The following commentary was written by UC San Diego Athletics Director Earl W. Edwards and appeared in the Thursday, August 13 edition of the San Diego Union-Tribune...
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. What affects one directly, affects all indirectly." — Martin Luther King Jr.
As a Black person, I've experienced racism in sports as an athlete, coach and administrator. I was an assistant men's basketball coach at Drexel University. When we played a game in Louisiana, as I was sitting on the bench, fans behind me kept calling us the "N-word" and threw popcorn at me, hitting me in the head. I can't tell you how scared, humiliated and frustrated I was knowing that the best thing to do was say nothing because if I did say something, I honestly believed my life would be in danger. I remember several occasions as an athlete playing basketball in both high school and college where I was called the "N-word" by fans while running down the court. I also had to break up a fight immediately after a game because players had been using the "N-word" throughout the contest.
As an athletic administrator, I have also dealt with racism on a regular basis. Most of this is due to the systemic impact of racism in our society that influences the hiring process within intercollegiate sports and how Black athletes are treated. Black athletes continue to experience dealing with racist comments, attitudes or actions while competing or just being students on campus.
To read the full commentary in Thursday's
San Diego Union-Tribune,
click here.
About UC San Diego Athletics
With 30 national team championships, nearly 150 individual titles and the top scholar-athlete graduation rate among Division II institutions in the United States, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program annually ranks as one of the most successful in the country. The Tritons sponsor 23 intercollegiate sport programs that compete on the NCAA Division I and II levels and, in summer 2020, will transition into full Division I status as a member of the Big West Conference. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 37 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. In competition, more than 1,300 UC San Diego scholar-athletes have earned All-America honors.
