Stand Up, Speak Up!

By Emily Biggin and Rebecca Forman

On February 2nd, McFarland and Evansville students came together at the Varsity Boys Basketball game to unite against racial inequalities. All players wore shirts that read “Stand Up, Speak Up” in their school colors to show alliance for the cause. On January 19, two weeks earlier, the same event occurred at the girls basketball game against Whitewater.

“Stand Up, Speak Up” has its roots in a European campaign that ran in 2005. It started with the French soccer player, Thierry Henry, who had seen widespread racism in soccer throughout Europe. The movement has since come to the United States, finding support in local high schools. Kynaeda Gray, a member of MHS’s Black Student Union said, “We saw Middleton do the event, and one of the JV Boys Basketball players, [Mason Simonson], reached out to us and he was like, ‘Oh, this is a really good idea,’ and so we took it and we ran with it, and we made it even better.”

The campaign caught the attention of MHS students, so the BSU piloted the event at the January 19th girl’s game. The BSU sold 80 t-shirts for the players and dedicated fans online, and had expected to sell the other 40 shirts at the door for the away team’s fan section. They achieved that goal with minimal struggle, selling out of the shirt before the game.

In addition to the shirts, fans from both schools were also given flyers about how to effectively stand up to microaggressions. During halftime, Manny Barber-Thomas, a BSU officer, spoke about his experience at MHS and how students can Stand Up and Speak Up against racial intolerance.

With the help of the basketball teams and coaches, as well as the BSU board, a total of 35 McFarland students were integral in the execution of the event at both games.

Ms. Conner, a BSU adviser and Special Education Teacher stated: “The McFarland Black Student Union sponsored two “Stand Up, Speak Up” nights to help bring awareness to microaggressions in schools and increase unity among all people. The students designed a t-shirt with the Rock Valley Conference teams listed in the basketball to display that we are all one ‘team’.” The support from both McFarland as well as the opposing teams, Evansville and Whitewater, was vital in the campaign’s success.

“As a group we were grateful for the backing our school, our fellow teammates and our classmates. We appreciated their support, and their willingness to listen and learn about microaggressions and more importantly how to stop them!”