UAA Conversations About Race and Racism: Olukemi Ogundiran

February 23, 2021

Olukemi “Kemi” Ogundiran is a sophomore track and field student-athlete at Case Western Reserve University. She is a pre-med student majoring in biochemistry. Ogundiran is the Vice President of Finance for the school’s Women in Science and Engineering Roundtable (WISER) and vice president of CWRU for Autism Acceptance.

The UAA “Conversations About Race and Racism” series seeks to lift the voices of people of color and recognize the challenges faced in both athletics and academics at the collegiate level. By sharing personal stories, we hope to elevate the conversation about race to raise awareness and bring about change.

Seeing Results of Socioeconomics in Soccer

Although she runs track at Case Western Reserve University as she did in junior high and high school, Ogundiran cited soccer as her main sport until college. “Most of my club teams were predominantly white. I was typically the only Black player or one of the few. I came to realize that one of the reasons Black people are underrepresented in girls’ soccer is due to socioeconomic inequalities. Club soccer is a middle-class venture requiring fees associated with travel, tournaments, and uniforms,” she explained. “Sadly, in the U.S., a high percentage of Black people live around the poverty line, making them unable to populate girls’ soccer club teams. This is then propagated to the highest levels of the game on the U.S. national team.”

She recognizes that there are other factors that have contributed to the lack of Black players at the national level, though there has been some improvement in recent years. “Some coaches and sports recruiters have biases that Black soccer players do not have the skill or lack the necessary IQ of the sport. The combination of stereotypes and socioeconomic inequalities have led to the historical underrepresentation of Black players on the U.S. national team,” she remarked. “The situation on the national team has improved as more Black Americans find their way into the middle class. This pattern is not unique to soccer in the U.S. and is also evident in sports like swimming and gymnastics.”

Ogundiran believes each athlete should be evaluated separately from other factors. “A player’s performance should not be reduced to affirming or disproving a racial stereotype. Every athlete should be judged as an individual athlete,” she expressed. “Success in athletics is a combination of talent, hard work, and technique. In track, I am learning a lot from my coaches and seeing improvements, but the improvement in my running mechanics should not be attributed to my race, but to my personal experiences as an athlete.”

Negative Stereotypes of Black People

“I have not had any egregiously negative experiences with classmates, teammates, or coaches due to my race. Most, if not all, of my teachers and professors have liked me and I have not had any blatantly racist encounters with any of them,” she pointed out. “I do recall a time when I was about 10 years old and a white classmate told me, ‘You don’t talk Black.’ There was no malicious intent behind her statement, but it was ignorant nonetheless.”

Ogundiran notes that language is often fluid depending on the situation. “Different communities have different slang that they use. Some people from rural communities may speak with a particular dialect, Nigerians have their pidgin English, and Black communities have their slang, but this language should not be automatically perceived as an indicator of a so-called ‘lack of intellect or education,’” she communicated. “Slang is often used for discourse in a particular community as a cultural linkage. I will even break out into pidgin English for fun sometimes when speaking with my family members. However, it should not be assumed that all Black people talk the same, or that Black people cannot speak proper English, or that because someone is Black that they are uneducated. That is where ignorance and harmful stereotyping comes in.”

She admits that having been the only Black person or one of few Black people in the room throughout her life, she is not uncomfortable in those settings. “I am more interested in addressing the negative perceptions of Black people. I am just another athlete or another student. One should not try to place me into a box and predict that I will think or act a certain way because of my race,” she articulated. “My mother likes to say, ‘My brain does not have an accent’ when referring to doubts that some of her nursing school classmates or colleagues have had about her intellect or competency on account of her Nigerian accent.”

She brings that same philosophy to her life. “Similarly, my brain is not ‘Black.’ My skin color does not define who I am as a person or my thinking. Even the concept of race is socially constructed as many races have appeared and disappeared over the course of human history. Someone who is considered a person of color in the U.S. could be considered white in another country,” she elucidated. “If you ask a little kid to denote race in America, they will likely get confused and tell you that ‘Black’ people are actually brown and that white people are actually pink. As Martin Luther King, Jr. would say, we should ‘not be judged by the color of [our] skin, but by the content of [our] character.’”

The Myth of Black Inferiority

“People need to understand how the sociopolitical climate of today came to be. That is the biggest issue I see. The best way to combat harmful stereotypes is to understand where they come from. People need to understand the history to really see the bigger picture,” she stated. “Take for instance, the false ideologies that Black people are inferior in attributes such as intelligence and discipline. It is not the so-called ‘Black inferiority’ that has led to severe underrepresentation of Black students in honors classes in high schools, in higher education institutions, in higher-paying jobs, or that has caused high rates of crime and poverty in Black neighborhoods. Rather, it is the systemic hurdles and enduring racist mindsets that have caused these current issues. You see the same patterns of violence and health inequalities in any impoverished community around the world, whether it is the slums of Dublin, Ireland; Mumbai, India; Lagos, Nigeria; or Houston. These patterns are the horrific hallmarks of poverty around the world and are not unique to poor, urban Black communities in the United States.”

