In 2016, NFL player and activist Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem in protest of anti-Black violence. Since 2020, the Howard University women's basketball team has done the same. But now the university has imposed a policy that will bring the Lady Bisons’ tradition to an end.
Howard's athletic department has announced that players must either stand for the anthem or stay in the locker room. According to the student newspaper, The Hilltop, the new policy took effect following a December 29 game against the United States Military Academy.
Is such a coercive policy necessary at an HBCU, designed to be a safe space for Black people? Howard students have a proud history of organizing and protesting. But Brian Davis, associate head coach of the women's basketball team, is afraid of protests putting the university in a “bad light.”
It is crucial to stand up against anti-Blackness in a country that's been actively harming, brutalizing, and disenfranchising our people since its inception. No one should be stopped from expressing this truth. Black students attending an HBCU, especially, should be encouraged to stand in solidarity with their community, not prohibited from doing so.
For generations, Black athletes have been using their platforms for this purpose. Why stop now? We should not censor ourselves to appease the anti-Black mainstream. And never on an HBCU campus.