In a surprising move, Howard University, long regarded as a leader in the HBCU community, has officially banned student-athletes from kneeling during the national anthem.
In a March 2 statement, the Howard University Department of Athletics announced new pregame rules requiring student-athletes to either stand for the national anthem or remain in the locker room, Hilltop Online, Howard’s student newspaper, reports. According to women’s basketball associate head coach Brian Davis, the policy follows a Dec. 29 game against the United States Military Academy, when the team kneeled during the anthem, a protest they had carried out at every game since 2020 to highlight social injustice.
“Our program has been kneeling since COVID, especially
when all the social justice things were happening,” Davis said. “All the young men and women Black of color [who] were passing away from the hands of police brutality, we decided to take a stand against social injustice.”The move was not easy, given that the team had been kneeling for years. Davis said the program reviews its values annually and previously allowed players to decide whether to kneel. However, after internal discussions between leadership and student-athletes, the HBCU ultimately chose to end the gesture during games.
“There have been thoughtful internal conversations between athletics leadership, coaches and student-athletes regarding pregame protocols,” Vice President of Athletics Kery Davis said in a written statement. “The current approach is about supporting our students’ freedom of expression while upholding mutual respect for all communities.”
Citing the women’s basketball team’s game against the United States Military Academy, Davis said the players understood the significance of the matchup and were intentional in kneeling during the national anthem, stressing that their actions were not meant to be disrespectful. He also noted that many in the program have family members who have served in the military.
“I think that their personnel kind of took it the wrong way and tried to take it somewhere where it wasn’t,” Davis said. “We didn’t want to disrespect anybody. That wasn’t our intent. But if we did, we definitely apologized to them, and let them know where we stood with it.”
Under the new policy, the Howard University women’s basketball team will remain in the locker room during the national anthem for the rest of the season to avoid further controversy.
“We don’t want to bring any bad light to Howard University, so we just decided to stay in the locker room now for every game, home and away, and we will continue to do that throughout the rest of the season,” Davis said.
Davis said the program is working to support other causes important to its players, as the goal is not to silence athletes
but to encourage advocacy within institutional guidelines. However, he added that the Howard University women’s basketball team cannot publicly comment further on the matter for protective reasons.“We are going to continue to fight for injustice, we want to make sure that we stand on what we believe in,” Davis said. “That’s one of the reasons why you come to Howard.”
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