Student-Athletes Reimagined: Gloria Mutiri
10/27/20 | BEOREGON
"Being Black in America"
Black Lives Matter. They more than matter. They should be celebrated and appreciated.
Growing up, it was hard for me to embrace who I was. I grew up in predominantly white environments. It was hard feeling so different from everyone else.
Everything I did felt limited. I felt awkward. I felt out of place.
I am the child of Congolese immigrants, and my family did not know how to tackle racism. When my third-grade basketball coach refused to coach my sister and me — the only Black girls on the team — I assumed it was because we weren't as good. Kids used to say that my hair looked like a Brillo pad, and freely run their hands through it without permission. I assumed I wasn't using the same hair products and that's why my hair was criticized so often.
That's what growing up black is like. You start to feel like in every way you are an issue. You are odd. Situations had to be adjusted for you. It doesn't feel natural to be in normal settings sometimes. A good example is Band-Aids. I always knew they weren't the color of my skin. It made me feel like the odd man out when I was younger. It felt personal. Racism feels personal like it's only happening to you.
The only arena in which I felt truly accepted was sports. I played basketball, ran track, and played volleyball. When I was competing, I attracted attention in a positive way.
Before sports, being in the center of a spotlight was excruciatingly terrifying for me. It was the whole class turning around to stare when we talked about slavery. It was a million questions about my hair. It was the jokes about how dark my skin was. There were multiple snide comments in the cafeteria about my "smelly African food."
Sports was an escape. My senior year, I started to hone in on volleyball. Volleyball is a sport where the majority is white athletes. Of course, off the court I faced subtle microaggressions and minor incidents of discrimination. But on the court, I was free to play. I was just another athlete competing to be the best.
When I play volleyball, I know I am on a level playing field. I have the same opportunities as everyone else to get better. I have the same amount of time to learn. It took me many years before it dawned on me that I shouldn't feel that way.
Sports shouldn't be the only place that I have equal opportunities to thrive. As athletes, we are expected to shut our mouths and play. We are criticized for using our platform. Keep politics out of sports. But there's nothing political about justice. We all deserve it.
It is a basic human right to be treated fairly and equally. As a black woman in this society, I have no other choice but to speak up. I want to use my platform to bring awareness to the injustice that continues to plague black people.
I speak up for Breonna Taylor. Police entered her home while she slept, and sprayed bullets into her home, killing her. She was doing no wrong in the comfort of her home. Her murderers have still not been charged for her death.
One officer was charged with wanton endangerment. He was charged for shooting stray bullets into a nearby apartment. Yet, nobody was charged for any of the bullets that killed Breonna Taylor.
Her story illuminates the flaws of our justice system. I see myself in her. I see my sisters. I see my friends. It is dehumanizing to know someone that looks like you was shot in her home and no justice was given.
Every black woman knows that she could easily be another Breonna Taylor, and that's a heartbreaking reality. I have no other choice but to do all I can to ensure that my children never grow up in a society that condones racism.
I am optimistic about what my generation can do when we band together to combat racism. People are learning. People are listening. Most importantly, people are acting.
This generation is voting, protesting, signing petitions, and gaining traction towards a better future. I am truly awestruck by the commitment to change.
"And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.' " - Martin Luther King Jr
Gloria Mutiri
Growing up, it was hard for me to embrace who I was. I grew up in predominantly white environments. It was hard feeling so different from everyone else.
Everything I did felt limited. I felt awkward. I felt out of place.
I am the child of Congolese immigrants, and my family did not know how to tackle racism. When my third-grade basketball coach refused to coach my sister and me — the only Black girls on the team — I assumed it was because we weren't as good. Kids used to say that my hair looked like a Brillo pad, and freely run their hands through it without permission. I assumed I wasn't using the same hair products and that's why my hair was criticized so often.
That's what growing up black is like. You start to feel like in every way you are an issue. You are odd. Situations had to be adjusted for you. It doesn't feel natural to be in normal settings sometimes. A good example is Band-Aids. I always knew they weren't the color of my skin. It made me feel like the odd man out when I was younger. It felt personal. Racism feels personal like it's only happening to you.
The only arena in which I felt truly accepted was sports. I played basketball, ran track, and played volleyball. When I was competing, I attracted attention in a positive way.
Before sports, being in the center of a spotlight was excruciatingly terrifying for me. It was the whole class turning around to stare when we talked about slavery. It was a million questions about my hair. It was the jokes about how dark my skin was. There were multiple snide comments in the cafeteria about my "smelly African food."
Sports was an escape. My senior year, I started to hone in on volleyball. Volleyball is a sport where the majority is white athletes. Of course, off the court I faced subtle microaggressions and minor incidents of discrimination. But on the court, I was free to play. I was just another athlete competing to be the best.
When I play volleyball, I know I am on a level playing field. I have the same opportunities as everyone else to get better. I have the same amount of time to learn. It took me many years before it dawned on me that I shouldn't feel that way.
Sports shouldn't be the only place that I have equal opportunities to thrive. As athletes, we are expected to shut our mouths and play. We are criticized for using our platform. Keep politics out of sports. But there's nothing political about justice. We all deserve it.
It is a basic human right to be treated fairly and equally. As a black woman in this society, I have no other choice but to speak up. I want to use my platform to bring awareness to the injustice that continues to plague black people.
I speak up for Breonna Taylor. Police entered her home while she slept, and sprayed bullets into her home, killing her. She was doing no wrong in the comfort of her home. Her murderers have still not been charged for her death.
One officer was charged with wanton endangerment. He was charged for shooting stray bullets into a nearby apartment. Yet, nobody was charged for any of the bullets that killed Breonna Taylor.
Her story illuminates the flaws of our justice system. I see myself in her. I see my sisters. I see my friends. It is dehumanizing to know someone that looks like you was shot in her home and no justice was given.
Every black woman knows that she could easily be another Breonna Taylor, and that's a heartbreaking reality. I have no other choice but to do all I can to ensure that my children never grow up in a society that condones racism.
I am optimistic about what my generation can do when we band together to combat racism. People are learning. People are listening. Most importantly, people are acting.
This generation is voting, protesting, signing petitions, and gaining traction towards a better future. I am truly awestruck by the commitment to change.
"And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.' " - Martin Luther King Jr
Gloria Mutiri
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