Football Players Going On Strike.
Chris Lee
St. Louis Rams defensive tackle Michael Brockers, left, and linebacker James Laurinaitis tackle San Francisco 49ers running back Mike Davis for a one-yard loss and a safety during first quarter action on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2015, at Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis. (Chris Lee/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/TNS)
November 23, 2015
According to MSNBC, college football player Jonathan Butler, went on a hunger strike on Nov. 2 to call attention to the University of Missouri on the footballer’s decisions to boycott team activities until the school’s president resigns or is fired in the latest protest against Tim Wolfe’s handling of race issues.
MSNBC shares that Butler has been on hunger strike since Nov. 2, and a Change.org petition has garnered more that 2,300 signatures calling for Wolfe’s removal.
The Legion of Black Collegians said a statement that athletes of color on the Mizzou football team won’t participate in any “football-related activities” until Wolfe “resigns or is removed due to his negligence toward marginalized students’ experiences,” as stated on the MSNBC website.
The legion posted on Twitter that they are no longer going to deal with racism and discrimination, and decided to fight back and take matters into their own hands. In response, they posted a picture of 32 black men with linked arms on Twitter.
According to MSNBC, Wolfe has been criticized over his response to a series of incidents on the Missouri campus, including the use of racial slurs and the discovery of a swastika on campus.
MSNBC shares how Coach Gary Pinkel tweeted a photo of him and several black and white students and faculty with a caption stating that the Mizzou family is going to stand together, as they are a family and are behind their players and their decisions.
“We would probably not boycott, we would try to solve the problem before it got out of hand. If we could solve the problem then it would be a better situation” junior football player, Robert Woods said.
Governor Nixon made a statement saying that racism and intolerance didn’t have a place or belonging in the University of Missouri. He believes that these concerns need to be addressed so that the students of the University of Missouri have a place to pursue their education and dreams.
Defensive, Charles Harris stated that there is no racial tension amongst the U.S, and that the Mizzou football team is united without any tension or discrimination.
