Student Union
Bias Against Skin Color Seen Globally
Alfiana A. Rosyadi, an Indonesian who recently completed graduate school in South Korea, said the Black Lives Matter movement in the U.S. has made her think about the well-documented and pervasive racism outside the U.S.
"People may say this is just America's issue, but white privilege exists around the world," Rosyadi said. "This movement has given me insight that this can happen in my country, too."
Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests — condemning racial injustice and excessive use of police force — erupted across the U.S. after George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American, died in Minneapolis last month after being restrained by a white police officer.
The protests have spread across the world, as well.
"People are acknowledging that racism and discrimination happen everywhere," said Rosyadi. "So, I think they are showing solidarity to the Black Lives Matter movement to stop all kinds of racism in the world."
Hate crimes
In the U.S., recent hate crime statistics show that nearly 60 percent of the documented 7,036 incidents in 2018 were motivated by a bias against someone's race, ethnicity or ancestry bias, according to the FBI.
Of the nearly documented 5,000 hate crimes against race, ethnicity or ancestry, 46.9 percent were anti-Black or African American bias; 20.2 percent were anti-white bias; and 13 percent were anti-Hispanic or Latino bias.
Around the world, hate crime data from 42 participating states show that of 5,735 incidents in 2018, 1,825 (31.8 percent) had a racist or xenophobic bias, according to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
And the Global Slavery Index in 2018 shows slavery continues in many countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. That includes forced labor, commercial sexual exploitation of children, and forced marriage.
"We see it present across the world in different configurations, towards different groups and on the basis of a variety of ideologies," said Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou, professor of international history and chair of the international history department at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) in Geneva, in an interview with IHEID earlier this month.
"The problem is just as gnawing and complex in these other places — see, for instance, how in recent months, in the context of the coronavirus crisis, Chinese nationals (and Asians more generally) were at the receiving end of racist incidents in many places while simultaneously in China some African students and migrants were discriminated against," he said.
Indonesia
In Indonesia, BLM protests have reignited the discussion about racism toward Papuans after news of protests in the U.S. spread among Indonesia's online community.
Papua and West Papua are Indonesia's two easternmost provinces, where the population is mostly dark-skinned Melanesians.
"I haven't personally experienced discrimination based on my skin color, but sometimes people from the east of Indonesia, who have darker skin, may get treated differently because people are not used to seeing them," said Rosyadi.
"My concern is that more people like fairer skin, especially for girls, and so some use a lot of [skin-lightening] products. Many Indonesians lose confidence for having darker or tanner skin because on the TV, actresses or other celebrities have fair skin," she added.
Skin-lightening products
Skin-lightening products are popular in many countries. A basic Google search for "skin-lightening" lists hundreds of products using images of Black, white, Asian and Latina, mostly female, skin.
In 2018, American pop star Blac Chyna was criticized for promoting a skin-lightening product called "Whitenicious" in Nigeria, where 77 percent of women use skin lighteners, according to the World Health Organization.
"Many use it in the hopes that they'll have an easier time ascending in their careers, finding husbands, or simply for a self-esteem boost in a society that looks at lighter-skinned women more positively," wrote online news outlet Vice.
This week, multinational manufacturer Johnson & Johnson said it would no longer sell skin-lightening products.
"I think more recently people are beginning to embrace darker or tanner skin, and seeing them as beautiful," said Rosyadi.
China
Lucy Ma, a freshman from China studying at Emerson College, said racial stereotypes have been perpetuated after high-profile crime cases involved minorities in her home country.
"People in small cities have less chance to really know the minorities in China, which creates a higher rate of racism," Ma said. "Big cities have more minorities than the small cities, and people in the big cities know the stereotypes cannot be the factor of how we define people. That's why there are much fewer racists in big cities."
While she said she's heard of no street protests in China, "people are supporting BLM groups through social media such as Weibo," said Ma. "There is a racism problem in China, but it is generally based on where you are, especially in small cities where there's much less diversity than the big cities."
India
Racism in India, with its tradition of a caste system, includes alleged birth rights, regional origin, religion, poverty or wealth.
"If you watch Bollywood movies you'd imagine India was a country of white folks," author and human-rights activist Arundhati Roy told Dalit Camera in a June 8 interview.
"Indian racism towards Black people is almost worse than white people's racism," she said.
South Korea
Dawoom Jung, a senior majoring in international studies and justice and civil leadership at Yonsei University in South Korea, said she noticed many Korean artists and social media influencers use their platform to bring awareness to BLM.
