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When Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd in late May, Syracuse football wasn’t practicing. Head coach Dino Babers didn’t have the ability to talk to his team in-person. Instead, they had “mini-zoom meetings,” and Babers released a public statement calling for support of Black Lives Matter.

After a police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back, Babers approached his team on the “day that it happened or maybe the day afterward,” he said. 

“We addressed it right away,” Babers said. “And then we took another time where they could bring it up and talk about it. A little State of the Union.”

Babers’ Aug. 31 press conference comes less than a week after the Milwaukee Bucks and the rest of the NBA refused to continue the playoffs for three days following Blake’s death. Multiple Syracuse players expressed concern too. Safety Andre Cisco tweeted “Why did it take another video of a black man being violated for us to take a stand?” Offensive lineman Darius Tisdale, former Syracuse wide receiver Cameron Jordan and numerous others spoke out as well.

When asked what would happen if SU players refused to continue, Babers said he “wouldn’t know how to start it or how to finish it.” In response to the NBA protests, linebacker Tyrell Richards criticized the decision to continue playing sports in a tweet on Aug. 27. Richards later deleted the tweet and clarified that some players had met with members of the Syracuse Athletic Department and Babers. 

“Why am I playing in a country to entertain people that don’t care about our well being unless we’re on the field,” Richards tweeted. “F*** playing sports, we don’t need to distract them from s***, make everyone look at what’s really going on because at the end of the day.”

Other sports eventually joined the NBA, including the NHL, MLB, MLS and WNBA, who all canceled games on Aug. 26, 27 and 28. Multiple NFL teams also cancelled practices.

Babers applauded the NBA’s efforts, which included a new policy to create voting centers at every NBA arena for the 2020 election and the creation of a social justice coalition. On June 10, he emphasized that every player will have the opportunity to vote. SU may not cancel practice on Election Day, but would postpone it to the late afternoon so players can go to the polls.

That’s part of Babers’ larger initiative to encourage players to use their voice. Concerned about the mental health of the youth — with the burden of major social change on their shoulders amidst a pandemic — Babers held a full-team “State of the Union” later in the week, he said. Players were able to ask any question they wanted, and Babers asked them to be truthful and genuine so they could properly address any concerns.

“It’s kind of sad they’ve had to deal with these issues that we, and I’m talking about we as the older generation, that we should’ve cleaned up a long time ago,” Babers said.

Published on August 31, 2020 at 3:38 pm

Contact Adam: adhillma@syr.edu | @_adamhillman