To say the least, this has been a tumultuous couple of weeks for our country. We already were dealing with 2 1/2 months of COVID-19 running rampant. Then, George Floyd died, and there has been unrest and nonstop conversation about race relations ever since.
On Friday, Notre Dame Athletics joined the many organizations that have vowed to do better in the wake of all this. In unveiling Stand Together, the department has announced a renewed commitment to empower its student-athletes and listen to any issues they raise. It has the full support of Notre Dame’s President, the Rev. John Jenkins, and Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick.
Additionally, the department website has compiled relevant tweets made by past and present Notre Dame student-athletes. There are too many names to list here, but they all have an equal amount of thought put into them. To have both the leadership and competitive sides of the program represented for this initiative on this website is important, if not necessary.
Anyone with an open mind should realize by now that we’re at the beginning of a new society: One that seeks to abolish system racism once and for all. Notre Dame just took a step in that direction. When and if we’ll see actual results might take some time. Regardless, the seeds for change have been sown in South Bend.