TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) - Stepping onto Paul W. Bryant Drive, Najee Harris stood directly behind Nick Saban as the march to Foster Auditorium began. It was Aug. 31 and the Alabama running back had helped organize this Tuscaloosa splinter of the nationwide call for racial justice in a summer and year where voices were heard.
So, for a day, Alabama football paused its preseason practice routine and marched as a team to make a statement for justice.
Just two months earlier, Harris’ teammate Alex Leatherwood penned a poem that spoke to the pain and frustration on display for most of 2020. The two future NFL draft picks used their platform to speak for young Black Americans struggling with the murder of George Floyd — a flashpoint in the move for racial justice in this divided country.
Leatherwood’s poem was ultimately read by a diverse group of Alabama football leaders on a June 25 video, which was one of the first unified calls for justice by these influential college students. The starting left tackle later spoke at the rally that followed the Aug. 31 march, but his poem set the tone.
“What inspired me to do it, I mean just like seeing this past summer all the things that were going on and taking place,” Leatherwood said. “I mean it was just very disheartening and I feel like us and us being who we are and us having this platform, I felt like it was a great opportunity to show that, just like be a voice for my people.”
Harris was a driving force to get the Aug. 31 event planned and executed. Standing at the front of the march, the northern California native was the first to speak in front of historic Foster Auditorium after Saban opened the event. Harris introduced himself as a student at the University of Alabama, not the star running back for the Crimson Tide.
“This call for change can’t end here today,” said Harris at the podium. “We walked to this schoolhouse door intentionally because, while much has changed in the last 57 years, too many things have not. So, in the present moment, we as student-athletes need to play our part in bringing about positive change.”
Harris was referencing the infamous 1963 incident in which Governor George Wallace stood in the door of the auditorium to prevent Black students from registering for classes at UA. The days of such blunt-force racism have passed but Harris and Leatherwood stand for the movement that says the work isn’t complete.
Harris efforts move beyond the marches and rallies. He also volunteers with the Alberta Head Start Unity Project in Tuscaloosa as part of his outreach.
Both Leatherwood and Harris are seniors who could have left school a year early for the NFL but opted to return for one final season. This racial justice movement wasn’t on the radar when they made their decisions to stay in Tuscaloosa but they didn’t waste the opportunity to stand up for what’s right.
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