Instead of their regularly scheduled practice on Friday morning, players marched and gathered on The Square in downtown Oxford in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. The players gathered in front of the monument on The Square that commemorates Confederate soldiers. Players were vocal about wanting to see the monument removed or relocated this summer.
Players posted videos from the event. In one video the team chanted “Black Lives Matter” and “Hands up, don’t shoot” as some players raised their fists in the air.
Coach Lane Kiffin marched with his players.
“As the Ole Miss football family, we are committed to change,” the school said in a statement. “Police brutality and other injustices occurring across our nation have to end, and our team stands united to embrace our diversity and promote a culture of peace, equality and understanding. Regardless of our backgrounds, we all need to listen to each other and learn to respect and love our differences.”
Junior linebacker Jacquez Jones tweeted a photo of the players standing together in front of the monument. The player at the front and center held a sign that said “END POLICE BRUTALITY.” Jones’ captioned his tweet, “Stand Up For Nothing, Fall For Anything” with the “BLM” hashtag.
Ole Miss players Momo Sanogo and Ryder Anderson organized a march in June in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of George Floyd’s death. That march raised more than $3,000 of the Boys and Girls Club of Oxford.
‘We live by a brotherhood’
Southern Miss took its stand Friday, too.
The athletic department released the following statement around noon Friday
on behalf of the players:
“We live by a brotherhood. We hold ourselves to high standards on and off the field of play. We cannot be silent to instances of racial injustice in our country any longer.
“We are not practicing today. Instead, we are standing up against racial injustices and extending our brotherhood to actively speak out against racism.
“We will march from The Rock at 5:00 p.m. and stand in solidarity at the front of campus.”
The Golden Eagles are less than a week away from their season-opener against South Alabama on Sept. 3, but some things are bigger than football. Coach Jay Hopson led a team march in June and has been vocal about the importance of unity this month too.
“We kind of want the country to look at us or look at a lot of football programs and see how brotherhood works,” Hopson said. “A brotherhood is everybody standing together, loving each other, helping each other because you know there’s strength in diversity.”
Contact Tyler Horka at thorka@gannett.com. Follow @tbhorka on Twitter. To read more of Tyler’s work, subscribe to the Clarion Ledger today!