Why I Won't Stick To Sports: Brooke Hudson
Activism must go beyond the words
Brooke Hudson
Why I Won’t Stick to Sports is a first-person series written by Colorado State student-athletes. Nationally, athletes are told to “stick to sports”, but as members of the community, they have ideas, motivations and a passion for creating meaningful change in the world. Their talents and knowledge are not limited to fields of play. In their own words, this is why our student-athletes will not stick to sports.
I chose to play volleyball competitively when I was 9, and ever since then I have loved the sport, but that is not the only thing I love. I love being a Black woman and that is never going to change.
I wrote a poem to describe what it is like to be Black in America. It is called “Real World for Black Americans” and here it is:
Real World For Black Americans
They say kneeling for the flag is unpatriotic
They say it is disrespectful to the troops
But they are “defending themselves” when they kill black people in groups.
“Making America great again” that’s their pride and joy
They want to build a wall
But tell Black athletes to just shut up and ball.
My hoodie is the reason I am getting killed
‘I can’t breathe’ must mean just choke me harder
Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin, and George Floyd were Black martyrs.
Being Black in America means always getting “the talk” at the age of 5
And no, not the birds and the bees
But the one where you freeze
Putting your hands on the dash and you not moving your keys.
Being Black in America means not making any sudden movements
For those could be life threatening.
We try to just make it home alive
Because a new hashtag is deafening
But when the bullet is calling our name, it is hard to survive.
For me, sticking to sports is not an option. When my livelihood is at stake because of the man in the
White House, there is nothing more important to me than voting him out November 3rd. They love to say “keep politics out of sports”, but that is only if you are Black.
There has never been a time that politics were not in sports. During the 1968 Olympics, athletes Tommie
Smith and John Carlos each raised a black-gloved fist during the playing of the U.S. national anthem while on the podium to silently protest racial discrimination. They didn’t stick to sports. Denver Nuggets guard Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf decided to stop standing for the national anthem in 1996. Abdul-Rauf chose not to stand because “the flag was a symbol of oppression.” He was in the middle of the best year of his career when then-NBA commissioner David Stern suspended him. He didn’t stick to sports. Members of the 2012 Miami Heat, including Dwyane Wade and LeBron James, wore hoodies to protest the death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager who was shot to death in Florida, before a game. They didn’t stick to sports. Today, with this election, the stakes are even higher, and I am not sticking to sports.
There are countless Black lives who have lost their voice to the systemic racism and disgusting justice system we have in this country, so it is my duty to use my voice in the best way I can. I am so honored to have the platform and following that I do, and a lot of that is thanks to the sport of volleyball. One day, volleyball and my athletic abilities will fade away, but I WILL ALWAYS BE A BLACK WOMAN. Malcolm X said it best; he said "The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman." and that statement still holds true to this day. I am using my platform to be that voice. I want to change the way Black people are perceived in our society. I want to change how politics only benefits the rich white men. I think a lot of systems and structures need to be torn down and rebuilt because reforming cannot fix what is broken. There needs to be many systematic changes within our country before “Liberty and justice for all” means FOR ALL. It starts with voting, first for this presidential election and every other election after that. It starts with your local representatives, and mayors and attorney generals.
Becoming an activist within my community was not easy, and it was not something I always had in mind.
When you have a natural gift of leadership, shared with a passion for equality and justice that is kind of what happens. For me, my activism goes beyond the protesting and it is about educating. I can go out and protest all day, but if I surround myself with people who are educated, I am breaking through to no one. My biggest thing is reaching the people you can reach. Starting conversations within your family and friend groups, within your teams and between coaches, because they are the most reachable. I have done my fair share of protest and I will continue to do so. But if I am not living out my truth and trying to do what I say during those protests, I am not fulfilling or accomplishing my goal.
There have been many incidents on this campus within the almost two years that I have been here, and the way that the university handled these incidents really disappointed me. The one thing I am so thankful for though is the CSU volleyball program and coaches. They have allowed me to completely use my platform as a CSU athlete to call out the school, bring awareness, voice my complaints of the school and speak out about ways that we can better handle them going forward. As my platform for being an activist grows, I am asked to speak to the CSU administration and the athletic department, and I am able to voice my complaints in a very constructive way. This school has a long way to go to truly become “anti-racist” and I hope that my platform and my voice helps them get there.
I hope that with my voice and the help of so many other great athletes that choose to take a stand with me, that there is change to come. I want to make it better for every Black female athlete that comes after me, and THAT IS WHY I WILL NOT STICK TO SPORTS.
Brooke Hudson is a sophomore on the volleyball team, part of the John Mosley Leadership program and a member of the President’s Multicultural Student Advisory Committee at CSU.