The effects of a reported racist outburst at a Brigham Young University women’s volleyball match continue to ripple across the country.
A week after a Duke player said she was repeatedly called a racist slur at the match with the flagship school of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the coach of South Carolina’s defending champion women’s basketball team pulled out of a home-and-home series with the university.
BYU officials say they believe the Duke player and continue to investigate the incident but have so far been unable to find the culprit.
Other schools and teams have had racist episodes at athletic events, so why has the Provo incident touched so many nerves?
On this week’s show, BYU alum Darron Smith, who teaches sociology at the University of Memphis and is the author of “When Race, Religion & Sports Collide: Black Athletes at BYU and Beyond,” talks about the volleyball match episode, the resulting fallout, the school’s history with Black athletes, and why BYU and Latter-day Saint leaders need to do much more to combat racism on campus and within the faith — starting with an apology for the church’s former priesthood/temple ban for Black members.
Listen below. Subscribe to Mormon Land on Apple Podcasts.
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