The point of and path forward for Mizzou's move for justice

On May 25th, George Floyd died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. Just less than four months later in Kenosha, WI, Jacob Blake was shot seven times by police officers following an altercation during which Blake walked away from the officers, opened his driver's side door and reached into his car. Blake is paralyzed and remains hospitalized six days later and three officers are on administrative leave.

The ripple effect of both incidents has swept through the world of sports. Most recently, it started with the Milwaukee Bucks saying they would not play on Wednesday night, which has led to the entire NBA playoffs being paused since. The Milwaukee Brewers were the first Major League Baseball team to skip a game, followed by seven other teams and some individual players.

In the last two days, multiple NFL and college football teams have followed suit, skipping practices to draw attention to racial inequality, police brutality and social justice. Missouri joined that group on Friday afternoon, foregoing its scheduled practice for a team meeting at the end of which the team released the following statement:

"After we finished class, as a team, we came together, talked things through, made a plan on how to construct a message for the community," linebacker and captain Nick Bolton said. "We all came down to the decision to put practice on hold just for one day so we could focus on the task at hand, the bigger picture of things happening in society."

Few details of the meeting were shared, citing "family business," though Larry Rountree III said it lasted about three hours. Head coach Eli Drinkwitz said that after a long discussion, the team grabbed a marker and began crafting its statement.

"To hear some of the stories that some of our players have experienced makes it incredibly real for me and for us," Drinkwitz said. "These young men feel hurt because of what happened to them and their common denominator was they were African Americans. They're wanting to know if that's how it’s supposed to be and it’s not. And I don’t think there’s a police officer out there right now that would say that's how it’s supposed to be."

Following Floyd's death in May, Missouri marched through campus to the downtown courthouse along with some other members of the athletic department. The team knelt for eight minutes and 46 seconds on the courthouse lawn before entering the building and registering to vote. That was spearheaded by sophomore safety and Columbia native Martez Manuel. But four months later, the Tigers saw the same issues pop up after the Blake shooting and felt the need to do more.

"“Being that a lot of us are African-Americans, it’s kind of hard to ignore the things that you see on the Internet, that you see every day," Bolton said. "That’s kind of where our minds were at. So you gotta understand that society, family, things in our community kind of go first. Football isn’t our sole identity. We got other identities outside of football as well.”

But it is that football identity that allows their statements to carry added weight. Rountree said he spoke up for all the people he knows whose voices aren't loud enough for them to do so.

"I’m a student-athlete and I have a voice, why would I not say something?" he asked. "I’m a student athlete at the University of Missouri. I'm going to say something. As a team, we can all come together and say something and be real about the situation and not just let it fly over our heads like nothing’s going on. There’s stuff going on all around the world and you can’t just sit here and act like ain’t nothing going on. I would be wrong if I didn't say anything about it."

Of course, skipping a practice and tweeting a statement in and of itself carries little consequence. In the hours since that statement, many have asked, what does it accomplish?

Missouri's players and coaches know this. They say this is not the end of their efforts. Drinkwitz said the Tigers put some in-house initiatives in place earlier this summer. Those have not been shared because "not everything that happens within our family needs to be shared publicly."

"We’re going to be doing a lot of things coming up," Rountree said. "I can’t give you right now what we’re actually doing. That’s family business. We’re going to be doing things to actually talk about the Black Lives Matter movement and the social injustice in America."

The Tigers know that their efforts will not be universally accepted. They will likely be met with some resistance. That has already been seen in various places toward teams and players across the country.

"At the end of the day, everybody has a different perspective outside looking in," Rountree, a senior and captain, said. "They don’t really know what’s going on. I’ve got to think from their perspective, they don’t really know what’s the real deal. I can’t really get mad at them. If anything I will try to explain to them, this is why I’m doing this, this is why I’m more than an athlete, this is why my voice needs to be heard. It wouldn’t be in a negative way. If they don’t understand, I would try to make them understand. At the end of the day it’s up to them to understand where my heart is at, why I want change. But if they don’t want change, then I can’t; my mom said you can't fight ignorance if they have ignorance. I’m going to tell you what I’m going to tell you and then after that it’s up to you to accept it or no.

"I'm going to try to explain to that person what's the reason and why my heart is in that place. If that person’s heart is not, then God bless them, it's okay."

Attitudes are changing even within the teams that are now speaking up. Drinkwitz said earlier this week in an interview with Jim Rome that his perspective on these issues is likely different now than it would have been a few years ago.

"I think the entire country and conversation has evolved a little bit," he said. "Just because it hasn’t impacted me, although I have been involved in a situation where I felt that way, doesn’t mean it’s not real. That's the conversation we have to have. Just because somebody hasn’t experienced it doesn't mean that somebody else isn’t experiencing it.

"Just because it hasn't happened to me doesn't mean it's not real."

Part of the reason Drinkwitz said he did not want to reveal any of Missouri's plans is that the football team is hoping to expand those ideas throughout the department. Drinkwitz referenced the hashtag #Mizzou4Change that the team tweeted out with its statement on Friday evening. He said he wants this to be not just a Mizzou football initiative going forward, but one in which all the school's teams can take part.

Drinkwitz said Director of Athletics Jim Sterk spent time with the football team Friday night and was fully supportive of the decision not to practice. Basketball coaches Cuonzo Martin and Robin Pingeton are among those to have already shown public support.

"Cuonzo is a powerful man who I respect," Drinkwitz said. "He’s got such wisdom. I just love that man. Lean on him a lot. Robin’s been great and she’s a powerful leader herself. I do think there is gonna be some things. We wanted to make sure this was more inclusive than it was last time.

"We're letting our students lead it. Looking forward to where this goes."

Where exactly it goes, nobody outside the team is quite sure just yet. But one thing seems clear: The Tigers will walk this path together.

"I’m a leader and a football coach," Drinkwitz said. "I’m focused on Black lives and making sure that they matter to me just as much as they matter to anybody else and making sure that they understand that I care about them and I have to make sure that their lives matter as much as anyone else’s. If that’s not the case then I hurt for them."

Drinkwitz has been on the job just nine months. He has not coached a game. He has had to navigate a pandemic, lose valuable time getting to know his players and his roster and oversaw just his 11th practice on Saturday morning. But this week has shown that he has unified his football team.

"Everybody on our staff cares and is behind us 100 percent," Rountree said. "At the end of the day, I know Coach Drink has my back and everybody’s back. He loves every single one of us like we are his own sons."

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