What happens when a sidelined athlete takes a stand? In 2019, Kelo traded his football gear for activism, rallying his university to recognize MLK Day. Hear how he tackled systemic indifference and scored a win for justice at Christopher Newport University.
What happens when a sidelined athlete takes a stand? In 2019, Kelo traded his football gear for activism, rallying his university to recognize MLK Day. Hear how he tackled systemic indifference and scored a win for justice at Christopher Newport University.
Marckel 'Kelo' Bonds: So the football chant or the team chant that we had before we would go out for a game, it was like CNU in the house, bad news, Captains in the house, bad news, CNU in the house, bad news, Captains in the house, bad, but there's like a beat to it, you know. (He claps)
So I learned that there's, there's a good amount of crime and Newport News.
So, but yeah, they called, uh, Newport News, bad news.
Nichole Hill: This is Markel Bonds, who goes by Kelo. He has just come to Christopher Newport University from what he calls ‘the sticks’ to play football. He learned that chant before he learned about Newport News.
(Upbeat groove music)
Kelo: I get to campus on my visit and it's this welcoming Black lady in the cafeteria.
Like, "Hey, how you doing, baby? Like, come on," you know, somebody auntie, just a motherly lady and she had great vibes. I mean, that's how I got in with Miss Linda and everybody, you know, any Black student that went to see you in a time. Miss Linda was there. It knows Miss Linda.
Like she is there giving you love. She's like your mom away from home. Very integral to a lot of Black people's experience there. Yeah. And you know, Miss Linda is an amazing lady. She's still there. Or even like Miss Vita who worked at Chick-fil-A.
All of the staff is CNU all the professors are seeing you mainly are white You know, the, the, the leadership at CNU was white at the time.
Not only is that PWI,
Nichole Hill: A Predominately White Institution
Kelo: But it's obviously not diversity in the leadership. I think one of my first Black professors was my African American studies professor Ms. Hopkins, but all the cafeteria staff and the janitorial service, everybody's Black.
My friend, Andre Teran wrote an article called 8 Percent and it talked about the Black experience at CNU and how it was 8 percent and at the time because it used to be a community college and it was a thriving Black neighborhood Shoe Lane, you know in a lot of homes and a lot of people were moved out. And these are things that I come to learn when I get there, I had no idea.
Nichole Hill: CNU’s original placement, and it’s expansion into the historically Black Shoe Lane neighborhood is a story that has been well covered. We’ve linked that info, as well as the 8% article in the show notes.
Kelo: A lot of the labor is often a minority and you know, they don't get treated the best. Like there was a thing with Paul Trible is in the building or you're working. If you're not in uniform, you might get fired.
Nichole Hill: Paul Trible was the President of CNU at the time.
Kelo: Paul Trible, it's like you get to campus and it's like rumors about this guy.
He sits in the office all the way up to like the top of the floor at this, at the suite.
So like you see him on campus and he has this persona, but I think amongst the Black students, and even the minority communities, it was just kind of like, not inviting.
(Sounds of glasses clinking, fancy party music)
When you get there as a freshman, you go to the President's Toast or dessert dinner or something like that.
Like welcome week, you got to wear a college shirt. Like it's formal attire, you know, it's like your second week of school. So you better have a suit, but yeah, you go there and he has this home on the riverfront. It's beautiful. It's huge. I'm just like, damn, he has a lot of money,
Nichole Hill: Kelo had to find his people to get him through. He found a barber, he found a church, he found the Black Student Union. And thanks to all these he found his way. Fast forward to his senior year–and his football career has taken a turn…
Kelo: I had a shoulder surgery. I’m in a mobilizer, which is like, you can't even use the bathroom. My shoulder is in a stationary position along with my arm and it's wrapped around my waist. So I have to sleep sitting up, actually a really dark time for me. I'm not playing football anymore, I'm also just like can't do anything. I can't drive.
Nichole Hill: So he had a lot of time to think…
(strumming blues guitar underscores the following)
Kelo: And at this time I'm like, full on out Black Panther Party. I'm like--It's my senior year.
And so I just was like, why do we have a class on MLK day? It was just was a big anomaly to me.
