When Silence is Too Loud

Before my current writing life, there was The Hilltop, Howard University’s and the Nation’s Oldest Black Collegiate Newspaper, where many of the questions and themes I still explore first found their voice. What follows are my early published works, preserved in their original form.

From The Hilltop Archives

Originally published in The Hilltop, Howard University — March 7th, 2003

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When Silence is Too Loud

Given the stage that athletes perform on, they are expected to maintain the status quo regardless of person beliefs. However, there are those who exploit the system and use their position to promote change. 

 

Craig Hodges is a political activist who had a wicked jump shot. After the Bulls won their first championship in 1991, Hodges used the team's visit to the White House to make a statement. 

 

Hodges went against the norm and wore a dashiki while his teammates were dressed in suits. He surprised people further when he handed President George H. W. Bush a letter citing and asking for rectifying measures of injustices against African Americans instead of presenting him with a number 14 jersey.

 

On the world's biggest sporting stage, the Olympics, there was one moment that will be etched in Olympic history forever: Tommie Smith and John Carlos' fists.

 

During the '68 Olympics in Mexico City, apartheid was happening in South Africa, the Vietnam War was in full swing and the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy sparked controversy and riots. 

 

These events were more than enough to move them to protest. 

 

With black-gloved fists in the air, Tommie Smith, right fist, and John Carlos, left fist, formed the arch of power and unity -- a black scarf symbolizing black pride and shoeless black socks representing black poverty -- they took a stand against a racist America. 

 

These and other athletes who stood up against the system were meet with opposition. 

 

Ali was imprisoned for his refusal to serve in the Vietnam War; Smith and Carlos were suspended from the U.S. national team and banned from the Olympic Village for the remainder of the games; and Hodges still contested that it was his politics, not his game, that got him blacklisted from the NBA.

 

This generation's political stand didn't come from a professional athlete or activist, rather Toni Smith, a senior point guard at Manhattanville College in Purchase, 30 miles out side of New York.

 

Since the start of the season, she has made it a routine to turn 90 degrees opposite her teammates and stand with her back to the flag. 

 

It wasn't until her game against King Point last Feb. 24 that her protest gained national attention. 

 

56-year-old Jerry Kiley, a Vietnam veteran, ran on the court with an American flag and confronted Smith saying that she had disgraced herself and the flag.

 

He was eventually escorted off the court by security. 

 

Smith intentions were not to start a controversy, but now that her actions are publicized, she has decided to voice her opinion. 

 

Smith recently released a 250-word statement explaining her intentions and her reasoning: 

 

 

 

"For some time now, the inequalities that are embedded into the American system have bothered me. And they are becoming progressively worse and it is clear that the government's priorities are not on bettering the quality of life for all of its people, but rather on expanding its own power, I cannot, in good conscience, salute the flag." 

 

 

 

Her freedom of speech is strikingly similar to that of a former NBA player.

 

Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf -- Chris Jackson before he converted to Islam in '91 -- also refused to stand and pay respect the American flag. 

 

Abdul-Rauf was the star point guard for the Denver Nuggets and during the '95-'96 season his actions were at odds with NBA regulations requiring players to stand "in a dignified posture" during the national anthem. 

 

Abdul-Rauf explained that the US flag was a symbol of oppression and tyranny and this country has a long history of both. 

 

The NBA was unimpressed 

 

Instead, they suspended him and fined him more than $30,000.

 

He eventually compromised, standing for the national anthem while privately praying for suffering humanity.

 

Athletes are placed in the media spotlight and enforced to bite their tongues on political issues. 

 

"In media and sports there are guidelines and we're forced to follow them," said Quadir Habeeb. "They don't want us to go against the grain and when we do they try and make it seem bad. It's taking away freedom of action."

 

He's an African American Studies major from Buffalo and is one of the centers on the basketball team, but that's only his part-time job. 

 

Habeeb, better known as Q, is a political poet. He's been featured throughout DC and will not be confined using every ounce of his free speech.

 

"African Americans should use their influence in America to better African American. Black athletes are being paid millions to remain in a slave state of mind," Q said. "These positions and we need to start taking actions and making moves to help us instead of being paid to be mainstream."

 

He has such strong issues on dealing with the black race partly because of his major.

 

However, it goes deeper than that.

 

Q is out spoken. His most political pieces, "Pray for Me," "Truth Journey" and "I Can't Breathe" speak about issues that probably won't be found in high school textbooks.

 

Q admitted he was deprived of Black History because his school taught American History without mentioning slavery. 

 

If history has a tradition of being written by the victors, books are biased toward the majority and teachers neglect to mention the importance of slavery, who and what will black children learn from?

 

"America was built off us. It's a fact that we built America," Q said. "If your not teaching me the truth about Black Wall Street, cops beating black kids, Bush taking our young blacks to war over some bull, how are you going to tell me I have to pledge the flag?"

 

Q's beliefs are similar to those of Smith, who has been criticized by fans and coaches for her actions this season.

 

At two away games, Smith was met with patriotic fans at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and Mount St. Mary's. 

 

The home crowd at US Merchant Marine Academy was packed with fans that waved flags and chanted "U-S-A" and "Leave our country." 

 

The student government at Mount St. Mary's College spent $100 on little American flag for Smith's visit. 

 

Q believes he has valid reasons for speaking out against this country.

 

"I am Muslim and I pray for what's going on in Iraq and the Muslims, but I am also African American; I am black first," Q said. 

 

He feels doubly jaded over America, because of the US's oppression of both Muslims and African Americans and question Howard's thoughts of bringing Bush in for an honorary degree.

 

Due to this frustration, Q's feelings for not pledging the flag are strong. 

 

He hates to see African Americans pledge to the flag. He says seeing them pledge is clearly saying they are ignorant to their history. He wonders how they can make a pledge to something that does not want or respect them. He believes that Howard students are conditioned to pledge the flag and are afraid to go against the grain. 

 

"I stand up because when you're in Rome, do as the Romans do. I stand up, but I am not going to pledge or listen to it."