Either change the flag or I won’t be representing this State anymore 💯 & I meant that .. I’m tired https://t.co/IzizpWLoIg
— Kylin Hill (@H_Kylin) June 22, 2020
When you make sports an outsized-portion of life, well you shouldn’t be surprised that they can have outsized-impact off the playing field.
See:
Colin Kaepernick take a knee and what that loosed.
See the SEC telling Mississippi it could lose SEC championship games unless the state changes the state flag, which incorporates the Confederate battle flag.
And now this:
Huge development: Arguably the best college football player in Mississippi won’t play until lawmakers change the state flag, which contains the Confederate emblem. https://t.co/amYSf4SwbQ
— Adam Ganucheau (@GanucheauAdam) June 22, 2020
The replies to Hill on social media include many from that sector in supposedly post-racial America that says the flag is about “heritage.” Boy is it. As Hill said in a follow-up tweet: “I was born in this state and I know what the flag mean”
Razorback coaches have been encouraging on the Black Lives Matter front. (Don’t remind anyone of the ugliness that was directed in the Capitol and elsewhere against the Razorback women basketball players who took a knee.)
Arkansas has a brewing flag issue, too, though its star signifying the Confederacy on the state flag isn’t as readily recognizable as a tribute to the Lost Cause as the Mississippi standard.
Weekend example from UA:
Congratulations to former @ArkRazorbacks student-athlete and current marketing team member @love_tbrooks and team, for organizing a very successful Fayetteville in Living Color Event on Saturday. #OneRazorback pic.twitter.com/2pGVXV7RQI
— Hunter Yurachek (@HunterYurachek) June 22, 2020
Also, on Juneteenth:
Razorback Athletics facilities are closed today and all student-athlete activities are canceled.
We are taking time today to educate and celebrate an important day in our history. pic.twitter.com/hkrdwsoljh
— Arkansas Razorbacks (@ArkRazorbacks) June 19, 2020