UConn not shy about social issues
Auriemma applauds his players for active, conscious voices
Paige Bueckers describes her little brother, Drew Thomas Bueckers, as "a really funny guy."
"He's kind of annoying sometimes," Bueckers said during a video chat last week with members of the media. "He's just a seven-year-old boy with a whole bunch of energy. He was sad when I left, but we FaceTime almost every day."
Drew is Black, putting the Black Lives Matter movement at the forefront for Bueckers, a freshman member of the UConn women's basketball team and billed as the program's star in waiting.
Bueckers, from Hopkins, Minn., was the No. 1 recruit in the high school Class of 2020 and was recently named Gatorade Female Athlete of the Year for all sports. She said for some reason it is frowned upon to make a statement like UConn great Breanna Stewart once did predicting four straight national championships for the Huskies, yet she doesn't see why anyone would want to lose.
Bueckers smiled throughout her session with the media. The 18-yearold talked of using her platform for social justice.
"I have a little brother who's mixed with Black and white, so I don't personally go through it, but I have a little brother who does and I just want him to grow up in a world that accepts Black people and doesn't judge them based on the color of their
skin," said Bueckers, who is white. "I'm all for it.
"I just try to use my image to make a positive impact. I'm one of those supporters. Like they say, 'All lives can't matter until Black lives matter' and I'm huge for it."
UConn coach Geno Auriemma was not surprised by the dedication to activism from his prized freshman.
The entire UConn team, in fact, released a strongly worded statement following the death of George Floyd on May 26 at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department.
The message read, in part: "We are proud to be a team made up of diverse women who will never stop pushing for the most basic human rights for our people. Standing up, fighting for what you believe in, and bringing attention to these injustices is the only way it will progress. As a team, we are here. We are listening. We are woke. #BLACKLIVESMATTER."
In addition, three UConn players Monday, sophomore Anna Makurat and freshmen Nika Muhl and Autumn Chassion, wore T-shirts to their interview sessions which read: "Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor." Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was in her apartment on March 13 when she was fatally shot by members of the Louisville Metro Police Department carrying out a no-knock warrant.
Auriemma likened his players' commitment to social justice to the college students of the 1960s.
"As you can remember in the 1960s, the late '60s, it was college kids who led the charge," Auriemma said on a video conference later in the day. "It was young people who led the charge, who said, 'Hey, the world needs to change.' And little by little they were able to affect change in so many ways, culturally, socially.
"It was an incredible time and now here you have 50 years later ... it's not just one issue that these college kids or high school kids even are dealing with . ... I think they get a bad rap, you know, today's generation. As a coach I'm always saying, 'Today's players, man, they're a pain in the ass to coach.' Well, I said the same thing 50 years ago.
"I haven't changed, but I think they're smart and they're socially conscious. I'm just amazed at how insightful they've been."
Auriemma hadn't yet heard Bueckers' earlier remarks, but he was confident that she represented herself capably.
"The world that we live in right now is complicated and it's got a lot of layers to it," Auriemma said. "I know a lot of people try to make it pretty simple. That's what is happening in the world right now, 'You either agree with what I said or you're dead wrong,' which seems to be the way most discussions go today.
"I hope (Bueckers) spoke in a way that lends some balance to, 'Yeah, I can see the big picture.' Paige is a very insightful kid. She's very much aware and she's not self-absorbed."
Junior captain Christyn Williams also addressed using her social media platform toward social justice.
Williams and fellow captains Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Evina Westbrook were the ones who asked their teammates for thoughts, raw and uncensored, following the death of Floyd. The captains crafted the team statement regarding Floyd from all of their teammates' contributions.
Williams said she is optimistic for change moving forward with regard to racial bias.
"I think some things have already changed. I think it was our best foot forward," Williams said. "People are supporting the movement. People are talking about it. People are having hard conversations about it. It's unfortunate (Floyd's death) had to happen for it to move forward, but I'm very hopeful it is going to move forward and make a positive change."
Bueckers' hometown of Hopkins, meanwhile, is approximately 14 miles west of Minneapolis. She called the atmosphere surrounding Floyd's death, which resulted in widespread protests, "pretty crazy."
Bueckers marched, she said, and donated to food drives. She looks to previous UConn players, such as Stewart, with whom she is friendly, to find her voice.
Most notably, UConn alums Maya Moore, Renee Montgomery and Tiffany Hayes all took the season off from playing in the WNBA to further fight for social justice, hoping to affect change.
Moore, in particular, took on the case of family friend Jonathan Irons, who had been sentenced to 50 years in a Missouri state prison for a crime which Moore believed he did not commit. Irons was freed in July.
"They really use their platform to do great things in the social justice campaign," Bueckers said of her UConn predecessors. "I just try to follow in their footsteps. They just said to keep your voice, don't ever be silent, don't ever let up."
Bueckers shies away from comparison on the basketball court to UConn's former greats. But in this venue, thanks, in part to Drew, she is happy to have a common cause.
"It sucks having to have those conversations with your little brother on how he should act 'cause of their skin color," Bueckers said. "He's only seven. It's even harder. He's so young and he doesn't truly understand it.
"Yeah, I'm scared for him. I'm scared for myself because that's my little brother. He's like my best friend, really. I'm really close with him. Just having that fear one wrong judgment and his life could be on the line. It's super scary and it's something I want to change, I want to help change." v.fulkerson@theday.com