Ole Miss Skips Practice to Protest Racial Injustices, Kiffin in Support

Ole Miss players protested their Friday morning practice to instead stage a peaceful walk from Ole Miss campus to The Square and back in support of ending police brutality and racial injustices across the nation.

It's not normal for a football coach to be in support of skipping a day of football practice four weeks before the start of the season. 

But that's what happened on Friday morning in Oxford, Miss., as Ole Miss players protested their Friday morning practice to instead stage a peaceful walk from Ole Miss campus to The Square and back in support of ending police brutality and racial injustices across the nation.

Head coach Lane Kiffin was right there alongside his team walking down the road. 

#OleMiss becomes yet another team to replace practice with a protest against racial injustices across America.

They walked from campus down to the square this morning.

Lane Kiffin is among them. pic.twitter.com/1Sfp2BvXwZ

— Nathanael Gabler (@nategabler) August 28, 2020

"As the Ole Miss football family, we are committed to change," a team statement read. "Police brutality and other injustices occurring across our nation have to end, and our team stands united to embrace our diversity and promote a culture of peace, equality and understanding. Regardless of backgrounds, we all need to listen to each other and learn to respect and love our differences." 

(More on what individual players are saying following the morning's protests can be found here).

I’m proud of our players coming together for justice and change. We are going to continue to work together to improve the world around us, for everyone. https://t.co/1RUekwEgWB

— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) August 28, 2020

Ole Miss joins a handful of schools, including Mississippi State, Kentucky, Boston College and South Florida, who led player-driven protests on Thursday and did not practice. Oklahoma did the same on Friday morning. This goes in line with what a handful of NFL teams, including the Detroit Lions, did on Thursday as well. 

These decisions, like the ones before them in the NFL, the NBA playoffs, the WNBA and MLB, stem from a handful of issues in our nation regarding racial injustices and police brutality.

I’m going to stand for my people‼️ pic.twitter.com/CDoabrEcUD

— PBG Fat (@Fat2lit) August 28, 2020

From the heart... thank you brother. @ryderanderson10 ❤️ #BLM. Ole miss football will continue to keep taking the proper steps towards equality. This is just the beginning, believe me!!! We are going to keep pushing. pic.twitter.com/hWN2HH8IX6

— Kenny Yeboah (@Kenny_Yeboah84) August 28, 2020

As you can see from the sign held by one Ole Miss player to lead the march, police brutality is very much on their minds. Recently, this stems from a video that went viral on Sunday regarding the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man in Wisconsin, who was shot seven times in the back while walking away from officers, whose weapons were drawn, and attempting to get into his car. 

Ole Miss players were expected to talk to the media following practice around 12 p.m. C.T. on Friday. Whether or not that will take place as planned is now up in the air.

More From The Grove Report:

Ole Miss Football Program, Players Speak Out Following Morning Protests

Four-star Shooting Guard James White Commits to Ole Miss

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