Sports seems so insignificant

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/06/2020 (1422 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

How can sports safely return in 2020?

From the amateurs to the pros, it’s a question that’s been near the top of many people’s minds since COVID-19 changed the way we go about our day-to-day lives.

But that all changed last week when video surfaced of George Floyd, whose death at the hands of Minneapolis police has sparked sporadic violence and turbulent protests around the world against racial injustice. Since then, the discussion of returning to sports has felt far less important.

Athletes and their teams have put sports talk on pause to make statements on racism. Protests are taking place in the streets and on social media. Buildings are burning. Businesses are being looted. Confederate monuments are being taken down. Threats are being made by the president of the United States. Police are using tear gas, rubber bullets and handcuffs to silence protestors and journalists.

It has all the makings of a nightmare, but it’s happening in real life.

You might not be seeing this type of mayhem on Winnipeg’s streets, but that doesn’t mean black athletes with ties to the city aren’t feeling the effects of the situation.

“That could be my uncle, that could be my cousin, that could be my brother. I’m fortunate that it’s not, but black people in our lives do matter. When is this going to stop?”
– Kyanna Giles

“The George Floyd video, I saw the knee on the neck and I couldn’t watch. It sickened me. I woke up two mornings in tears with what’s going on,” said Kyanna Giles, a 21-year-old guard on the University of Winnipeg Wesmen women’s basketball team.

“That could be my uncle, that could be my cousin, that could be my brother. I’m fortunate that it’s not, but black people in our lives do matter. When is this going to stop?”

For second-year University of Manitoba Bisons receiver Abdul-Karim Gassama, he felt he had to watch the video to fully understand what happened.

“I did watch it, but it was a tough watch. The only reason I did watch it was because I wanted to fully analyze everything in that video,” Gassama explained. “Even in a position like that, I wanted to give some sort of benefit of the doubt, but you can’t. You can’t in that situation.”

With Minneapolis only a seven-hour car ride from here, this incident was an even bigger eye-opener for Giles and Gassama. This didn’t happen down south or on the West Coast. This happened close to their own backyard. A border may stand between Manitoba and where this horrendous incident took place, but it doesn’t mean things are perfect on this side of the fence.

Giles, who starred at Sisler High School and the University of Regina with her twin sister Kyia before transferring to the U of W last year, recalled a time where she entered an expensive store in town and was greeted by some odd looks by the staff, implying she didn’t belong and couldn’t afford to shop there. She also talked about how people automatically assume she plays sports, specifically basketball, just because of the colour of her skin.

Gassama, who was three when his family immigrated to Winnipeg from Sierra Leone, spoke about being one of the few black kids at school growing up. He’d get looked at differently when he walked into class, which one time even led to him getting into a fight with another student.

“I did watch it, but it was a tough watch. The only reason I did watch it was because I wanted to fully analyze everything in that video. Even in a position like that, I wanted to give some sort of benefit of the doubt, but you can’t. You can’t in that situation.”
– Abdul-Karim Gassama

But then there’s the chilling story that came from former Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback and current Montreal Alouettes head coach Khari Jones on Tuesday. In a video-conference call with the media, Jones, who wore the Blue and Gold from 2000-2004, talked about how he received death threats in a series of letters when he played for the Bombers due to being black and in an interracial marriage. Jones, who still has the letters as a reminder of the hate that still exists in the world, had to have police watch his house and protect his family.

Bombers legend Milt Stegall, Jones’s favourite receiver, remembers the incident.

“Yeah, I was aware when it happened. You talk about crazy and you think about Khari’s situation. He was making his home there, he had his wonderful wife there and they were doing things in the community and you have this one individual, whoever it may be, try to throw a monkey wrench in the plan,” Stegall told the Free Press in a phone interview from his home in Atlanta.

“That’s just the way of the world. We’re still dealing with individuals who have that mindset… That individual, I’m sure the people who he was brought up with embedded that into his head. And I’m sure he embedded that into the individuals that he has raised. That’s where the problems start because that way of thinking continues to get passed down generation to generation.”

With Stegall’s enormous popularity in Winnipeg, he admits there’s a good chance there was a “bubble” around him when it came to racism. The one incident he could recall came in his final season in 2008 when he made jokes in a television interview that hockey isn’t a sport and that he didn’t know who Wayne Gretzky was.

“You talk about crazy and you think about Khari’s situation. He was making his home there, he had his wonderful wife there and they were doing things in the community and you have this one individual, whoever it may be, try to throw a monkey wrench in the plan”
– Milt Stegall on death threats received by former Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Khari Jones

“I was just having some fun and the clip got put on YouTube. If you ever go on there and look at some of those responses, it’s unbelievable. I’ve never been called some of the names and told to do some of the things that they told me to do ever before in my life. I’m not sure where the individuals were from, definitely, some were in Canada, but some of those comments were pretty disturbing.”

Black American players aren’t immune to racism when they head north to play in the CFL, but Stegall said teammates would often talk in the locker room about how well they’re treated in Canada compared to back home.

“It would come up a lot. Especially from a lot of the guys from the south,” Stegall said. “Racism is everywhere, but the guys from the south would just talk about how well they were treated and they didn’t understand why people were so nice to them because they weren’t used to it, especially when it came from people who didn’t have the same colour of skin. It was different for them.”

But now is not the time to keep discussions of racism in the locker room. Current Bombers star Willie Jefferson, the CFL’s reigning Most Outstanding Defensive Player, and his wife Holly, have been very vocal on social media lately as a way to raise awareness. While Jefferson appreciates the statements that have been made online by teams and athletes, he wants to see more people, especially his teammates, use their platforms.

“I would like my white teammates and people who want to step up and make a difference to make a statement and speak out on the way they feel and how this impacts them,” said Jefferson, a Texas native.

“I want them to speak out and show they understand what’s going on and how it’s affecting the black community. We work together, we eat together, we let our kids play together, so to sit back and not say anything says a lot about you and your character.”

Giles, Gassama, Stegall and Jefferson were all asked what people can do to help. Despite the fact all four of them come from different places and have encountered racism in different ways, they all answered the same way. They want people to educate themselves on what Black Lives Matters truly means and understand what they’re fighting for.

“This isn’t about me. It’s just about wanting to spread awareness about police brutality and the things that have been going on in this world for the last couple of years,” Jefferson said.

“I just want to help the black and brown community. I know in Canada there are a lot of Native American people being mistreated and things like that. It’s about equality for everyone, not just black people. This racist mentality and police brutality stuff needs to fade away. I know it’s not going to happen overnight, but we got to get the ball rolling sooner rather than later.”

In Winnipeg, there will be a Black Lives Matter rally Friday evening at the Manitoba Legislative Building. Giles and Gassama plan on attending and made it clear they don’t want to see violence. They just want to see people of all colours and backgrounds coming together.

“For sure, it’s a fight for injustice, which has been a fight for how many years now, but I also think this is a time where other people have to come in and step in and say ‘Hey, we’re all seeing this and witnessing this injustice together,’” said Gassama.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31

Taylor Allen
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Eighteen years old and still in high school, Taylor got his start with the Free Press on June 1, 2011. Well, sort of...

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