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Why Emmitt Smith’s voice is so powerful after the DEI ban

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One moment, football legend Emmitt Smith is there drinking beer with fellow Hall of Famer Peyton Manning. The next moment he is an advocate for diversity, equality and inclusion.

When University of Florida closed down its DEI officelargely as a consequence of A a bill signed into law in 2023 by Governor Ron DeSantis that prohibits state universities from spending money on diversity, equity and inclusion programsSmith responded with harsh criticism.

“I am completely disgusted by UF’s decision and the precedent it sets,” Smith wrote Sunday afternoon in a press release on X, formerly often called Twitter. “We cannot proceed to imagine and trust that a leadership team of the same ethnicity will make the right decision in terms of equality and variety. History has already shown that this is not the case.”

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One might have a look at Smith’s Hall of Fame football profession and his penchant for being a pitcher and think he would don’t have anything to say about pressing civil rights issues. This narrative couldn’t be farther from the truth. Facing the stark challenges facing DEI programs at his alma mater, and with a deep sense of stability from history, Smith made a persuasive rebuke of policies inspired by politicians like DeSantis.

Smith’s position could appear unfathomable at the present time when athletes, current and former, care so much about public opinion and marketing dollars. But such comments should not just words from a bygone era, with baseball pioneers Jackie Robinson and Curt Flood, whose lawsuit against the MLB led to free agency. Similar statements were common just over three years ago when The murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police galvanized a generation’s demands for civil rights.

But why Smith? Why is he the NFL’s all-time leading rusher? Smith’s reasons are baked into his being.

Smith was born in 1969 in Pensacola, Florida – the same 12 months that city’s all-white Escambia High School was desegregated on federal orders. Escambia High School had a Confederate soldier as its mascot, flew the Rebel flag and the school song was “Dixie.” Protests by black students at football games and anxious residents led to a federal ruling in 1973 that banned the use of Confederate symbols and altered the mascot to the Raiders. The school board appealed the ruling in 1974, and in 1975 a federal appeals court overturned the order and remitted the case to the school board.

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After students voted to maintain the mascot name Raiders, on February 5, 1976, a violent riot broke out at the school, resulting in described in March 1976:

“Years of racial hostility on this Florida city have erupted into violence in recent weeks over whether the local highschool sports teams can be called the Rebels or Raiders. Controversy over the name, which has been ongoing out and in of court for several years, sparked a riot at Escambia County High School on February 5. This afternoon, 120 Ku Klux Klan members in full regalia, but with their faces legally uncovered, paraded through the facility through the streets of Milton, a small town about 20 miles east of here. They arrived on the town in an 80-person caravan from outside Pensacola and called the march an “organizational effort.” Three Klan leaders from Alabama, Georgia and Florida attended the rally, which drew 450 people. “Four students were hit by gunfire during the school riot, 26 others were injured and $5,000 in damage was caused to the school during four hours of fighting, rock throwing and smashing of windows, trophy cases and other school property.”

Smith graduated from Escambia just over a decade later, in 1987.

Birmingham, Alabama Mayor Randall Woodfin (left) speaks with Auburn Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl (right) before the game between Auburn and Saint Louis at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama, December 14, 2019.

Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

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American history, regardless of how joyful or wretched, is never too removed from the present. That’s why Smith’s criticism of his alma mater, the University of Florida, carries so much weight. It also helps, after all, that he’s the NFL’s all-time leading rusher.

“Rather than demonstrating courage and leadership, we continue to fail due to systemic issues, and with this decision, UF has adapted to contemporary political pressures,” Smith noted in his statement.

Birmingham, Alabama Mayor Randall Woodfin recalled the University of Alabama’s sordid history of segregation in his criticism of the state’s proposed anti-DEI law. He further said that if such laws is passed, he would encourage Black athletes and oldsters “attend other out-of-state institutions that prioritize diversity and inclusion

“While I am Bama’s biggest fan, I have no problem with organizing activities for Black parents and athletes at other out-of-state institutions that prioritize diversity and inclusion,” Woodfin posted last month in X. “If supporting inclusion becomes a it’s an illegal state on this country, rattling it, you would possibly as well stand at the school door like Governor Wallace. Mannnn is Black History Month. You could have not less than waited until March 1st.

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Let some say it, the most significant goalie in Alabama history was then-Gov. George Wallace’s segregationist stance at the school door, where he symbolically stood to dam two black students. And yet, like most of Wallace’s profession, it was a political stance and the students got here through.

