The NAACP issued the following press release yesterday.
The NAACP today launched the "Out of Bounds" campaign, a national call for Black athletes, families, fans, alumni, and consumers to withhold athletic and financial support from public universities in states that have moved to limit, weaken, or erase Black voting representation in the wake of the Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which gutted what was left of the Voting Rights Act. The NAACP identified eight priority states — Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, and Georgia — and targeted 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 is not a policy disagreement. It is a sprint to erase Black political power," said Derrick Johnson, President & CEO, NAACP. "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. 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 economic stakes of the campaign are significant. The flagship universities in the eight targeted states collectively generate billions of dollars in annual athletic revenue. The "Out of Bounds" campaign focuses on one primary ask, calling on top football and basketball recruits currently being actively recruited by targeted programs to withhold their commitments until the states in question restore fair congressional maps and meaningful Black representation. The campaign also calls on current college athletes — including those who may already be enrolled at targeted programs — to consider their options, including the transfer portal, and to use their platforms and NIL reach to elevate fair maps and voting rights. "This generation of Black athletes understands something that those who came before them were never afforded the chance to say so plainly: your talent is yours, and so is your community's political power," said Tylik McMillan, National Director, Youth and College Division, NAACP. "These are not separate issues. The state that is working to erase your grandmother's congressional district is the same state whose governor will stand on the field and celebrate your touchdown or game-winning shot. We are asking young people — recruits, current athletes, fans — to see that connection clearly and to act on it. The Out of Bounds campaign is about redirecting what has always been ours, power and perseverance." The campaign issues calls to action across three audiences. * 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.
The Out of Bounds campaign will remain in effect until targeted states adopt state-level voting rights protections, repeal maps that dilute Black voting power, restore congressional and judicial districts that reflect the Black population's actual strength, and commit to transparent and community-centered redistricting processes. Our sentiment is clear: No Representation. No Recruitment. No Revenue.
Kingfish note: It's Derrick Johnson. Need we say more?
13 comments:
Someone tell Derrick Johnson the athletes only care about the benjamins.
Just a side note. They are not upset because they will loose black representation they are upset because they will loose a guaranteed democrat seat. Let's be clear
Here is a place were the black person is judged by their ability and not race and the NAACP can not stand it. This group must keep the the black person from being economically dependent for the NAACP exist only by pushing division.
This will have absolute 0 impact.
@12:13 It’s “lose.” Please go back to elementary school.
Derrick Johnson is basically asking young black athletes to sacrifice their careers to further his.
So what are athletes suppose to do? NAACP or associates have nothing to offer most of these athletes. At least the many that won't go further in sports stand a fighting chance of obtaining a quality education or skillset for a better life. Y'all should be focusing on the trifling representation and stop being poverty pips at the expense of poor people. You must be trying to get a grant, huh?
12:24, excellent comment.
Uumm lets see. Alcorn will pay me $2000 per year to play for them. Ole Miss(on the plantation) will pay me $650,000 per year to play for them. Hotty toddy!!
.......dumbest idea ever if you are the athlete being asked.........
Hasn't Derrick been satiated by Lame's groveling down in Corndog Country?
... it didn't take long for someone, presumably an MSU fan, to refer to Ole Miss as the plantation. Perhaps MSU is more like Kiffin than he will admit.
RMQ
NIL rules!
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