Don’t underestimate young athletes — the NAACP boycott plan could actually work

In response to the recent assault on Black voting rights in the Deep South, the NAACP has called for athletes, fans and alums to boycott public flagship universities in eight states. After a Supreme Court decision that weakened the Voting Rights Act, lawmakers in many of these states rushed to carve up majority-Black districts that had previously been protected, leading to the NAACP’s bold request.

It’s the equivalent of sending an all-out blitz against Peyton Manning in his prime — highly aspirational, with the strong likelihood that it won’t end well.

The NAACP is on the right track, but it’s doing too much. Targeting one flagship school in one state whose lawmakers have diluted Black representation — and crafting a compelling narrative about the injustice — would be a far more manageable quest. And convincing some accomplished performers to transfer, and some high-profile recruits to decommit, could spark seismic change.

“I believe that sending a message is where this needs to start,” said Dr. Harry Edwards, a legendary Civil Rights activist and educator.

I agree. Ideally for the boycotters, the resulting panic would compel a university and its supporters to pressure state lawmakers to create a more equitable voting map and implement other measures designed to prevent racial imbalance. And in the states in question, those pressure points would be pretty raw.

“I’d pick Tennessee,” said author Lawrence Ross, who has given lectures on campus racism (based on his book, “ B lackballed” ) at colleges across the country. Tennessee’s state legislature earlier this month eliminated its lone majority-Black House district, and subsequently stripped committee assignments from some Democratic lawmakers.

The University of Tennessee, Ross reasons, is the “only Power Four school in the state (besides Vanderbilt). They are desperate for the (College Football Playoff). They need Black players from out of state. And they have an irrational fan base.

“And if someone made it so they were more (like) Arkansas than Alabama, they’d give more districts to Black folks.”