All this uncertainty and anxiety doesn’t make life easier for school athletes, who find themselves at the center of a rapidly changing landscape as a consequence of the NCAA and name, image and likeness. On the one hand, it is interesting that after this era, NIL is on the verge of rapid development the order effectively limited the NCAA’s authority to punish athletes (and universities). At the same time, it is troubling to think that athletes are depending on institutions that don’t prioritize DEI.

It’s also price mentioning that we needs to be clear about terms like DEI and NIL, especially since people want them cut and dried. People hear “NIL” and think all college athletes earn cash. If this were the case, student-athletes wouldn’t compete the first $600 that comes their way. Thank you, EA Sports. People hear “DEI” and dismiss the intentions of diversity and equity initiatives, even when there is evidence to support it DEI is not so pro-black as you would possibly think.

Dartmouth players and coaches talk on the bench during a game against Columbia on Feb. 16 in New York. On March 5, the men’s basketball team voted to hitch the university’s Community Service Employees Union.

Adam Gray/Getty Images

The solution for school athletes could also be much like GameStop’s motto – “power to gamers.” Just this week, March 5, Dartmouth basketball players voted to hitch the local unionwhich meant that athletes took public motion for the first time as employees.

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We should work to support college athletes on all fronts, whether financially or socially. It is clear that they’re often pawns at the expense of billions of dollars in campus interests, whether on or off the field. We mustn’t only unlock their profession potential, but in addition their understanding of history and its connection to the present.

Or, as Smith put it at the end of his fascinating commentary: “And for those who think it’s not your problem and stand by and say nothing, you are complicit in supporting systemic problems.”

Ken J. Makin is a contract author and host of the Makin’ A Difference podcast. Before and after commenting, he thinks about his wife and sons.


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Jalen Milroe can follow the Jalen path in NFL

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Star Black playmakers aren’t any longer an exception – they’re the rule. Throughout the entire football season, this series will discover the importance and influence of black QB from bottom -up to NFL.


Indianapolis-keep me, should you heard it earlier: playmaker Alabama born in Texas, who’s a stronger runner than a passerby, will probably be called outside the first round of the NFL Draft.

The playmaker was undefeated in Sec as a primary -year starter.

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The playmaker never played for the same offensive coordinator.

The name of the playmaker is even Jalen.

But it isn’t clear that Jalen hurts. This winter he was busy winning the Super Bowl MVP, and he didn’t play Iron Bowl or against Michigan.

Instead, it’s a former playmaker of Crimson Tide Jalen Milroewho last week Combine Combine tried to convey the case to the trainers and evaluators that he – like his namesake – is price being their playmaker franchise in the future despite questions on his ability.

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“I went through adversity. I saw everything as a quarterback, “Milroe said on Friday. “I played at the most difficult conference in the country. It would be easier to play at other conferences, but what I could see in Sec catapulted me that I was ready to play NFL. “

Alabama, Jalen Milroe, talks to the media during the NFL mix at the Lucas Oil stadium on February 28 at Indianapolis.

Justin Casterline/Getty Images

Departing from Katy in Texas, she originally got involved in Texas in 2019, but a 12 months later she fell to Alabama. After he was sitting behind the Crimson Tide Starter Bryung for 2 seasons, Milroe took his reins in the 2023 season. He helped Alabama survive Sec (8-0) this 12 months, won by the conference rival and two-time defender Georgia in the SEC championship, which caused Crimson Tide to the play-off collection.

But while Milroe had a big arm (his 10 yards for the test took third place in Sec in 2023), the pass was not his strong suit. For two seasons as a starter Milroe never achieved 3000 yards in one season, the first starter of Alabama, who did it because it … hurts.

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Hurts, from Houston, led Crimson Tide to the National National Championships in 2016–17, but during these two seasons were lower than 5,000 yards. While Hurts was a singular Rusher (1,809 yards and 21 sticks) at the moment, his weakness as a passerby is known for led to the spare Tua Tavailoa during the break of the national championships in 2017.

In the mix, Milroe decided that despite his pedestrian passes, he was still worthy of being a start at NFL.

He is aware of his weaknesses and swore that he worked in the ass to enhance outside being “one dimension.” He could move when his legendary trainer, Nick Saban, retired after the 2023 season, but decided to not fall off. He traveled six miles a day to ensure that that something was left in the fourth quarter in the fourth quarter. He studied progression and reads after I-SNAP to lift his IQ in football.

