Story updated June 9
San Jose State University and University of California, Santa Barbara student-athletes came together to show solidarity for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Yesterday, collegiate athletes around the U.S. ran, walked, biked or swam 8.46 miles or exercised for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the amount of time that George Floyd struggled to breathe while being detained by former Minneapolis police officers Derek Chauvin, J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas K. Lane and Tou Thao.
Athletes from universities like Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, San Diego State and many more posted their progress on social media crediting @athletes4chnges. An Instagram account run by UCSB women’s soccer players Evann Smith and Hannah Wendelken. SJSU women’s soccer junior defender Natasha Harris and senior midfielder Darrian Reed as well as men's basketball junior guard Caleb Simmons also help run the account.
“It makes me so happy and proud to see the athlete community coming together. I am so incredibly happy to see everyone running for Black Lives Matter, and supporting a movement that is so important to our country,” Wendelken said over text. “I am still surprised how many people heard about the event and how much money we have raised.”
The event also encouraged athletes and spectators to donate money toward the UCSB women soccer team’s GoFundMe. Their initial goal was just $1,000, but they shattered that by receiving $78,000. All of the money was donated to the Black Lives Matter organization.
“I’m completely surprised at how big this grew. We had more schools than we could keep up with tagging us and sharing and it got to the point where we couldn’t respond individually to each one,” Harris said over text. “I knew that people would hopefully see it and be intrigued, but I had no clue that we would raise almost $80,000 as well as turn into an Instagram platform.”
Smith, one of the founders of Athletes4CHNGES, expressed her anger over George Floyd’s death and because she could not attend any protests herself, she wanted to do something for the cause.
“Seeing everything come together has been such a blessing,” Smith said over text. “I was so consumed by anger after seeing the video of George Floyd and seeing so much negativity directed at the protest. I felt helpless, especially because I couldn’t attend the big protests in [Los Angeles] but I saw my fellow activists getting tear-gassed and shot at by the police.”
By creating an event that included her passion for athletics and for Black Lives Matter, Smith said she felt she was able to do something for the cause.
“This event allowed me to release all the negative energy and allowed me to use the thing I know best, athletics, to fight for the Black Lives Matter movement,” Smith said. “I was surprised by how much love and compassion was put into this event by so many individuals across the nation. Looking at all the #athletez4blm and the people who tagged us gave me chills and I will never stop being grateful towards everyone who participated and donated to support the BLM movement.”
This event allowed student-athletes to participate in their own peaceful protests without fear of getting injured by rubber bullets or tear gas. Wendelken biked 8.46 miles, Smith ran and walked 8.46 miles, Harris walked and biked 8.46 miles, Reed skated, ran and biked 8.46 miles and Simmons ran 8.46 miles.
“Overall, our main goal was to honor George Floyd and acknowledge the pain and suffering he endured for those 8:46 minutes,” Reed said over text. “I also think this was a great opportunity for people to reflect on what’s going on in America and to really resonate with George Floyd’s death.”
As this event allowed for athletes to reflect on George Floyd’s death during those 8.46 miles or 8 minutes and 46 seconds, it also reminded them to use their platform to bring light to the bigger picture at hand.
"This was an effort to utilize our platform as student-athletes to make people realize what is going on in this country," Simmons said over text. "This country stands for its freedom, liberty and justice for all and it's not happening for all right now. Black Lives Matter."
However, the success the group achieved came with some challenges, especially when dealing with NCAA rules.
“There were a couple of issues with how we originally set up the event,” Smith said. “We thought we could just post about it on our team account and our individual accounts. But it turned out we had to get approval from the NCAA, which we eventually got.”
When the group received approval from the NCAA, they had to focus on handling the money they raised.
“We also ran into the issue of issuing funds, we were going to split the funds between three organizations. But we were advised that because GoFundMe can’t do partial donations we should pick one,” Smith said. “We chose Black Lives Matter because we believed it was the strongest organization to impact the movement nationwide.”
Despite the teamwork and the numerous athletes who participated, Smith said there is still much to do for Black Lives Matter.
“I think for there to be actual change we need to have uncomfortable conversations with ourselves and with others. We need to change the education system to accurately teach the youth how systematic racism works and how much struggle Black people have gone through due to so many barriers implemented by the government,” Smith said. “To do this we need to actively learn who we are voting for at the local level and vote in the November election. This event is just the beginning, we are working proactively to foster future endeavors.”
As the event came to a close Monday night, the Athletes4CHNGES organizers began planning for upcoming events.
“We do plan on coming up with more fundraisers, events and educational aspects,” Harris said. “We have tons of ideas on what we want to show as well as how to continue using it as a platform for other athletes.”
