Mixing athletes, activism

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Columnist

Last Sunday, as she has for every game in Manhattanville (N.Y.) College's season, forward Toni Smith made a defiant turn away from the American flag as "The Star Spangled Banner" was played and faced a wall before the game with Stevens Tech.

Not exactly John Carlos raising a clenched fist on the Olympic stage or Muhammad Ali standing steadfast in front of the television cameras while refusing induction.

Then, during the first break in play for a free throw, Jerry Kiley, a Vietnam veteran, came out of the stands to chastise Smith for "disgracing" herself and the flag.

As word of Smith's statement — she has blamed "the inequities that are embedded into the American system" and "the war America will soon be entering" as her basis for protest — has spread this season, so, too, has both the opposition and support.

In a game at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, spectators chanted, "USA!...USA!" and others have waved American flags. Some of Smith's teammates have worn red, white and blue headbands while others have held her hand.

Manhattanville College basketball player Toni Smith turns away from the U.S. flag as she protests the impending war against Iraq. Associated Press

But, for better or worse, sports and the visibility they provide, have long since become a platform for protest. Medal stands, base paths, tennis courts and basketball courts have for decades been pulpits to raise social and political consciousness.

Once upon a time it was accepted that sports and activism didn't mix. Of course, back then, neither did the races. That was before Jackie Robinson used a game to help force the country to confront prejudice and stereotypes.

Since then, baseball players have come to lay down their bats and gloves for more than just pay raises, taking a stand on Elian Gonzalez among other issues. Athletes boycotted South Africa and Cuba. More recently, Lou Holtz and Serena Williams have opposed the Confederate flag.

Now, the issue of the day is the prospect of war with Iraq. Because of the visibility of the stands made by Smith, Steve Nash of the Dallas Mavericks (a Canadian who wore an anti-war shirt to an NBA All-Star game media event) and others, sports is no longer just an uninvolved bystander.

Unlike Iraq and North Korea, where such exercises of free expression can carry a swift death sentence, in this country they have that right. And, just as it is the right of Smith and others to voice their message and invoke sports as their medium, their opponents are similarly empowered to voice disapproval and wave flags as they choose.

It is, after all, what veterans, such as Kiley, have fought and sacrificed for.