Unlike the forecast sorts of the first round, Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, Milroe threw a mix on Saturday, hoping that he would show the bands that he has mechanics to do that to the playmaker NFL. It turned out to be a mixed bag. Milroe showed strong arm strength and a very good location of sail routes, curls and it while throwing exercises, but fought accuracy on intermediate and on the routes.

“That’s so many things that I can learn more where I am today and where I will be when it comes to day 1, starting with NFL,” said Milroe before Saturday exercises. “Always be a game student, at all times attempt to develop, because it would be so many opportunities in which I can look back and say that it was the moment after I grew up as a playmaker.

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“That’s right now, I’m just trying to grow as much as possible, put my best foot forward and just look for development.”

Jalen Milroe warms up during seniors training at the Hancock Whitney stadium on January 29 at Mobile, Alabama.

Derick E. Hingle/Getty Images

Milroe was asked that he was one other playmaker in Alabama to succeed in the mix, following in the footsteps of the role (who moved to Oklahoma in 2019), Tavailoa, Mac Jones and Bryce Young. Milroe said he appreciates being in the company of others, but he added that it’s difficult to check him with others.

“We had different bands, we had different players around us, we had a different system,” he said.

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But when he specifically asked what he could study the journey of Hurts-from the first manager of the game after the super Bowl-Milroe master said he inspired him his companion Alabam.

“The most important thing I learned from J. Hurts is how he kept his head (I) always continued to work,” said Milroe. “He at all times raised his game, he has never been self -deserved, and all the pieces you see is great progress from him.

“And I have to applaud him as a person, he as a man, because he is definitely inspiring for many playmakers of my image, as well as many playmakers throughout the country. He leads to all of us. “

The couple isn’t completely similar. Hurts had about 20 kilos on Milroe when he was in college. Milroe has a stronger arm, while Hurts played more and not using a mistake of football: Milroe threw 17 interceptions and ate 67 bags for 2 seasons as a starter in comparison with 10 captures Hurts and 43 bags.

But they can each be changing the game when their teams need them. In a highly publicized match against Georgia at the starting of the last season, Milroe finished almost 82% of his passes on 374 yards and two appointments, adding 117 yards to the ground for the next two results.

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Milroe can also match the wounds in the so -called “Jalen-ISMS. “

“Climbing upstairs is not easy, but when you reach the top of this mountain, you will learn so many things when it comes to adversity when it comes to difficulties, things along the way,” said Milroe in a mix.

Martenzie Johnson is an older author for Andcape. His favorite film moment is that Django said: “You all want to see something?”

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Like Tommie Smith and John Carlos from 1968. Black Power Salute inspired me to find my goal

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I’d say that I grew up within the household to be sure that that me and my siblings were aware of the black history. My parents invested in the gathering of black encyclopedias. On the duvet we had a version of the Bible with Black Jesus. Our house was stuffed with books of black novelists and thinkers, and if a black document appeared, we watched it. I watched all movies made on television about Dr. King, each “Roots” and “Alex Haley’s Queen” and I sat for all 14 hours “Eyes on the reward”-as a toddler. Bless my heart.

Having said this, there have been pockets of black history, and more likely that I had no opportunity to delve into once I was a toddler. The college was where all the will for information and understanding of the combined. I attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., One of a very powerful historically black universities within the country. It was there that I met people from around the globe whose knowledge about black history differed (often depending on the colleges and the communities by which we lived), but everyone had hunger to learn more.

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One day, through the first yr, I remember one among my friends in a T -shirt by which I had definitely seen before, but I never paid attention to. There was a black and white screen printing on the shirt (what I do know now) the enduring moment on the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968, where on the rostrum for 200-meter medals, Tommie Smith, John Carlos (races 1. And 3. Place Finaners) Everyone gathered a black fist in gloves while he played “Star Spangled Banner”. Peter Norman, the second place from Australia, wore a human rights badge, like Smith and Carlos.

Not only did they raise the fist of black power (although they each said it was for human rights), they received medals in black socks to represent poverty within the black community, and Smith wore a black scarf for black pride. Carlos showed solidarity with blue-wheeled employees, unpacking the jacket and wore a necklace from the beads for individuals who were lynched. Due to the state of Black America in 1968 and a continuing struggle for equality and civil rights, there have been calls to a boycott of the Games. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was also killed in April this yr – and all three athletes were inspired enough to find a way to do it on the rostrum, which led to one of the crucial durable images of public protest.

