‘A Jackie Robinson moment’: Jeffries echoes NAACP calls for college sports boycott over voting rights

Hakeem Jeffries, the top US House Democrat, has amplified calls for Black athletes to boycott public universities in states that have moved to limit voting rights, saying an “unprecedented moment, featuring an unprecedented attack on Black political representation” requires an “unprecedented response”.

Jeffries’s comments came Tuesday as the NAACP launched its “Out of Bounds” campaign. The campaign targets universities in eight states – Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Georgia – whose athletic programs generate more than $100m in revenue. Those eight states have moved to draw new voter maps after the supreme court’s Louisiana v Callais decision severely weakened the Voting Rights Act.

The minority leader specifically called out the powerhouse Southeastern Conference. Twelve of the SEC’s 16 member schools are in the eight targeted states.

“We are here standing in solidarity with the NAACP and its call for athletes to boycott institutions within the SEC that belong to states that have unleashed these Jim Crow-like, racially oppressive tactics, which is unacceptable, unconscionable and un-American,” Jeffries said during a press briefing on Tuesday in Washington. “And we believe that the silence of these institutions is complicity, and we will not stand for it.”

The campaign calls on football and basketball players being recruited by programs in those states to withhold their commitments until the states “restore fair congressional maps and meaningful Black representation”.

It also urges athletes and coaches already enrolled at those universities to use their platforms to elevate voting rights causes, and asks fans, alumni and donors to stop financially supporting those programs. The SEC is home to nine of the 15 highest-valued athletic programs in the country, according to CNBC, including leader Texas ($1.48bn), Georgia, Alabama and Florida.

Athletes at Missouri and Mississippi, both SEC schools, have led successful campaigns in recent years putting pressure on universities and state governments for social justice causes. Jeffries referenced Bill Russell, Muhammad Ali and Jackie Robinson in his remarks, calling on this generation to carry on the legacies of previous activist athletes.