This Saturday, as they have before each game this season, the football team will engage in a revolutionary act. During the pregame playing of the Star-Spangled Banner, instead of following custom and standing at attention with their hands over their hearts, the Jumbos will lock arms. Their intention, according to senior tri-captain running back Chance Brady, is to demonstrate the team’s unity amidst the country's current turbulent political and racial climate.
“We’re trying to show that we, in these times of trouble, show unity with each other, love to one another and support for one another,” Brady said. “Issues that have come up have put people in awkward situations, tough spots and [given them] tough decisions to make. We just want to link arms and show that no matter whether the times are good or bad, we have each other’s back.”
Senior tight end Nik Dean echoed his captain's sentiments.
“It is an acknowledgment of police brutality and an acknowledgment of the racial issues that are in America,” Dean said. “Fixing this issue and tackling this issue is not a black issue but an everyone issue.”
Brady said that it was important for the team to make a statement on an issue that goes beyond sports.
“Being an athlete here and being a black athlete here, we understand that there are some things that supersede football,” Brady said. “This happens to be one of them.”
The Jumbos’ decision to lock arms was not spontaneous. Rather, it was the culmination of many hours of deliberation and consideration. While the locker room’s inviolability means that the exact details of how the action was organized remain private, it appears that the decision-making process was student-driven and collectively agreed upon.
“[The decision] was entirely conducted throughout the team,” Brady said. “There was very open dialogue between all members of the team -- coaching staff, captains, down to the last guy on the roster. Everyone was spoken to and everyone’s voice was heard.”
Dean said that head coach Jay Civetti helped to ensure that all opinions were aired and that any action would be carried out by the team as a whole.
“If [Civetti] played any role, it was that [he said]: ‘if we’re going to do something, we’re going to do it as a team, and I don’t want anyone to be bashful about saying how they feel,’ and for all of us to respect that,” Dean said. “If he played any role, it was to lead the front on accepting, and unity and acknowledgment of other people.”
In opting to lock arms, rather than make a more, or less, dramatic statement, the players were aware of the need to avoid alienating not only outsiders, but also each other. In deciding how they wanted to signal their support for racial equality, they had to strike a compromise.
“Instead of trying to take a radical approach to this, we found a middle ground where we felt we were appeasing both sides," Brady said. "Obviously, the flag represents a lot more than just racial oppression in America. It stands for freedom, liberty and the right to have a pursuit of happiness. We understood that there were two sides to the coin, and we wanted to make sure that whatever we did embraced that fact.”
The gesture was one of unity, but also one that is accepting of differing opinions.
“We all recognized that the flag meant something different to us,” Dean said. “It affected us differently, and we all were willing to compromise to acknowledge those differences and celebrate those differences.”
In their defiance of an American sport cultural norm, the Jumbos are following the example first set by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Before a preseason game on Aug. 26, Kaepernick drew national attention, both positive and negative, for refusing to stand during the pregame performance of the Star-Spangled Banner. When asked about his actions afterwards, Kaepernick was adamant about his intentions.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick said. “To me, this is bigger than football.”
Subsequently, dozens of other professional players and hundreds of high school and college athletes across the country have adopted similar expressions of solidarity.While the exact form has varied, the message of the protests has remained clear; the persistent and systemic oppression of black Americans by institutional and social forces, exemplified by the repeated use of disproportionate and lethal force by law enforcement officials against black men, is profoundly unjust and needs to be remedied.
Kaepernick has been subject to condemnation from countless commentators on both sides of the aisle for what has been perceived as a lack of respect, not only for the Stars and Stripes, but also for members of the armed forces. When asked about these criticisms, Brady acknowledged the legitimacy of such claims.
“I understand it. I get it 100 percent,” Brady said. “For a lot of people, especially veterans and people who have veterans in their family, that flag stands for a lot. That flag is a symbol of our nation. As I said previously, you can’t just acknowledge it as a symbol of racial oppression, because that’s not entirely what it’s based on. That is an aspect of it, but to other people, it means a lot more.”
Still, Brady was adamant that the team’s message of togetherness transcends such accusations about divisiveness and disrespect.
“That’s why we’re trying to show unity,” he continued, “because some people look at [the flag] and they see that, and they see what our forefathers fought for. Other people see it and see the marred history that the U.S. has gone through when it comes to race relations. I understand why they’d say it’s disrespectful, and I get that fully, and that’s why we’re standing there together.”
Dean took a similar stance.
“It stems from a lack of acknowledgment that not all constituents in the U.S.A. are treated as having a similar status,” Dean added. “And so while I acknowledge that it is disrespectful to some people, I think it’s important through unity and through respect to illustrate that that is not the same for every individual.”
The process leading to the decision to lock arms has improved discourse among the players on the team, and participants and onlookers alike are impressed with how the deliberations on how to act have galvanized the players to make a unified political statement.
“It was nice to be at a place where you had open dialogue, people respecting each other’s opinions, people not afraid to talk about a situation and a conversation that typically wouldn’t have happened or doesn’t happen enough,” Civetti said. “I was really impressed with Chance [Brady]. I was really impressed with the seniors and the team as a whole to listen to one another, to have those conversations, to [the dialogue] not just [being] a, 'hey, we’re just going to do this [just] because.' The dialogue has continued.”
For both the players and coaches involved, unity remains the focus.
“While certain members of our team are more inclined to do more for racial equality and fighting police brutality, others are on different ends of the spectrum and have different things going on,” Brady said. “We support that and we respect that. That’s really just our main goal here.”
While the national debate surrounding protests of the national anthem continues, Civetti's focus remains on his players, and what locking arms means to them.
“I think our team’s decision to lock arms and be together is just another identifier of how great our chemistry is and how much we care about one another and how much we want to support each other,” Civetti said. “At the end of the day, when it’s Saturday and we have 60 minutes to play together, that’s three extra minutes we get to be locked arm in arm. We get to be together and spend time together. You only get eight of those a year. I feel very lucky to be able to be around student athletes that are that compassionate and that care that much about each other.”
In solidarity, for justice, Tufts Football links arms
