Blocking Out The Hate: Maryland Volleyball Leads The Charge On Social Justice

Donning wrist tape with the letters “BLM” written on it, senior middle blocker Rainelle Jones chooses to wear her beliefs on her body every time she steps on the court at the XFINITY Center Pavilion. 

While 2020 was a year that will undoubtedly be synonymous with the COVID-19 pandemic, social justice issues also rose to the forefront of the world after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

On May 25th, Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin sparked a global outcry by pinning the unarmed Floyd down and suffocating him. Chauvin has since been found guilty of second - and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter and sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison for the crimes.

Sadly, it was nothing new for Jones, Cara Lewis, Hannah Thompson, and all the Maryland volleyball players.

“It breaks your heart every time it happens,” Jones said. “Once it happens again you’re just reminded about all the problems facing you and all the people who look like you. It won’t stop unless we take a stand now and do it together.”

Floyd’s murder led to a reckoning in the sports world where major sports leagues like the WNBA, NBA, and NFL took stands against racial injustice. 

The NBA, which was playing in its season in an Orlando-based bubble, was so affected by Floyd's murder that a league-wide player's meeting was held to discuss whether or not to cancel the season.  

The players ultimately chose to keep playing but not before they made their voices heard. 

Players wore t-shirts, armbands, and messages on their gear to express solidarity for not just Floyd, but also the deaths of black Americans like Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, and Trayvon Martin.

The NFL took a very visual approach to express their solidarity as all 30 stadiums painted “It Takes All Of Us” and “End Racism” in their end zones while also allowing league-approved messages on helmets, hats, and warm up gear. 

The WNBA is synonymous with activism as its players have not shied away from making their voices heard when it comes to social justice. 

During their bubble season last summer, WNBA players created homemade shirts and knelt during the playing of the national anthem as a way to peacefully protest the treatment of Black Americans. 

With kneeling for the anthem being made mainstream and normalized by the likes of former NFL player Colin Kaepernick and women’s athletes across the country, several Maryland volleyball players have chosen to take a knee themselves.

“It’s our way to peacefully protest,” Lewis said of the decision to kneel. “We’re not hurting anybody and we have the support of our team, our athletic department and our fans. Everyone supports it and even if some people outside of this family don’t, we don’t care.”

Lewis is joined in kneeling by Jones and senior Maddie Naumann, with Thompson choosing to not hold her hand over her heart. 

Naumann, who is white, feels that it is important for her to not only understand the plight of her teammates but to join them and support them in anything that they need.

The senior defensive specialist sits on the leadership committee for the team along with Jones and the two of them remained in constant communication throughout the summer of 2020. 

The Austin, Texas, native wanted to make sure that while her support was there, she also didn’t want to overstep any boundaries. 

“This isn’t about me,” Naumann said. “This is about all the victims of racial injustice and all those who are living with that fear every day.”

This past summer Maryland added Thompson as a graduate transfer from Notre Dame and her voice was a much-welcomed one to the locker room. 

Thompson majored in psychology and Africana studies and is known for her charity work with groups such as the Road Runner Food Bank, Breast Cancer Walk, and Feed My Starving Children on top of being an advocate for social justice. 

When she entered the transfer portal after last season, Maryland’s diversity, equality, inclusivity and commitment to Black student-athletes stood out to her and made her decision a simple one.

“Maryland felt like a place committed to those kinds of ideas,” Thompson said. “If you look at girls like Rainelle, Cara and people like coach Hughes, they lead by example and they’re not afraid to be who they are and I was really impressed by that.”

What was once considered niche political statements that have landed athletes in trouble in the past have now become mainstream and been embraced throughout the college ranks. 

For Maryland volleyball, the decision to embrace the movement ultimately fell to the players but the choice was much easier after head coach Adam Hughes made it abundantly clear that he was behind the movement 100%. 

“Adam has been amazing throughout this whole thing,” Jones said. “He called everyone as the protests last summer were happening and made sure everyone was okay. I can’t thank him enough for that kind of support.”

Hughes, like most people around the world who were aware of what was happening, was saddened and angered by what was happening. 

During the height of the protests and marches, Hughes decided to call every member of his team to make sure they were doing okay. In doing so, he learned just how strong and resilient his team was. 

"It's incredible coaching a team of young women that is so passionate about issues like this in order to create a better world for themselves and the future,” Hughes said. “Each and every day I learn something new from them and as a staff we take pride in supporting them however we can both on and off the court."

Historically, the Maryland Terrapins have always been leaders when it comes to social justice in the NCAA. 

In 1963, Darryl Hill became the first Black football player in any of the southern athletic conferences. Just two years later, Billy Jones became the first Black basketball player to play in the ACC. 

Both men have since been honored by the university for their trailblazing careers with Jones-Hill House being named after them. Nearly 60 years after Hill and Jones took their courageous stands and broke down barriers, the mantle has been taken up by the modern-day Terps.  

The football team has committed itself to be more socially conscious as the football team wore custom nameplates, stickers, and warm-up shirts that displayed social justice messages. 

If you go to a women’s soccer match, you’ll see athletes such as Alyssa Poarch and Kori Locksley kneeling for the national anthem with their teammates standing with their hands on the kneeling player's shoulders in solidarity with them. 

Not being the only team in this fight makes a world of difference for Lewis as she sees the movement growing and becoming a university-wide issue. 

“We’re just doing what’s right,” Lewis said. “We can’t let other people who aren’t here or aren’t experiencing what we’re experiencing tell us what’s right and what’s wrong. I’m proud of the way this team and this school has come together over all of this.”

Players like Jones, Lewis, and Thompson have chosen to live and play the game they love without fear, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t trepidation.

That sort of apprehension isn’t related to the backlash, it’s as if everything they’ve worked for falls out of favor with society and becomes a forgotten issue. 

Rainelle Jones has a mantra about her and her team’s commitment to making the world a better and more inclusive place. It’s a mantra that has resonated with everybody on the team regardless of skin color and stays as a reminder that this shouldn’t be a fleeting issue.

“It’s a movement, not a moment”