Black History Month is celebrated in the U.S., Canada and a few other countries around the world with the intent to respect the history and leadership of Black individuals that are rarely spoken about. Officially recognized by President Gerald Ford in 1976, February is a time for the public to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” Take some time this week to expand your knowledge of Black history by learning about the roots and meaning of the many historical days that make up this month.
As we at MLQ continue preparing for our (hopeful) upcoming season, we want to continue taking time to highlight commemorative holidays throughout the year we as a community can use to reflect, learn and grow. Since the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Dominique Alexander and others, people inside and outside of the quidditch community have begun refocusing on Black lives and issues particularly affecting BIPOC individuals. With the support of MLQ Leadership, our DEI team continues to operate with that focus in mind.
“Diversity, equity and inclusion does not happen in a vacuum. Our DEI items must be created from an empathy-focused mindset. Even when these issues are not popular or trending, we need to center Black and other BIPOC voices in conversations before creating action items on issues around racial equity. We need to listen to women, nonbinary, trans and gender non-conforming voices as we work on gender equity. Committing to DEI work without goal setting and purpose is pandering to a moral cause without grit or focus,” said Interim DEI Director Christian Barnes.
MLQ reaffirmed its dedication toward racial equity in quidditch last summer, providing ways allies could (and still can) donate time and effort to the Black Lives Matter movement. In conjunction with USQ, we hosted BIPOC Town Halls to hear from members of our community, and continue to be guided by and take DEI action in accordance with the outlined pillars.
Reflection: What We’ve Done
With the lack of visibility and attention on Black leaders in our sport, especially concerning Black women, MLQ worked with Shadé Jaiyeola and Olive Jim-Daniels to hear their thoughts on the community and what we need to do to move forward.
From the BIPOC Town Halls, we at MLQ better realized the constraints of BIPOC, especially Black players, are limited to when advertising this sport, as film and media overwhelmingly centered white counterparts. MLQ worked with Billy Quach, the Let It Fly Media Creative Director and an NFL content creator, to pull highlight film from across MLQ and USQ and create something new. With contributions from filmmakers such as Gerry Taylor and Ariel Heiblum, we created a culturally-responsive advertisement showcasing some of the Black athletes already performing on pitch: a BIPOC Hype Video.
Learning: What We’re Doing
We’ve continued to fundraise for our MAAP BIPOC Grant, including the dedication of 80 percent of MLQ Ugly Sweater Series proceeds to the fund. At this time we’ve raised over $1,500 for the grant.
To answer the request from the BIPOC Town Halls last summer, we’ve spent a bulk of the off-season creating an Anti-Bias Training Module for officials that is not only informative but engaging. At this time, we are assessing stakeholder feedback. Interested in providing feedback? Sign up here.
Growing: What Comes Next
There are a number of exciting announcements slated for 2021, but here is a slice of what comes next.
- February 2021: Winter DEI update, commemorative Black History Month post (Feb 12)
- March 2021: MLQ DEI workshop at QuidCon led by Interim DEI Director Christian Barnes
- Summer 2021: Release of Cultural Inclusion Guides, introduction of the MLQ Commentator Training Program and more