Photo courtesy Thomson200/ Creative Commons
The Morehouse College debate team has withdrawn from a tournament following repeated racist mockery and anti-Blackness.
Students Daniel Edwards and Caleb Strickland were exposed to racist rhetoric from other teams at the Penn USUDC 2021 (The United States Universities Debating Championship) last month.
Members from other teams, such as the University of Hawaii, rolled their eyes and used racist caricatures when asking Morehouse debaters questions over the virtual platform during round five of the tournament. The debate team’s concerns were dismissed
after being brought to the attention of the tournament’s equity team.The Morehouse debate team later released a statement announcing their decision to leave the tournament after the tournament’s equity team failed to act before the next round.
“After experiencing issues of anti-Blackness, and ableism by extension, at this tournament to a worrying extent we can no longer continue to compete and support the tournament in good conscience,” said the statement.
“We have experienced a constant attitude of dismissal from both debaters and the judging pool as it relates to us as Black people, which has been especially disconcerting and traumatic. This becomes exacerbated when debaters engage in the elitist mocking and caricaturing of Black debaters’ tonality and speech before then being rewarded by panels on the round calls.”
The Morehouse debate team’s coach, Kenneth Newby, said that the students were told that the issue would be addressed before another round, but it was not.
“To have integrity means that you do what you say you are going to do when you say you are going to do it.”
Edwards noted that it isn’t the first time he’s heard racist rhetoric at debate tournaments.
“You will hear some crazy s**t. And it’s usually going to be racist,” he said.
The University of Hawaii issued a statement saying that the debate team was not officially affiliated with the university, nor are they “a registered student organization.”
The university’s Office of Student Conduct investigates any campus conduct code violations, which could “lead to suspension or expulsion.”
Clemson, Spelman College and Vanderbilt have also withdrawn from the tournament, which was later canceled.