MAAC announces United for Justice campaign

The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference announced its United for Justice campaign that will work to combat racial injustice.

The movement spurned by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis has spurred athletes and coaches across the country to speak out. The MAAC said in a statement on Thursday that it has several initiatives to raise awareness and get studentathletes involved in the community.

The MAAC initiatives include:

• The Student-Athlete Advisory Committees (SAAC) has begun a Voter Registration Initiative with a goal to ensure all student-athletes have the ability and means to exercise their right to vote come Election Day. In support of the program, student-athletes will be granted a mandatory day off from athletic activities on Nov. 3 to ensure they can exercise their right to vote.

• MAAC SAAC is working on developing a Diversity and Inclusion

Subcommittee to add to its governance structure to give student-athletes a platform to discuss topics with conference administrators.

• For the upcoming basketball season, the MAAC will provide member schools with floor decals and digital board content that focuses on the Black Lives Matter and MAAC United for Justice messaging.

• Teams will be encouraged to develop and participate in Martin Luther King Jr. Day programming to celebrate his legacy and commitment to social change.

• An Education Day programming element developed by women’s basketball head coaches will take place in the month of February to teach kids in local communities the importance and influence of Black History Month.

• Basketball coaches will participate in a reading program that will directly benefit elementary and middle schools in their communities.

• For all sports, student-athletes and coaches will have the opportunity to wear social justice patches, pins, and pregame warmup shirts to show support on gamedays.

“We are trying to promote unity and equality for all mankind,” said Rider coach Kevin Baggett, who is one of four Black men’s head coaches in the league. “Break down social biases when it comes to Black and Brown people and all people of color. The MAAC’s goal when it comes to men’s and women’s basketball, which is dominated by Blacks, is to promote that Black Lives Matter on behalf of our players and Black coaches.

“My personal goal is to educate as many people on the importance that Black Lives Matter, just as all lives matter! To continue to carry out Dr. Martin Luther King’s message ‘that one day we wouldn’t be judged not by the color of our skin, but by the content of our character.’ This is very important to me because it’s time for change. We have been dealing with these same issues for over 400 years and enough is enough. We will no longer put up with it and I think there are a lot of white Americans who are finally waking up and saying enough is enough on our behalf. Black America is only made up of 15%, we need white people to finally take a stand with us!”