A women’s basketball star has claimed that an apparent order for players to tie up braided hair was “clear racial discrimination” after her team took a knee in protest.
Tiffany Mitchell, an American star for Australian side the Melbourne Boomers, joined her teammates in taking a pre-match knee over a disputed email said to have been sent from bosses ruling that players should tie up braids.
Kneeling is usually associated with solidarity for the Black Lives Matter movement, and Mitchell said the gesture had been made to “combat” Basketball Australia (BA), adding that she had been discriminated against.
“Throughout my first month here in Australia I had little-to-no problems,” she said, predicting that her words would prove “uncomfortable for some to read and inspiring for others”.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">After she was told by Basketball Australia that she wouldn’t be allowed to play unless her braids were up or in a bun, Tiffany Mitchell, along with her teammates, took a knee to protest the specifically targeted rule.<br><br>BA has since “reviewed the rule” and removed it. <a href="https://t.co/3oHKvIV9Ew">pic.twitter.com/3oHKvIV9Ew</a></p>— WSLAM (@wslam) <a href="https://twitter.com/wslam/status/1470491455550636039?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 13, 2021</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The support has been betond amazing! You never know what someone is going through. Its time to hold people accountable, situations like this are just not accepatable anymore. <a href="https://t.co/3IYRmmQiQu">https://t.co/3IYRmmQiQu</a></p>— Tiffany Mitchell (@TiffMitch25) <a href="https://twitter.com/TiffMitch25/status/1470260030838427649?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 13, 2021</a></blockquote>
“Until this past week, when I was met with a situation that was clear racial discrimination.
“I was approached about my hair and [told] that, for the start of the regular season, I wouldnt be able to play if I didnt tie my hair up or wear it in a bun.
“An email was also sent out informing coaches and refs to make sure the ‘rule’ was in place for ‘the players’ with braids.
“Now, in I don’t know how many years, this league chooses to enforce this ‘FIBA’ [International Basketball Federation] rule about the length of someone’s hair.
“Braids specifically: of course, people with ‘free braids’, as they call it. Apparently it’s clear that only the black people in this league have these type of braids.