Ogundiran is very cognizant of the history that has led to current racial conflict in the U.S. “To briefly delineate the systemic hurdles that Black people in America have faced, it is important to know the country was originally created to be a free society for property-owning white men. Early American economic success was earned on the backs of slave labor. At the end of slavery, sharecropping still bound Black Americans to landowners (former slave owners). There were Jim Crow laws. There were several migrations of Black people to urban areas with initial migrations based on escaping ensnaring practices like sharecropping in the South and later to seize job opportunities caused by the influx of working men into the world wars,” she described. “There were immense setbacks in the incorporation of Black students into the U.S. educational system that still affect Black people to this day. Discriminating policies like redlining and gentrification pushed Black Americans into degrading sections of cities with the worst infrastructure and poorly funded school systems. We had, and continue to have, discrimination in bank lending and in healthcare.”

Ogundiran notes that these are not issues relegated to previous decades. “Past issues compound present issues greatly impeding the Black community in modern day America. These obstacles and lack of opportunity have led to a cycle of poverty for many Black Americans. Once someone grows up in that community, it is very difficult to break the endless cycle and improve their lot in life,” she narrated. “All of these issues have led to widespread poverty and financial hardships in the Black community, further fueling harmful stereotypes about Black people in America.”

She sees other damage done, specifically to Black women, that stems from white privilege. “Black women are never going to fit into a Eurocentric beauty standard. We were not created that way. The western world has predominant influence in our increasingly globalized society and these Eurocentric ideals are impressed upon ethnic minority groups. Such standards have led to the rise of harmful ideologies such as colorism in the Black community,” she explained. “We are all created differently. We Black women were not meant to all look the same or to ‘look like white women.’ Each person’s unique differences are part of what makes them who they are and there is beauty in that.”

Advice for Other Black Student-Athletes

“We are oppressed, but we are not oppressed. Do not be victimized by oppression. The victim mentality is deadly. It sounds like this, ‘What’s the point of trying to be successful if I’m always going to be a victim.’ See why this is harmful? It discourages people from pursuing their goals and dreams. No one ever became successful with the victim mentality. In addition, it does not do a person well to hold bitterness and anger inside. It is detrimental to one’s mental and physical health,” she pronounced. “All of this bitterness and stress leads to all sorts of health complications such as heart disease and cancer. Yes, prejudice, racism, and inequality exist in our society; we should acknowledge these problems and work to fix them. But we should not internalize this oppression, this prejudice. We are oppressed, but we are not oppressed.”

Ogundiran believes seeking success is a tribute to those from previous generations who paved the way. “All of the opportunities are out there because of predecessors in this nation who fought for equality for ethnic minorities in America. It is really just a matter of mindset for us to go out and seek them,” she remarked. “That is why so many foreigners want to come to the U.S. As the daughter of two Nigerian immigrants, I understand this fairly well. Nigeria is having serious humanitarian and economic crises. People are really suffering. Government corruption has led to a continued increase in the poverty level leading to increases in violence and kidnapping. The government is literally starving and killing the people. I am grateful to be an American, living in America with all these opportunities. By explicit law, the opportunities are there for all of us to seek. We need to develop a mindset to overcome these obstacles laid down from the foundation of America to uplift ethnic minorities and poor communities in this country.”

Role of Allies and Teams

“One of the best things allies can do is to inform people of prejudices and where they come from. We are all human beings and should be treated with human dignity and respect. We are all unique individuals,” she commented. “However, it is not possible to force anyone to think about or to understand anything. Sometimes it feels like you are banging your head against a wall. It is solely up to individuals whether or not they will change for the better. If a person refuses to change, it is no longer our problem. It becomes their problem. All we ask is that allies acknowledge these racial issues, inform others, and do what they can to assist us in combating bias, including inequalities and disparities in education and healthcare.”

Respect is the key trait Ogundiran seeks on teams. “The ideas is that we are all athletes and that no one should be treated differently because of the color of their skin. Whether that means harmful stereotyping or being put up on a pedestal. No one needs that. The important role is to simply treat everyone with respect,” she communicated. “In addition, teams need to have open dialogue about issues in the scope of competition and about broader societal issues. We should not be afraid to talk about controversial or poignant topics. It is best to respectfully talk through issues instead of pretending that they don’t exist. The elephant in the room doesn’t disappear because you ignore it.”

Ogundiran is thankful to be part of the CWRU track and field program. “I have had positive interactions with my teammates. They are all very caring and supportive. It is a great environment to be in,” she explained. “The coaches have been very willing to discuss and resolve issues. Coaches should encourage discussion and not ignore controversies going on in the world or that an individual brings to light. They play a key role in fostering a positive, supportive, and respectful team environment. The coach should reinforce the idea that every athlete is just another member of the family and should not be treated any differently because of their race. I am really grateful that I decided to run track here.”