Ban on Student Athlete Wearing “Black Lives Matter” Swimsuit Overturned

Activists’ social media accounts lit up mid-day Sunday (February 6) over the news that a 12 year old student had been disqualified from a swimming tournament at Superior High School because her swimsuit said “Black Lives Matter”.  The student, Leidy Lyons, had made the swimsuit to protest the recent police killing of Amir Locke in the Twin Cities.

The swim meet was sponsored by the Duluth YMCA, and the official who said Leidy would be unable to compete, originally cited a policy against political speech.  That official later back tracked and claimed they were disqualifying Leidy because of the size of the lettering.

As soon as Leidy was disqualified, Classie Dudley, the president of the local NAACP, was notified by the student’s family.  Classie, together with other community activists like Henry Banks and the social media team of the NAACP, quickly put the word out about what was happening, and invited folks to come down to Superior High School to stand in solidarity with Leidy.

At the same time that this was happening, higher up officials from YMCA arrived at the event, reversed the decision, and allowed Leidy to compete in the event.  The official who had tried to bar her was relieved of the duties.

What happened on Sunday was an impressive and effective response from anti-racist activists to stop an attempted censure of a brave student.  We salute Leidy Lyons for her bravery and willingness to take stand!  We also commend her family and the leadership of the local NAACP chapter for responding so quickly and supporting her.  And we also want to thank all of the activists who showed up at the school, were on their way there when they heard that the disqualification had been overturned, and who helped spread the word about what was happening.  All in all there were two powerful take aways from all of this – solidarity work and Black Lives Matter!

>> Here is the statement from the Duluth NAACP on the matter.