I remember how I learned history and realized that on the most important scene these brave men used their moment of triumph and victory to quietly protest against the conditions of underrated communities in America. I felt strengthened; We often discuss standing on the arms of giants, however the more I got into the history of black in America, the more I spotted what number of giants there have been. In college I used to be very bad and for a while ready to burn every part that represented the establishment or any obstacle to black liberation. I felt like all those individuals who even saw their space on the planet in reference to individuals who could never give you the option to speak as heroes whose lives were to be modeled later. Especially since it was also fastidiously that putting people in front of him can often bring an enormous personal loss.

When Smith and Carlos took their position, they were booed on the stadium and ordered to be sent home by the International Olympic Committee. The athletes returned home, but they weren’t welcomed by the hero, but as a substitute of rough sleds, and even in some cases the specter of death. They were also not beloved by athletes. Two men, associated eternally in history, even have a good relationship –Carlos even claims that he let Smith go within the race Because “Tommie Smith would never put his fist in the sky if I won this race,” the claim that Smith denies.

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History ultimately has a way of rights, but it surely took a few years and realizations on the front of social policy, in order that the actions of those persons are perceived as brave and needed, not only selfish and smug.

The lessons that I learned from College and continuous reading and education I gained (my head remained within the book about black history) were one among the best advantages in HBCU. The very variety of books I learned about about which I actually have never heard of – I actually have upheld me all my life.

That is why I remember sooner or later I used to be walking around Washington, the eastern Washington market and a street seller was selling different photos of moments in black history, and he had a 40 -inch photo within the Tommie Smith and John Carlos frame. I paid for it in money and spent it across the capital of the country until I returned home. I do know that it happened in 2005 (I finished Morehouse College in 2001) because I just moved to my first apartment with no roommate and it was the very first thing that I actually have ever suspended on the wall. This picture within the frame still hangs on the wall in my home in 2025 and I used it to teach my children about sacrifice and privilege and how you may have to discuss individuals who cannot.

Teenage students of Stax Music Academy Mark 25th anniversary, black history month with a concert

The query that my youngest children often ask: “How do I know who can’t speak for herself?” Which is an incredible query. For this I answered an easy fact, pointing to the photo:

“These men have made a gesture that gave people whose most of us, including them, would never see or never know them, but on which life negatively affects the alternatives of the wealthy and the federal government. Sometimes you may have to take this chance to say something because you do not know in the event you’ll ever have such a big platform.

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Son, there may be at all times someone who cannot speak for himself, and you may have to use it in a voice, because perhaps the thing you say or a stand that can help someone you understand, live a greater life. ”

I take advantage of words that may understand a little bit higher, but I can inform you that my children have a look at this photo on a regular basis, and once one among my sons said: “These guys are heroes, right?”

I say yes, they’re. They are the heroes of the Black History.

They will live eternally for speaking, and even quietly, in solidarity with those that couldn’t.

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Panama Jackson Thegrio.com

(Tagstranslate) @Ap

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Main Treasury Official Morgan State University, Sterling Steward, died

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Morgan State University, Sterling Steward


Morgan State University announced that his older associate athletics director and tax director, Sterling Steward, died.

No reason for death was disclosed, but the college has confirmed his contribution since he was employed in December 2022.

Steward died on February 26. In Morgan State he was accountable for the event of university programs, supporting partnerships and strengthening the financial and operational success of the Faculty.

“Sterling was more than a colleague-he was a respected leader, mentor and friend,” said in a written statement by Den Freeman-Patton, vice chairman and director of inter-university athletes. “His passion for athletics and commitment to raising Morgan programs were visible in everything he did. He worked tirelessly to ensure that our sports students had resources and the possibilities of distinction, and its impact will be felt for many years. We expand our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones, especially his three sons and sister when we mourn this huge loss. “

While the steward worked in Morgan, strategic growth and cooperation occurred. His work with the institutional development department helped to offer more opportunities and created lasting relationships to support sports programs.

Steward earlier he worked At the University of New Orleans (UNO) as an assistant to the college athletics director for strategic income generation. He also made stays on the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Savannah State University, Mississippi Valley State University, Alabama State University, Kentucky State University, Eastern Oregon University and Xavier University in various roles, including for a senior consultant athletics director and sports director.

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He was from New Orleans, who received the title of bachelor and master’s degree on the University of Southern Mississippi. He won a bachelor’s degree in the sphere of coaching and administration/history of sport and his master’s degree in the sphere of sport management.

(Tagstransate) Morgan State Universiry

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