Black Lives Matter Swimsuit Leads to Attempted Ban of 12-Year-Old, Official Sanctioned
A volunteer official who attempted to disqualify a 12-year-old swimmer for wearing a swimsuit that said “Black Lives Matter” has been banned from further events.
The incident Sunday occurred at a meet at Superior High School in Wisconsin. The swimmer, 12-year-old Leidy Gallona, had emblazoned the suit with the BLM message that week. The meet’s head official, a volunteer, attempted to prevent her from competing with the suit on, saying it violated a USA Swimming policy on political action.
Gallona’s mother, Sarah Lyons, disputed the decision by the swim official and brought up the issue with both the Duluth YMCA, which sponsored the meet, and the Duluth chapter of the NAACP. The swim official, whose name has not been released, was removed from the competition and banned from future work at YMCA events.
The Duluth YMCA released a statement following what it called an, “unfortunate incident.”
“In response to this ruling, Duluth YMCA staff swiftly disputed the claim directly with swimming officials and were in immediate contact with Duluth YMCA Leadership,” the statement read. “The Duluth YMCA quickly overruled the decision, removed the official and the student is now participating in the meet.
“The Duluth YMCA is saddened that the student, their family, and teammates had to endure this unacceptable behavior. The Duluth YMCA will continue our ongoing commitment to train all staff and volunteers on diversity, equity, and inclusion. The Duluth Area Family YMCA is committed to being an anti-racist organization and stands with BIPOC communities throughout the Northland and throughout our country. We know that Black Lives Matter and we will continue to work to educate ourselves, to stand against inequality, and to strive to be active allies in the ongoing fight for diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
The incident occurred at a particularly fraught time. Gallona, a first-year swimmer, was inspired to make the swimsuit after the latest instance of a black man being killed in Minnesota at the hands of a police officer, 22-year-old Amir Locke in Minneapolis, who was killed when police executed a no-knock warrant. USA Swimming, during the tumultuous summer of 2020, released a letter affirming its stance on Black Lives Matter, all in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd, another Minnesotan killed by police. USA Swimming and other athletics governing associations gave greater latitude for elite athletes to express political speech.
“Black people that are getting killed, their lives matter because they were, their lives were taken from them,” Gallona told a local news station. “So I think it’s respectful to show that I matter, everyone that’s black matters too.”
When given a choice to change her suit in order to compete or keep the suit on, Gallona elected not to change. Lyons said she received a message of support from, among others, NBA star LeBron James on Monday.
“The easy thing to do would’ve been to take the suit off and she chose not to do that,” Lyons said. “She chose to stand up for what she thinks is right. It’s a proud mama moment for sure.”
Seems the question is, is it rule conforming to put messages of support for groups on your suit? or not? And banning a volunteer official for attempting to enforce a perceived rule violation…? Any other rule violation mistakes punishable in this way? Pretty woke, intolerant of mistakes? aren’t we. Cancelled. Draconian. Why people don’t volunteer.
Or maybe the official was banned for trying to DQ (cancel) a swimmer simply because they disagree with her views. If they would try that, they may also DQ a swimmer during a race without cause just because they do not like them. This has nothing to do with why people volunteer or not. In every LSC there are the people that always volunteer and the ones that sit on their butts in the stands and never volunteer.
Apparently rules don’t matter anymore. This little girl’s being hailed as a hero for standing up for herself, but she’s very misguided. If she wants to compete she has to follow the rules just like all of the other kids.
Not any more
USA Swimming Rules & Regulations 102.8.3 C reads:
“Advertising for the following shall not be allowed:
(2) Political statements;
D – Swimmers in violation of the above provisions may be barred from the competition venue until they comply.”
The official was enforcing this rule. This also means that a swimmer wearing a suit that said “MAGA” on it would not be allowed to swim until they changed into another suit. This has nothing to do with the personal views of the official.
Maybe it’s more appropriate to think of “Black Lives Matter” as a simple fact (like Clean Air Matters), Fish Swim, Mean People Suck, etc, a personal statement, and a social statement. Just because politicians and politically active people make it political doesn’t mean it is. (I’d say the same for Make America Great Again, but agree that “MAGA” actually is political due to how it was created and is used.) I’d love to find some SCOTUS rulings on this and will take time to do so. I’ll hope you and others will do the same.
Black Lives Matters is an organization that has a definite political agenda. It is run by trained Marxists, an ideology responsible for over 100,000,000 deaths in the countries that Marxists run. Its favored anti-police policies, when enacted by various municipalities, has resulted in thousands more murders, mostly of minorities over the past two years. It also seems to be organized to steal as much money as possible from the useful idiots that donate to it and use it for party houses in Toronto and multiple, rather lavish, homes for its leadership. So, you are making a political statement when you promote this vile organization.
Cohen v California addresses whether you can bar political messages that are profane in a public building, but that was a First Amendment case. Cohen does not control whether an organization like a YMCA can ban all political messages. There are some state laws and local ordinances that prohibit banning political messages, but they probably don’t really apply here either. I think they mostly address whether an employer can discriminate against employees based upon their political expression.
There are also extensive YMCA rules regarding what athletes and officials can wear. I think the manual is over 300 pages long, bars outlining around letters on T-shirts and regulates how you can depict your team mascot (there are officially approved images of sharks, dolphins etc). Of course, some political messages are more equal than others.
All YMCA swim officials are volunteers. If this was the meet referee, he or she has probably worked a couple hundred hours at YMCA meets over the past 5 years or so. Absent evidence that the official allowed other political messages to be displayed, this official was properly enforcing the rules. Here’s hoping that the Duluth YMCA can no longer find enough volunteer officials to run its meet next year.
There are very strict rules regarding logos and what can be on your swim suits and caps. Even the size of the Stars and Stripes is governed. Since this would appear to be a USA Swimming sanctioned meet, this competitor is in the wrong. The official was right, not sure how it was handled, but the official would likely have been better to address this with the competitors coach and been able to change their suit as long as it didn’t delay the meet.
She was given the opportunity to change suits and declined.
I’d like to see an official response from USASwimming on this topic. As an official, I don’t want to be put in the position of having to decide which political messages are allowed and which aren’t.
I agree. And I hope the officials name is kept quiet. We already have enough other stuff to deal with for free!! Try getting new officials over the next few years to work these meets.
Well well.
Look at all these white men feeling threatened by a little girl.
Typical troll comment that has nothing to add, and certainly on a topic they do not understand.
Instead of starting the race with, take your mark, it should be, take a knee .
Maybe just pointing out hypocrisy and double standards.