McKenzie vents outrage, grief in a time built for just that
Union’s Mark McKenzie vents outrage and grief in a time built for just that
“My name is Mark McKenzie. I’m a black man and proud of it to the core. I’m a human and deserve every bit of respect as my counterparts. I’m a son. I’m a brother. I’m an athlete. I’m a student. I’m a contributing member of society. And there is no reason why the pigment of my skin justifies whether or not my life is of equal value to another. I love who I am, I love my culture, and I wouldn’t change a thing about it.”
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When Mark McKenzie opened Instagram on May 29, the Philadelphia Union defender had more on his mind than one post could contain.
As he tells it, the caption he composed didn’t just take into account the emotions of the moment — of the police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville and Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia. McKenzie’s words were informed by much more...
By black people in America being “captive to an oppressor for centuries,” by discrimination, by segregation, by “the modern-day slavery in a way with mass incarceration of black men” and by “the corruption of police brutality and the injustices of people not being held accountable for these acts.”
McKenzie chose a blackand-white photo, clad in a puffer coat and New York Yankees hat, hands clasped as if in prayer, gaze penetrating straight ahead. And he wrote his peace of the moment, far from the beginning of his personal activism but rather one moment of many.
“There’s so many layers to this, and it goes back a long time, but getting people to understand that this experience of being a black man, a black person in the United States, you feel helpless at times, you feel hopeless, you feel like you’re not supposed to ever win,” McKenzie told the Daily times Friday. “And when you get a little glimmer of hope, it gets snatched away at the end by another piece of injustice. Just venting these thoughts and allowing people to really understand what it’s like to be in my shoes in a way, and my white counterparts won’t ever understand what it’s like to be black, but at the same time, getting them to personalize that. If you know me, you know I’m a passionate person, and you’re able to feel that emotion. …
“I really wanted to allow people to connect with the mental state I was at and to know the pain that I was in, know the frustration. And to know what we need to do in order to try to make change and not just change for the short term but longlasting change.”
McKenzie is one of many MLS players who’ve joined the chorus of athletes and citizens, black and white, in the U.S. and abroad, calling for systemic racial justice reform. They include Portland Timbers forward Jeremy Ebobissie, Minnesota United midfielder Jacori Hayes and FC Dallas (and former Union) forward Fafa Picault, who have used team and personal platforms to publish their thoughts on the recent killings and protests. Another former Union forward, CJ Sapong, and Columbus forward Derrick Etienne have garnered national attention for sharing their experiences with racism.
In Europe, Americans have led the soccer-related demonstrations. Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams, both of whom play in the German Bundesliga, have written Floyd’s name on their gear. Zack Steffen, a Downingtown native and former Union Academy player, launched a movement, VOYCEnow, that has raised more than $35,000 for racial justice issues as of Sunday night. They’ve been joined by players of color from European nations, and protests against inequality have resounded across the globe.
McKenzie has shared a locker room with many of those players, for the Union or the U.S. national team. He’s heartened by the outpouring of activism, even at a time when short-term joys are both in short supply and not his objective. At 21, he’s on the young side the professional spectrum, and he’s drawn support and inspiration from some of those more established professionals in sculpting how to best use his platform.
“It’s one thing to connect with a guy because you play football together, but to have someone understand what it’s like to wear this skin color and to have them feel very similar emotions but also to feel confident speaking up and speaking out, it provides a sense of comfort in a way,” he said. “It’s tough to say ‘comfort’ in the state that we’re in right now as a country, as a people, but that solidarity is much needed. And it’s not just in the football industry or just black people, but we see people of all different races, we see this as a humanitarian issue rather than a skin-color issue.”
McKenzie’s process of expressing his feelings involved talking with family and friends. He is outspoken about his Christian faith, and he appreciates the God-given platform he has earned with his athletic ability. In putting his thoughts out into the world, he sought to not just vent anger and frustration but hasten the change he wants to see.
McKenzie often comes back to the notion of “being comfortable being uncomfortable,” a phrase he credits his parents with instilling. It applies in his profession, being willing to push through pain and challenges on the field to constantly improve. Never was it more relevant in the soccer sense than in 2019, when McKenzie battled through a concussion, appendicitis and ankle and hamstring injuries that cost him most of the season. He still returned as a starter for the Union’s playoff win over the New York Red Bulls, then earned his first national team cap in February.
McKenzie puts the issue into stark terms, because
that’s his life-and-death reality.
“Silence is what in essence has gotten black people killed and people of color killed,” he said. “In its purest form, silence is turning a blind eye to the injustices and the corruption that we have here in this country. Silence is ignoring the elephant in the room in order to remain comfortable in that privilege. Silence is what could potentially, and it’s crazy to put it this way, but silence is something that could get me killed possibly or my god-brother or my cousin or my uncle, my dad or my teammates or my friends. It’s as real as that.
“Now more than ever, it’s either you’re with us or you’re against us. It’s not a matter of being with a specific people but it’s being with a specific cause. You’re either against
racism or you’re for racism. You either support it or you’re against it. It’s as clear as that. It’s as raw as that.”
McKenzie hopes this will be a moment for substantive, long-lasting change, the kind of reform that affects not just him but his children and their children. It’s a difficult position to take at times, he admits, for the litany of moments of outrage that have produced only short-term patches or been absorbed by the oppressive status quo.
But he has pledged, by his words now and his actions in the past, to keep fighting.
“My voice WILL be heard and you WILL feel my presence,” McKenzie wrote in his post. “Like my mother taught me, ‘they don’t have to like you or love you, but they WILL respect you.’ And I WILL NOT settle for anything less.”