"I've seen a lot of Korean influencers and artists participate in the #blackouttuesday social media movement and donate to organizations. I've also seen illustrators take the initiative to translate the news into Korean and make cue cards so people in Korea can also follow what is going on," said Jung.
Taking action
While social media has been an effective tool to discuss racism globally, some say more action needs to be taken offline.
"It's easy for people to post a black picture with the #blacklivesmatter hashtag, but it isn't more than granting attention to the subject. It simply doesn't truly help anyone," said Kenny Teucher, a student studying English and biology at Leipzig University in Saxony, Germany.
"In Germany, many people were involved in the subject, but only on Instagram and Facebook. I think that it is a problem that only few people want to take it a step further, whether it is through demonstrations or other political engagement," he added.
In France, society has grappled with the unsolved case of Adama Traoré, a Malian French man who died in 2016 after being restrained by police. Elise Crespin, a recent graduate from the Saint-Luc Tournai Institut, said #JusticepourAdama (Justice for Adama) has been revived since BLM protests.
"His family and especially his sister have been leading protests since his death. He is an example of what is going on in France, because he is not the only one," said Crespin.
"I think we are tired of hearing the same things and the same injustices. Everyone woke up. Our systems are wrong and they must change," she said.
Kathleen Struck contributed to this report.
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Lily Meskers faced an unexpected choice in the lead-up to the first major election she can vote in.
The 19-year-old University of Montana sprinter was among college athletes in the state who received an inquiry from Montana Together asking if she was interested in a name, image and likeness deal to support Sen. Jon Tester, a three-term Democrat seeking re-election. The group, which is not affiliated with the Tester campaign, offered from $400 to $2,400 to athletes willing to produce video endorsements.
Meskers, who is from Colorado but registered to vote in Montana, decided against the deal because she disagrees with Tester's votes on legislation involving transgender athletes in sports.
"I was like, OK, I believe that this is a political move to try to gain back some voters that he might have lost," Meskers said. "And me being a female student-athlete myself, I was not going to give my endorsement to someone who I felt didn't have the same support for me."
Professional athletes such as LeBron James, Colin Kaepernick and Stephen Curry have taken high-profile stances on hot-button topics and political campaigns in recent years, but college athletes are far less outspoken — even if money is available, according to experts in the NIL field. Being outwardly political can reflect on their school or endanger potential endorsement deals from brands that don't want controversy. It can certainly establish a public image for an athlete — for better or for worse — or lead to tensions with teammates and coaches who might not feel the same way.
There are examples of political activism by college athletes: A Texas Tech kicker revealed his support for former President Donald Trump on a shirt under his uniform at a game last week and a handful of Nebraska athletes a few days ago teamed up in a campaign ad against an abortion measure on the Tuesday's ballot.
Still, such steps are considered rare.
"It can be viewed as risky and there may be people telling them just don't even take that chance because they haven't made it yet," said Lauren Walsh, who started a sports branding agency 15 years ago. She said there is often too much to lose for themselves, their handlers and in some cases, their families.
"And these individuals still have to figure out what they're going to do with the rest of their lives, even those that do end up getting drafted," she added.
College coaches are not always as reticent. Auburn men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl has used social media to make it clear he does not support Kamala Harris, Trump's Democratic opponent in next week's presidential election. Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy once caused a stir with a star player for wearing a shirt promoting a far-right news outlet.
Blake Lawrence, co-founder of the NIL platform Opendorse, noted that this is the first presidential election in the NIL era, which began in July 2021. He said athletes are flocking to opportunities to help increase voter turnout in the 18-to-24 age demographic, adding that one of his company's partners has had 86 athletes post social media messages encouraging turnout through the first half of the week.
He said athletes are shying away from endorsing specific candidates or causes that are considered partisan.
"Student-athletes are, for the most part, still developing their confidence in endorsing any type of product or service," he said. "So if they are hesitant to put their weight behind supporting a local restaurant or an e-commerce product, then they are certainly going to be hesitant to use their social channels in a political way."
Giving athletes a voice
Many college athletes have opted to focus on drumming up turnout in a non-partisan manner or simply using their platforms to take stands that are not directly political in nature. Some of those efforts can be found in battleground states.
