TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - University of Alabama football players and coaches are planning a march Monday to protest social injustice, ending at the schoolhouse door where Gov. George Wallace once stood to block two Black students from entering in 1963.
Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said he supports his players' focus on trying to "make things better in the future." They're joining a number of other college and professional sports teams that have marched or spoken out in the wake of police shootings, including Jacob Blake, a Black man, in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Tailback Najee Harris posted the plans for Monday's march on Twitter and teammates retweeted. Harris said they would march from the Mal Moore Athletics Facility at 4 p.m. and "meet at the schoolhouse door at Foster Auditorium."
"We want our voices to be heard as we strive to enact social change and rid our world of social injustices," Harris wrote.
In another post, he said: "We want all Alabama athletes to join us. This isn't a fan day ... this isn't a football game ... this is about lasting CHANGE!"
Saban has arranged for a number of speakers to address the team recently, including Condoleeza Rice, Tony Dungy, Stephen A. Smith, Joey Galloway and Charles Barkley.
"And they all did a phenomenal job of trying to explain to players, how can we have a plan for change?" Saban said. "How can we make things better in the future? And I think that's what our players have really been focused on, and I think that'll be what they want to try to get out there, a message on Monday. And we're very much in support of that."
Also in the Southeastern Conference, South Carolina coach Will Muschamp said his team will forgo football activities Monday and participate in a campus demonstration against racial injustice.
Muschamp said Saturday that team leaders approached him about the effort after Blake was shot seven times in the back after walking away from police, leaving him paralyzed.
"We want to make a statement on our campus," Muschamp said.
Muschamp and the Gamecocks marched from the Governor's Mansion to the Statehouse in June after the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.
Muschamp said his team wanted to show its support for racial equality and against police brutality.
"The Jacob Blake situation in Wisconsin is a horrific situation," Muschamp said. "A team demonstration supporting racial equality and being totally against police brutality, our leadership group came to me on that."
Muschamp said he hopes other South Carolina athletes might join the football team's effort.