The NAACP on Tuesday called on Black athletes and fans to boycott the athletic programs of public universities in states the civil rights group says are restricting Black voting rights. The campaign was announced in Washington, the NAACP said.
The effort, called the “Out of Bounds” campaign, urges prospective Black athletes, their families, alumni and fans to “withhold athletic and financial support” from major public universities in states that have “moved to limit, weaken or erase Black voting representation,” the NAACP said.
The group named Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and South Carolina as targets of the boycott. NAACP President Derrick Johnson said those flagship programs “generate hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue, national television value, alumni donations, merchandising sales, ticket sales, and brand equity — much of it powered by Black football and basketball talent.”
The NAACP said the boycott could deplete rosters for powerhouse football and basketball programs across the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) if Black athletes participate. The group said the programs should protect Black political interests rather than rely on Black athletic talent while states strip political power from Black communities.
The NAACP said it is among groups responding to a wave of gerrymandering after a Supreme Court decision that narrowed a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Congressional Black Caucus sent a letter Monday to the commissioners of the SEC and ACC and to NCAA President Charlie Baker saying members will oppose the SCORE Act unless conference leaders oppose GOP-led redistricting plans, the caucus said in a statement. “Silence in the face of injustice is not neutrality — it is complicity,” the caucus said.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
