It’s January, a time when organizations, politicians and individuals who hated Dr. Martin Luther King when he was alive partake in fake “wokeness” by invoking his words. So, it’s only fitting that the UCLA gymnastics team’s IG account would follow suit.
At UCLA, former freshman gymnast Alexis Jeffrey was using racial slurs against both Black and Asian people. Despite her fellow teammates expressing their offense to her, she continued. Realizing that their teammate obviously didn’t care about their feelings or warnings, they alerted their coaches. However, rather than confronting and penalizing the student for her derogatory language, the coaches told the young women that they needed to embrace her and be more supportive of her because she threatened to harm herself if she were to get in trouble.
Ultimately, rather than face consequences, which seemed unlikely based upon the coach’s response to the incident, the offending gymnast put in a transfer to LSU. Afterward the gymnasts who stood up against racism were told not to speak about the situation to the NCAA.
Then, during a recent meet in support of Black Lives Matter where the gymnasts wore BLM emblazoned leotards, the UCLA IG account posted a photo with the Martin Luther King Jr. quote, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Continue reading over at First and Pen.
This content has been brought to you by First and Pen in partnership with TheHub.News. First and Pen — “Informing, inspiring and connecting through voices of color in sports.”