Column: It’s Time To Listen, Learn From Notre Dame Athletes
Last Friday, I had the opportunity to follow senior defensive end Daelin Hayes and head coach Brian Kelly as the pair led a procession of the Notre Dame football team and 1,400 community members in a peaceful walk around campus on Juneteenth. Almost everyone in attendance, including myself, wore black T-shirts that absorbed the sun and face masks that, by the end of the walk, were covered in sweat from the 90-degree heat.
The walk began after hearing impassioned speeches and prayers from Kelly and players such as Hayes, Max Siegel and Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa on a temporary stage erected on the Irish Green behind the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. From there, Kelly and Hayes ushered the crowd around Notre Dame Stadium and then north past the bronze statue of Moose Krause casually sitting on his bench.
As they approached Gate A, designated for former Fighting Irish coach Dan Devine, Kelly took a cue from Hayes and raised his fist in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and posed.
Several photographers, camera persons and other members of the media rushed to the front to take advantage of such an ideal photo opportunity. Others came as the crowd approached The Word of Life Mural (also known as Touchdown Jesus) or when Kelly and the entire team took a knee in Main Circle on Notre Dame Avenue, with the Golden Dome shining in the background.
Throughout much of the two-mile walk, I could hear whispers of Kelly and Hayes’ conversation — discussions exemplifying that their time spent walking in unison wasn’t for show. The two talked about how Notre Dame football could continue to fight racial inequality and impact real change, bouncing ideas off one another as photographers ran backward in front of them snapping pictures.
This was also representative of the respect Kelly has shown for his players. Even as the face of Notre Dame football for the past decade, he had the good sense to give up some control and listen to Hayes and other minority voices on the team at a time of nationwide civil unrest.
“I'm very proud to be here today,” Kelly said in his speech at the start of the walk. “I took my leap into this cause when I witnessed the unspeakable violence that I saw, like many of you, and made a commitment that standing on the sidelines was no longer an option.
“But I, too, like many of you have had to learn. Learning comes from listening, and the first group of people that I listened to were the many black leaders that we have in our community here at Notre Dame, and in particular on our football team. We started by giving them a platform to let them speak.”
Kelly is not the only one to glean valuable lessons from the black and minority leaders at Notre Dame since George Floyd was murdered on May 25. During that time, it’s been a privilege to cover Fighting Irish athletics.
The first lesson came from a statement released on Twitter and Instagram from Hayes and, in the coming days and weeks, many more players followed in his footsteps.
There was a letter from wide receiver Braden Lenzy, a poem from safety Litchfield Ajavon. Houston Griffith, Ja’Mion Franklin, Avery Davis and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah also shared their own statements on social media.
A message also came from the shirt wide receiver Javon McKinley wore as he walked on Friday:
WE MARCH,
Y’ALL MAD.
WE SIT DOWN,
Y’ALL MAD.
WE SPEAK UP,
Y’ALL MAD
WE DIE,
Y’ALL SILENT.
Former players also encouraged others to share in the perspectives of others, including Khalid Kareem, Troy Pride Jr., Miles Boykin, TJ Jones. The sentiments extended off of the gridiron, coming from Brianna Turner, Niele Ivey (who was recently named head coach of the Notre Dame women’s basketball program), Arike Ogunbowale, Mikayla Vaughn and Juwan Durham.
Unfortunately, I’ve seen fans fall back on excuses that ignore the perspectives of these athletes and even assume racism in America died years ago.
“Throughout this movement, there’s a harsh line of demarcation, right?” Hayes said. “It’s either you’re racist or you’re not. Either you hate black people or you don’t. That’s not true. It’s much more complicated than that. There are a large amount of people and, I would argue, a majority of our campus faculty, students included, that are just not educated. They don’t know what they don't know.
“Not to say that they wouldn’t do anything for you. Not to say if I went to my coach right now and said, ‘Coach, I need you,’ he wouldn't be there for me now. That’s not it. You just don’t know what it means to be a black man in America.”
There’s a level of anxiety black men and women and other minorities live with that’s difficult to understand without walking a mile or two in their shoes. How can one presume that their experiences are invalid? That there’s no reason to tremble at the sight of red and blue lights in their rearview mirror?
“The fear that our parents feel when they send us out in the world and don't know if we're going to come back the same way they left us,” Hayes continued. “To be murdered in broad daylight. These are the realities that our players, our students face. Far beyond when we take off a gold helmet, far beyond when we take off a Notre Dame monogram, we're still a black man, a black woman.
“We have to diversify our perspective, diversify leadership, diversify all of our representation in places of power in this campus and in this community.”
It goes further than that. The everyday experience of every black and minority student on Notre Dame’s campus matters. As Siegel, a junior offensive lineman, advocated for on stage prior to the walk, the university needs to implement a robust cultural efficacy course in order to hinder racism on campus.
In a petition on Change.org, the Notre Dame Black Alumni appeal, which has nearly 11,000 signatures, recommends several other detailed changes the university should make.
By the end of the walk, Kelly fell back to the middle of the crowd of football players as Hayes, along with his fiancé and several other black players, finished off the walk as the team’s leaders in the movement for unity and equality on campus.
Once the walk was officially over, those in attendance again gathered around the stage at the Irish Green. Hayes stepped onto his platform and spoke to those of us in the crowd who had walked two miles alongside him and left us with a departing message.
“We’re just getting started,” he said. “This walk is just the first step in the right direction to lead Notre Dame to the best version of itself … I just want to leave y’all with three things. Obviously, with the pandemic, we need you guys to stay safe, we need you guys to stay blessed but, most of all, stay woke. Go Irish.”
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