Nichole Hill: This was the period just before the pandemic, around 2019, and a unique intensity hung in the air. There had been misleading narratives surrounding police shootings and other critical social issues. Protests were erupting across cities, fueled by calls for justice and reform.
Kelo: I decided to write a petition to the leadership of the university to recognize MLK as a national day of service, you know, because we still had classes.
And it was just like I was calling them out.
Like y'all have this racial statement,
Nichole Hill: So, the university’s statement? Pretty much sounded like a ChatGPT prompt—only made because two students called them out back in 2017. And now, 2019, thanks to a petition, the President’s back at it with yet another generic rerun.
(Music Fades)
Kelo: But like campus is terrible. The vibes are not vibing.
I set this petition. I put it online. I started sending it to the homies.
(Sound of typing on a computer keyboard. Reads:)
Christopher Newport University claims to be committed to providing an environment that emphasizes the dignity and worth of every member of this community, while establishing that MLK Day is not significant enough to be honored through CSUN's tradition of mandatory attendance of student and staff alike on this holiday.
And at this point I had already formed another organization, which was like a net organization that included all of the all of the racial and intersecting student club groups.
So Latina Student Association, Black Student Association, SDAC, which is like the Student Body Council. And Ladies was another group that was there. So I took all of these groups that were kind of fighting similar fights and I put them together to make the Minority Inclusiveness Board--still exists at CNU. And then I handpicked people from these different organizations to go into this meeting with me.
We got 500 signatures. And then I was like, wow, people are really signing this.
And then Paul Trible put out a statement...
We demand a meeting. You need to talk to us because the statement ain't going to do it.
And then I got an email. Hey, the president wants to meet with you!
(Music changes to tense somber tones)
We go into the boardroom, we sit down in the, in the office, like, you guys need any water or anything?
So their whole team is there and we have this meeting and we're talking about what's going on. I'm like nervous because I'm like, "Dude, what did I do? What are we, what are we getting into?" We had an executive summary that I wrote up and presented to him of all the things that we wanted to get done about the university.
And it was also a tactical strategic plan of how to implement these things. Not just, I want these things to happen, but here's how we can do it. So we went over the entire executive summary. He was like, I'm very impressed by what you were able to do.
But we had that meeting, not much changed after that. Honestly, we still had classes that year.
But what did happen is students just didn't go to class that day. It was kind of a protest, in a sense.
Nichole Hill: So they decided to bring in some backup.
Kelo: We were able to reach out to the Newport News NAACP to help our cause.
Nichole Hill: Through his involvement at the Boys and Girls Club, Kelo met community members who were ready and willing to step in and assist.
Kelo: Doctor, Pastor, Reverend Willard Maxwell of New Beech Grove Baptist Church was also the acting President for the Newport News and NAACP. So I reached out to them like, these things are going on on campus. We need some help as students and he helped a lot and we were able to lead a march around campus on MLK Day that led to this event where he then gave me and Paul Trible a award of recognition from the Newport News NAACP for bringing about MLK Day to the forefront of Christopher Newport University.
Nichole Hill: Pretty amazing, right!? The community honored Kelo because he took action and the President because…
(Upbeat music underscores the following)
Kelo: He hadn't canceled classes. He had not canceled classes. But what I learned from pastor Maxwell is just the power of a gesture. And regardless of if he had done it yet, now he had to do it.
And I was like, man that's fire. Just the shock that I even probably had at the moment, like, "What do you mean you're gonna give him an award?" but it's like, "He put out two statements and he met with you, which he did not have to do."
And I was like, that's very true. It was very meaningful. It meant a lot to the students. It was a big moment on campus. It was 500 kids, at least students, staff, faculty, people who worked in the cafeteria, professors walking around the campus to this event.
And It was pretty cool.
I felt good. I mean, I felt like my voice had power. I was happy. It was a great day.
Nichole Hill: Visit our website Truthbetoldcommunity.com to find out ways to get involved, and share this episode with friends.
This series was written by Jackie Glass and Hannah Sobol, edited and hosted by me, Nichole Hill, Sound Design by Trendel Lightburn, and our work has been supported by the Virginia African American Cultural Center through a grant from Virginia Tourism Corporation. Follow our work by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. We couldn’t do this without people brave enough to share their experiences, so thank you Kelo Bonds.