New women’s basketball coach Niele Ivey issued a strong statement on George Floyd and police brutality in the United States. Worth reading.
Since George Floyd’s tragic passing early last week we’ve seen the nation do things my generation (34 years old) has never seen before, at least not in this amount or for this amount of time.
Coaches have come out and said they want to have communications with their players and students. As nice as that is there is plenty more to do and many more ways to help start these needed conversations on a grander scale.
That’s where new Notre Dame women’s basketball coach Niele Ivey comes in. Although only being on the job for a short time, Ivey offered very strong thoughts on the situation and where we stand as a nation in a Twitter post Sunday morning:
“As I stepped into this role as head coach of Notre Dame, I would’ve never imagined it being in the middle of a pandemic and now in the midst of complete civil unrest. There is no playbook for me in these times. There aren’t enough words to fully express how I feel or words to heal the pain of a nation that is emotionally and physically on fire. The events of last week and the murder of George Floyd has been infuriating, painful, and senseless. Another target, another hashtag, and a continued system of oppression that has plagued our country for hundreds of years. Blatant racism, police brutality and murder targeting black and brown people. I am not ok. My heart is heavy. I am not only a coach and a leader but I am a mother. A mother of a young black man. It is a constant fear of mine to have a son that the world views as a threat. I wake up asking God to protect him. When he leaves the house, I am not fully at peace until he is back safe at home. This is no way to live, but this is our reality. I grieve for the mothers and families of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Mike Brown, Sandra Bland and the list goes on and on. I weep thinking about how their children’s lives were taken away. We shouldn’t have to live in fear! Their lives mattered and I am tired. Tired of seeing so much injustice and tired of the same things happening over and over again. I pray that I can use my platform to evoke change. Stop killing innocent, unarmed black people. Stop judging people based on the color of their skin and treating them less than human. We need change and change can only happen if we continue to voice these atrocities, demand justice, call in, petition, and use our power to vote. We need to change the laws and unite together to stand up for what’s right. I am not okay and you shouldn’t be either.” – Niele Ivey
By now we’ve all the seen the video and if you’re at all like myself, each time you see even a still image from that moment you become a bit uneasy. I appreciate that compared to so many other coaches and businesses statements that have been made, this one came packing a lot more of a punch.
What are the reasons for the protests?
So many of these coaches and business that have issued statements that don’t acknowledge the issue at hand that led to such protests. Ivey attacks that straight on and doesn’t mince words.
It’s a scary time, a strange time but also a time that hopefully ends with a positive result. The life of George Floyd unfortunately won’t come back, nor will far too many before him.
Hopefully though we use this opportunity as a nation to listen to our brothers and sisters that might not have grown up around us, don’t look like us or don’t share many of the same beliefs of us. I hope we can ultimately come out of this awful time better as a nation.
With people like Niele Ivey setting an example like she chose to do Sunday morning, my hope for that only grows, but now it’s our duty to listen to what she and countless others have to say so we don’t find ourselves here again in short order.
You can follow Niele Ivey on Twitter @IrishCoachIvey.
