A message from the Executive Director: "What’s Going On?"

In 1971, Marvin Gaye released the song "What's Going On?" Earlier this week when the song played on my iPod, I was struck by the following words like never before. 

Mother, mother, there's too many of you crying. Brother, brother, brother, there's far too many of you dying. You know we've got to find a way, to bring some lovin' here today.
Father, father, we don't need to escalate. You see, war is not the answer, for only love can conquer hate. You know we've got to find a way to bring some lovin' here today.
Picket lines and picket signs, don't punish me with brutality. Talk to me, what's going on?

Coming out of the sixties and entering the seventies, the words he sang epitomized feelings towards the Vietnam war, the establishment, and racism. In 1971 I was too young to really comprehend the significance and truth of the words. Now at age 57, the words cut to the quick because unfortunately they are true almost 50 years later. While there has been progress in race relations, it is obvious there has not been enough advancement! The despair Gaye sang about in 1971 holds true in 2020.  

I am of the opinion we are not only battling a new pandemic in COVID-19, we continue to battle the pandemic of racism, as well as the lunacy of rioting. The anguish, pain, fear, disgust, and chaos is real! What continually transpires by men and women who violate their call "to protect and to serve" towards people of color is wrong. Racism by whomever and whenever is horrible.

When situations arise such as the needless death of Mr. Floyd, it seems that people (rich, poor, famous, black, white, etc.) want to condemn the atrocity that is "hot" at the moment. Quite often the quick replies of blaming a politician or blaming a political party come spewing out. Those comments do not address the problem.  Let's be totally honest here, racism is not specific to one political party. The last I looked paying off lobbyists, abuse of power, union embezzlements, sex scandals, tax fraud, etc. along with racism was/is wrong.  In my opinion, racism first and foremost starts with a person's individual beliefs followed by an action, not a political party.  While I will not judge the intent of those who speak about change, it is my view that we as the NWAC must not talk, but act.

As you know one of the NWAC principles we openly embraced in dealing with COVID-19 is, "NWAC will respond and not react." Well the time has come for the NWAC to respond. The mission of the NWAC is summarized by our three C's:  Competition, Character, and Community.  NWAC defines Character as "What good is an increase in knowledge without a change of character?"  It seems that society has the knowledge, but fails to apply knowledge to change who we are and how we treat people of color.  Knowledge not used to promote introspection and initiate growth is wasted.  Knowledge to know what is right and not act accordingly, is wrong. There needs to be tangibility to our talk!

NWAC defines Community as "Helping others helps all."  It is time for us to help our Black student-athletes and colleagues. As a conference that prides itself on character and education, it is time to act. I am not speaking of education found in a textbook. Frankly, how important is 2(3+2y) x (4x-7b) = in the midst of these troubling times? What is important is we have African-American student-athletes and staff who need us to support, pick up, encourage, initiate action, listen and learn from them. They also need us to stand with them. Isn't that what good teammates do for each other? A hockey coach told me when one of his teams started 0-9 and he was on the brink of getting fired, the success of his team changed as soon as each player decided genuinely to play for each other and not let each other down. They won 23 of their next 24 games.

I have a meeting set up next week with African American leaders within the NWAC to begin discussing ways the conference can practically support our student-athletes and staff of color. We will respond and not react, we will stand alongside, and we will strive to not let our teammates down.

When I was coaching basketball I had the following statement at the top of every practice plan, "They will accept what you tolerate." We can no longer tolerate. Let's reduce the tears of mothers and reduce the deaths of our brothers. The anguish of "What's Going On?" needs to stop. NWAC, it is time to act.

Marco Azurdia
NWAC Executive Director

Photo by Gary Allen, Newberg, OR