Celebrities and athletes, in particular, are often discouraged from having a public political opinion. In this age, however, that is beginning to change, and this reflects through the very athletes on this Coral Gables campus.
DeeJay Dallas is a leading voice among our student-athletes on various social and political issues. In addition to being a star receiver and running back on the football team, he is a very informed young man on contemporary societal challenges and receives inspiration from today's superstar professional athletes.
The fact of the matter is that many more of the student-athletes-- and people as a whole-- have opinions than those who choose to be vocal about their views. In the past, I have talked about my time in my sports admin class, where the football players discussed-- and were very vocal about-- the very issues they are discouraged to often go on the record about.
But in light of the terrible shooting, many see the need to be vocal anyway.
Bradley Jennings Jr, a rising sophomore linebacker here at UM, retweeted his general dissent with the AR-15.
Amari Carter, a sophomore at cornerback, retweeted a post comparing Trump and Obama's response to mass shootings.
It spreads to the coaches as well. Even Jim Larranaga, head coach of Miami Hurricanes basketball, went out of his way at a press conference after a very important conference game to say "we need to do something about our gun laws."
The age-old adage is that "desperate times call for desperate measures." For as long as there have been sports and as long as there have been social issues, the two have never really intersected. However, when lives are lost regularly, and these lives are ones belong to children in schools, athletes-- including the ones you and I see everyday walking around campus-- are going to loudly demand something be done. And they are going to be louder than the people before them ever were.