The college basketball teams in the Big East Conference will show support for the Black Lives Matter movement this upcoming season. This week, the 11 schools in the conference unanimously approved the display of the Black Lives Matter patches on their men’s and women’s basketball uniforms. The Big East also announced its support for the efforts of the Coaches for Action, which is a “coalition of 21 ethnic minority BIG EAST men’s basketball assistant coaches formed to help raise awareness in the fight against racism and to develop a sustainable action plan to dismantle prejudice, discrimination and oppression in Black, Brown, Indigenous and minoritized communities.”
“The Big East Conference has been long committed to using our platform to promote the values of tolerance, respect and equality on our campuses and in our communities,” the Big East said in a statement. Throughout our 40-year history, Big East Presidents, Athletics Directors, coaches, administrators and student-athletes have championed the ideals of racial justice and promoted the imperative that all people be treated fairly in the eyes of the law and within the institutions that make up American life.”
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The #BIGEAST continues our Anti-Racism efforts with a series of actions to #BETheChange.
In the 2020-21 season, men’s and women’s 🏀 teams will wear a Black Lives Matter patch on uniforms.
We also officially support the efforts of @coaches4action.
📝: https://t.co/yDySNVlwuh pic.twitter.com/2DAG32x8VO
— BIG EAST Conference (@BIGEAST) August 19, 2020
Big East commissioner Val Ackerman is happy with the decision made by the 11 schools. “We applaud the initiative and leadership of CFA and their efforts to shine a light on the challenges that our Black student-athletes, coaches and administrators face on a daily basis,” she said in a statement. “We hope our BLM initiative, coupled with the BIG EAST’s prominence and visibility, can help our country bridge its protracted racial divide and allow us, once and for all, to live up to our national ideals of equality for all.”
This moves after professional sports leagues such as the NBA, WNBA and Major League Baseball showing support for the Black Live Matter Movement. The NBA has been on the forefront as players are allowed to have different names and phrases on their jerseys. Players have been seen wearing Black Lives Matter shirts before games and teams have been kneeling during the national anthem.
