The NCAA once stood up for student athletes as the rights of some were attacked by those in power looking to harm, embarrass and restrict.
Yet the organization’s days of fighting for what’s right appear to be done.
As Republicans continue to wage a fake, completely unnecessary war against diversity, Blackness, the LGBTQ+ community and their favorite coded word of “wokeness,” the organization set up to serve and protect student athletes has gone silent despite that being one of their very goals.
It explicitly says so on its own site:
“The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a member-led organization dedicated to the well-being and lifelong success of college athletes.”
So what happened?
How could an organization that once stood against persecution go mute as the faux crusade against those they are designed to defend intensifies and spreads?
Hosting the tournaments in Texas, a state that has instituted severe voting restrictions, forcibly taken control of Houston schools and all but eliminated reproductive rights is contrary to the NCAA of the last two decades.
In 2001, the NCAA banned events from being held in states that flew the Confederate flag. In 2020 the NCAA Board of Governors expanded that policy to “prevent any NCAA championship events from being played in states where the symbol has a prominent presence.”
In 2016, the NCAA barred North Carolina from hosting championship events due to the state’s passage of HB2, dubbed the “bathroom bill,” which discriminated against the LGBTQ+ community.
“Current North Carolina state laws make it challenging to guarantee the host communities can help deliver on that commitment if NCAA events remained in the state,” said the NCAA Board of Governors when they announced their decision.
“Fairness is about more than the opportunity to participate in college sports, or even compete for championships,” said NCAA president Mark Emmert in a statement at the time. “We believe in providing a safe and respectful environment at our events and are committed to providing the best experience possible for college athletes, fans and everyone taking part in our championships.”
Yet a few short years later, the men’s and women’s Final Four and championship games are being held in a state that has attacked fairness for marginalized communities.
How quickly times change.
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