NAACP calls for boycott of college sports in 8 Republican-run states

By LU Staff
NAACP calls for boycott of college sports in 8 Republican-run states
Alabama kicks off to Clemson in the 2017-2018 Sugar Bowl CFP Semifinal. YouTube video

The NAACP called on “black families, donors, and athletes” to “boycott college athletic events in states that refuse to illegally gerrymander districts in favor of black politicians,” reports The College Fix.

The NAACP recently launched “Out of Bounds,” a campaign that seeks to put economic pressure on Republican-run states to create race-based districts of the sort struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in Louisiana v. Callais. Due to that ruling last month, “states can no longer draw maps for the explicit purpose of favoring one racial group over another.”“The NAACP identified eight priority states — Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, and Georgia ,” as part of its pressure campaign. The NAACP will target “flagship public athletic programs generating more than $100 million in annual revenue that continue to recruit Black athletes while their state governments dismantle the political power of Black communities.”“What these states have done [in eliminating race-based districts] is not a policy disagreement. It is a sprint to erase Black political power,” said NAACP president Derrick Johnson. “These actions happened in days, in some cases in hours, of a Supreme Court ruling that gives extremist lawmakers a playbook to erode Black representation.”He added:

The NAACP will not watch the same institutions that depend on Black athletic prowess to fill their stadiums and their bank accounts remain silent while their states strip Black communities of their voice. Out of Bounds is our answer: we are naming the contradiction, and we are calling on Black athletes, families, fans, and consumers to act on it. The same power that built these programs can be redirected. And it will be.

The NAACP said “supporters of illegally gerrymandered maps should vote with their wallets and feet,” The College Fix reports.

In a press release, the NAACP highlighted three action items:

  • Black athletes and recruits are asked to withhold commitments from targeted programs, to ask coaches and athletic directors where their universities stand on voting rights, and to visit and seriously consider HBCUs.
  • Current college athletes are asked to use their platforms to elevate the issue, to ask institutional leadership for public statements opposing racial vote dilution, and to consider all available options under the transfer portal.
  • Fans, alumni, donors, and consumers are asked to stop purchasing tickets, merchandise, and licensed apparel from targeted programs and to redirect that spending to HBCUs — their athletics programs, scholarship funds, NIL collectives, bands, and alumni foundations.

As The College Fix notes, this is not the first time the NAACP “has demanded black athletes leave Republican-led states. In 2024, the group called for a similar boycott of Florida for a variety of laws, including prohibitions on the teaching of DEI in taxpayer-funded schools as well as pro-life protections for preborn babies. The initiative failed, according to a College Fix analysis. The Fix found that none of the top 35 black basketball and football athletes who were committed to Florida universities decided to leave the school.”

 

LU Staff

LU Staff

Promoting and defending liberty, as defined by the nation’s founders, requires both facts and philosophical thought, transcending all elements of our culture, from partisan politics to social issues, the workings of government, and entertainment and off-duty interests. Liberty Unyielding is committed to bringing together voices that will fuel the flame of liberty, with a dialogue that is lively and informative.

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