NCAA letter to athletes (Text).
Because of Mississippi’s state flag, the NCAA passed in 2001 restrictions on Mississippi’s postseason play. However, these restrictions do not apply to postseason bans in several sports. The athletes claimed that NCAA’s current postseason restrictions disproportionately impact black college athletes in their Thursday letter. The NCAA has Mississippi postseason bans in place for men’s and college basketball, but other sports such as baseball, tennis, and volleyball do not have any Mississippi postseason bans. The athletes want the NCAA to tighten its existing postseason restrictions. The athletes stated in the letter that the NCAA’s old policy “must be more restrictive in order to achieve needed change.” This was the day Greg Sankey, Southeastern Conference commissioner, stated in a statement that the SEC might consider banning Mississippi’s championship events until the state changes its flag. As protests over racial equality continue across the country, lawmakers in the Senate and House are having conversations about changing the state’s flag. Tens of thousands have been protesting the state flag in Mississippi. However, legislators indicated this week that efforts to change the flag’s status were over. Jackson lawmakers will be leaving Jackson on June 28th for the year, and the only piece of legislation that would change it appeared to have died in Senate committee. In a letter to NCAA, the athletes stated that “Time is of essence.” “Because this current climate is of protest and awareness,” the athletes wrote in their letter to the NCAA. Mississippi’s legislature spent the past two week reviewing and debating laws that would change the state flag. Although public support for flag changes is at an all time high, Mississippi’s leadership appears to be considering putting the issue on the agenda during the 2020 session. Trey Lamar (Republican from Senatobia), a former football player for Ole Miss, expressed support for efforts to change the flag on Thursday night. Lamar tweeted, “A flag’s only purpose is to unify a people around one cause.” The reality has shown that the Mississippi flag does not unify, but divides us unnecessaryly. I will not allow our college athletes to lose their right to participate in postseason play against our state fans because of a banner that does not fulfill its primary mission of unifying our people. “x000D_I will stand up for student athletes.