"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." – Nelson Mandela.

Muhlenberg Athletics commits to stand united in support of our Black community. The first step we can take to aid in the healing of our Black community is to listen with compassion.

Head wrestling coach Jason McLean '01 shared a meaningful and powerful message with the Muhlenberg coaches and staff. It appears below as the first of what we hope will be a regular series.

We would love to hear from you so we can become educated on how we can help and support you in any way. Muhlenberg is dedicated to doing our part to change the world.

The title of the series, "Lift Every Voice," comes from the poem and song "Lift Every Voice and Sing," which is considered the Black National Anthem. The lyrics speak of struggles, faith and hope, and we hope uplifting your voices will help us develop a plan to take action individually and collectively to bring an end to pervasive social injustice against Black Americans.
 
Black Lives Matter.

Hey all. Hopefully you are making it through today considering where our world stands.

I know all of you well and generally have good and some great relationships. I have received calls and texts, and they are much appreciated.

We discussed education and understanding, which I realize is hard to do unless being personally touched by such. It is very easy to be disconnected by events that do not affect you or you are far removed from. Maybe it just doesn't affect your "circle" of friends, counterparts and/or colleagues.  

My grandfather was the first licensed black electrician in the state of Alabama. He took classes at a junior college and Tuskegee University and took the test for his license multiple times even when he passed. He also is a military veteran. Upon graduation, he was threatened by the KKK, could only get work as a janitor, and was concerned that he and his family would be harmed so he fled to New Jersey, leaving my mom and five brothers behind to fend for themselves.

My grandmother, who passed around the age of 26, already had a difficult life because she was also part Native American. You couldn't get much worse than being Black and Native American in a Jim Crow southern state. It goes without saying that she was not offered the best healthcare when she fell ill. Upon her passing, my mom and uncles went to go live with family that owned a huge plot of land and also had their run-ins with the KKK and others. My mother was assaulted and their farm was vandalized and robbed. 

On the way home from maybe a practice or work, my uncle would have to hide in the woods and lie in ditches if he saw headlights coming towards them because a lot of time, they were lynch mobs out "having a good ole time." All of my uncles served in the military proudly. I have an uncle that cannot hear out of one ear because black soldiers were not issued ear plugs like the other soldiers while landing military aircraft.

While I have my own personal stories of injustice and racism, I feel my family's history is a better representation of how long-standing and deep this all runs. This began way before Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery. It goes even farther than Medgar Evers. Civil rights, slavery, etc., are part of our unfortunate and troubled history that is rarely talked about and is hidden. This pot has been boiling over for quite some time.

I am cognizant of a lot because my mother constantly reinforced it. She knew it was her responsibility to prepare me for a sad reality. It even started with her children's names (Dana, Jason, Kevin, Mark). Think about it, Jason McLean's college application and resume tends to stand out and do a bit better!  

She feared when my brothers and I left the house after moving to a predominantly white community. She always told me that I have to be five times better and extra respectful. She feared for our lives. I am so grateful for her teaching me about Jesse Owens, Malcolm X, Paul Laurence Dunbar, George Washington Carver, Eli Whitney, events in Birmingham, and so much more. Some of the things made me uncomfortable, some made me proud, but they all made me a better and more understanding person.

Some of these things will make you uncomfortable, some proud or more knowledgeable, but all for the better.

Please educate yourselves and families because that's where it starts. I am now my mother. I fear for my nephew, daughters and the young men of color that I have recruited to Muhlenberg College.  Ask yourselves why Congress has not passed the "Anti-Lynching Bill" first introduced in 1918, which was renamed after Emmett Till, who was murdered in 1955.

No one should feel guilty about what they were or were not born with. Privilege and chosen ignorance are distinctly different. Any opinion is at least a formulated opinion whether we agree or not.  Rhetoric, action and thought can evoke change and awareness.

This is our America, our Muhlenberg, ours together. I am your colleague, co-worker and friend, and I am blessed to know each and every one of you. What affects me, affects you indirectly as well. Systemic racism is as real for me as it was for my grandfather, uncles and parents. Injustice is injustice. Right is right. Wrong is wrong. Let's just do better. It can start with us.

Thank you for your time.
Roll Mules!

A list of anti-racist resources, including national and local racial justice organizations and a reading list, is available on the Muhlenberg College website.