A progressive group called NextGen America said it had signed players in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Virginia to encourage voting among young people. Another organization, The Team, said it prepped 27 college athletes in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona and Michigan to lead volunteer voter participation opportunities for students. The organization also said it got more than 625 coaches to sign a nonpartisan pledge to get their athletes registered to vote.
The Team's executive director is Joe Kennedy, a former coach who coordinated championship visits and other sporting events at the White House during President Barack Obama's administration. In early October, it hosted a Zoom event during which panelists such as NCAA President Charlie Baker and WNBA players Nneka Ogwumike and Natasha Cloud gave college athletes advice about using their platforms on campus.
In its early days, The Team seized upon momentum from the record turnout seen in the 2020 election. The NCAA that year said Division I athletes could have Election Day off from practice and play to vote. Lisa Kay Solomon, founder of the All Vote No Play campaign, said even if the athletes don't immediately take stands on controversial issues, it's important for them to learn how.
"It is a lot to ask our young people to feel capable and confident on skills they've never had a chance to practice," Solomon said. "We have to model what it means to practice taking risks, practice standing up for yourself, practice pausing to think about what are the values that you care about — not what social media is feeding into your brain, but what do you care about and how do you express that? And how do you do it in a way that honors the kind of future that you want to be a part of?"
Shut up and play?
Two years ago, Tennessee-Martin quarterback Dresser Winn said he would support a candidate in a local district attorney general race in what experts said was very likely the first political NIL deal by a college athlete.
There have been very few since.
The public criticism and fallout for athletes who speak out on politics or social issue can be sharp. Kaepernick, the Super Bowl-winning quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, hasn't played in an NFL game since January 2017, not long after he began kneeling during the national anthem at games.
Meskers, the Montana sprinter, said political endorsements through NIL deals could create problems for athletes and their schools.
"I just think that NIL is going to run into a lot of trouble and a lot of struggles if they continue to let athletes do political endorsements," she said. "I just think it's messy. But I stand by NIL as a whole. I think it's really hard as a student athlete to create a financial income and support yourself."
Walsh said it's easier for wealthy and veteran stars like James and Ogwumike to take stands. James, the Los Angeles Lakers star, started More Than a Vote — an organization with a mission to "educate, energize and protect Black voters" — in 2020. He has passed the leadership to Ogwumike, who just finished her 13th year in the WNBA and also is the president of the Women's National Basketball Players Association. More than a Vote is focused on women's rights and reproductive freedom this year.
"They have very established brands," Walsh said. "They know who they are and they know what their political stance is. They know that they have a really strong following that -- there's always going to be haters, but they're also always going to have that strong following of people who listen to everything that they have to say."
Andra Gillespie, an associate professor at Emory University who teaches African American politics, also said it is rare that a college athlete would make a significant impact with a political stand simply because they tend to have a more regional platform than national. Even celebrities like Taylor Swift and Eminem are better at increasing turnout than championing candidates.
"They are certainly very beneficial in helping to drive up turnout among their fans," Gillespie said. "The data is less conclusive about whether or not they're persuasive – are they the ones who are going to persuade you to vote for a particular candidate?"
Athletes as influencers
Still, campaigns know young voters are critical this election cycle, and athletes offer an effective and familiar voice to reach them.
Political and social topics are not often broached, but this week six Nebraska athletes — five softball players and a volleyball player — appeared in an ad paid for by the group Protect Women and Children involving two initiatives about abortion laws on Tuesday's ballot.
The female athletes backed Initiative 434, which would amend the state constitution to prohibit abortions after the first trimester, with exceptions. Star softball player Jordy Bahl said on social media that the athletes were not paid.
A University of Montana spokesperson said two athletes initially agreed to take part in the NIL deal backing Tester. The school said one withdrew and the other declined to be interviewed.
For Meskers, deciding against the offer boiled down to Tester twice voting against proposals to bar federal funds from going to schools that allow transgender athletes to play women's sports, a prominent GOP campaign topic. Tester's campaign said the proposals were amendments to government spending packages, and he didn't want to play a role in derailing them as government shutdowns loomed.
"As a former public school teacher and school board member, Jon Tester believes these decisions should be made at the local level," a Tester spokesperson said. "He has never voted to allow men to compete against women."
Meskers said she believes using influence as college athletes is good and she is in favor of NIL. She just doesn't think the two should mix specifically for supporting candidates.
"I think especially as student athletes, we do have such a big voice and we do have a platform to use," she said. "So I think if you're encouraging people to do their civic duties and get up and go (vote), I think that's a great thing."
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