With NIL becoming more of a factor for college athletes not sure how effective this message will be. But if this gets any momentum wouldn’t be a good look for Florida schools. “The NAACP asked Black student-athletes to reconsider their decisions to attend public colleges and universities in the state of Florida, in response to the University of Florida and other state schools recently eliminating their diversity, equity and inclusion programs. NFL Hall of Famer and Florida great Emmitt Smith also spoke out, voicing his disgust at UF's decision and asking minority athletes at UF to "be aware and vocal" about the decision. Last year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill that prohibits the use of state funds for any DEI programs. As a result, the University of Florida announced on March 1 it had closed the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer, eliminated 13 full-time DEI positions and 15 administrative appointments and halted DEI-focused contracts with outside vendors.” ESPN-NAACP to Black players: Reconsider Fla. schools
Don't know that many will, but if a few do, it'll hurt. And the NAACP is right to do this. DeSantis has gone out of his way to send the message that Florida is hostile to Black people (among others).
I doubt Florida will be the only state to sign that kind of legislation. Good luck, NAACP. No more Disgusting Exclusionary Intolerance.
As I said on the insider board, if black athletes do heed the NAACP’s guidance DeSantis will surely count that as a win.
I kind of wonder if this becomes more widespread, the HBCUs will become more of an athletics destination
I said that on the Emmitt thread. Every state in the South would bring back Jim Crow if they thought they could get away with it. No idea if Florida’s DEI actions are “the worst”, but most SEC territory is likely going to be similar. I assume FL is getting the attention because of the actual actions at the school as far as black history and the firing of staff.
My point. But I agree DeSantis at best has shown himself indifferent to black history. I grew up in the south in the 50’s and 60’s and even as a kid was aghast at how black people were treated - youngsters calling a black man “boy”,, separate water fountains, etc., etc., etc. Fortunately, I had parents who wouldn’t tolerate looking down on anyone…..and they were born and raised in Mississippi!
You ever read Devil In the Grove? Took place in Lake County. I vividly remember the “hanging tree” in Newberry.
There’s a certain contingent who would love that. They would probably even start watching football leagues they didn’t previously watch.
see this is the issue with MAGA still living in the 60’s where black people were still “in their place”. Women were in the kitchen and LBGTQ people didn’t exist. You’ve encapsulated your world view perfectly. Good luck fielding an all white team. Maybe the KKK can help you out.
Once again this board completely overreacts. I agree with DeSantis decision to end DEI as it does nothing but foster division and hatred. But like anything else it's the racist Democrats who see racism in everything. Not wanting DEI at the university level and not wanting kids in grade school to be told that white people are the root of all evil in the world does not mean we want to go back to the 1960's. I don't want blacks to have to use different bathrooms or water fountains. I don't want segregation in schools (though many blacks seem to ironically want that themselves). I don't want blacks not to be able to eat at restaurants. I want blacks to be able to vote, get married and have the same rights as any other race in the U.S. You want to paint wide brushes. I could argue the left's end goal is to be just like Russia, the country they supposedly hate. That the left's end goal is complete and utter communism where the Government controls every aspect of your life, you'll own nothing and you'll eats bugs. Heck I could go even more extreme. I think an argument could be made that the left's end goal is to be one with a Global World Order who's end goal is the destruction and elimination of the white race. That the left is the one that wants genocide. Both sides can play the overgeneralization game. On the pure sports front I think the decision will be interesting. I don't really see that many black kids saying "hey the NAACP doesn't want us to go to UF so I'll go to LSU instead" or "the NAACP has told us Florida is dangerous, I won't go to FSU and will go to Clemson instead". The NAACP is pretty darn corrupt themselves and I don't think have nearly as much sway as they think they do. I think it would get more interesting if more states do this and I think more will. If that happens it won't just be in the South like you all want to believe, it'll be in the Midwest and some of the Mountain West states as well. Is the NAACP prepared to tell black kids to essentially not go to 15 - 20 states? That could get interesting as it would make it a more national discussion and movement. I could then see it pushing more black kids back to the HBCU's. Even if that happened though it still won't be the elite black kids because we all know the HBCU's don't have anywhere near the money or financial support to compete with the SEC or Big Ten or heck even the Big 12 or ACC. Many HBCU's are struggling just to survive. Money still talks at the end of the day.
And yet someone like you would have no problem watching an all black team. By all metrics blacks are completely overrepresented in football and basketball. By the way commercials are nowadays you would think blacks are 50% of the U.S. May I remind you black people only make up around 14% of the U.S. population, primarily in the South and urban areas of the Northeast and Midwest. There are still many areas of the country that have very few black people. With that said, I don't care if blacks are overrepresented on sports teams because it should be on merit, not race. I would argue there's a certain contingent of people, like you, on the left, who would love to see whites banned from sports.
