By Stephen Levitt ’22, Sports Editor

The NBA, WNBA, and MLB, among other professional athletic organizations, have taken action to support the BLM (Black Lives Matter) movement and to promote equality in America. Through actions like refusing to play and honoring victims of police brutality, these organizations have the power to highlight systemic racism and demand change. The need for change has been put into focus recently, as the news has covered disturbing scenes like the death of George Floyd, Jacob Blake, and Breonna Taylor. 

Newark Academy students of color pointed out to faculty that these issues of racism are not only seen on the news but are frequently experienced through everyday encounters. During conversations with NA faculty, students recounted conversations and situations in which they witnessed racism at Newark Academy. In response, NA held an Equity and Inclusion summit on June 2nd-3rd with a goal of calling for change, acknowledging its failures, and striving to create an environment free from racial bias. This summit was led by the NA faculty and by speakers such as keynote speaker, Dr. Eddie Moore, a founder of America & MOORE, LLC, to provide comprehensive diversity training and workshops for K-12 schools, community organizations, businesses, colleges, and universities. 

Following the Equity and Inclusion summit, Newark Academy reported changes to the school to support these efforts. For example, NA created a Bias Incident Education and Reporting System which is planned to be used this school year. In addition, changes were made to the curriculum to help educate students on equity and inclusion. Most notably, in the Humanities department, changes were made to the Ancient World course, where students will now learn about Latin American and African civilizations. 

Though these changes highlighted many departments’ participation in the summit, the Athletic Department seemed to have stayed quiet, at least from the student body perspective. While the Athletic Department as a whole participated in the Equity and Inclusion summit this past July, there was little mention of their plans in the school emails. 

Despite their lacking presence in the post-summit emails, the Athletic Department was carefully thinking about how they could help create change in the NA community. Knowing the importance of the Athletic Department’s actions, John Amosa, Director of Athletics at NA, spoke generally about his plans. “As a department of the school that interacts with external groups more than most and that has a unique place within the institution, we looked to commit to goals that we would be able to authentically realize,” Amosa said.

The Athletic Department divided its goals into two categories: short term goals—those that will be implemented as soon as this year—and long term goals for the community to strive for overtime. Their first short term goal is the inclusion and incorporation of Equity and Inclusion training for all NA coaches. Secondly, the Athletic Department has the goal of creating programs where student-athletes and coaches are empowered to speak up. Lastly, the Athletic Department identified their long term goal as moving away from a “diversity reflex to an inclusion instinct,” in hopes of creating an environment in which everyone feels welcomed and empowered to bring their whole selves to the competition.