Juneteenth: A Personal Reflection
By Christian Barnes
MLQ DEI Director
Today marks another Juneteenth, and while the White House has already made their proclamation to recognize the day, we asked DEI Director Christian Barnes if they would like to pen a message for the community. MLQ recognizes the importance of the day as it relates to our community on and off the pitch. If you are not familiar with the holiday, we encourage you to learn more about Juneteenth.
I have written multiple Juneteenth posts and articles (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023), and this year I have decided that if you want to learn today’s importance you can go and read them. The theme for Juneteenth in New York City this year is “Unveiled: Understanding the Journey from Our Roots”, and while I celebrate my day off from work (loving that it’s a mandated holiday here), I am also taking time to think about the other Black players in this sport. As DEI Director, I’ve penned multiple pieces in an attempt to help people realize that we can hone in on similarities, recognize differences, and still treat each other with an empathy and respect that is needed for this sport to survive. I have led conversations, worked with leaders of different teams, created resources, and spent too much time trying to figure out how to put into words a simple ask: A request for the community to treat itself with human decency and empathy and to, simply, care about others. I have straddled the line between arguing for the legitimacy of the sport and the audacity of what some people will do for any perceived advantage in the sport.
Today I thought about my own roots. I’ve loved this sport since I was 19 years old on my collegiate team the Macaulay Marauders. I’ve loved Major League Quadball since I thought it was way too good for me and there was no way I would ever be good enough to step on their field. Years later, I now help run it and have competed with every great name I heard over the past 10 years. As a player, as a Black player, as a DEI Director, and as a person, I try to leave something better than I found it. From the players’ lives I’ve impacted–from a policy level down to conversational and situational level–I do think for 99 percent of people, I’ve reached that goal. As a sport, I’ve definitely left positive marks on it over the years, but diversity? Inclusion? I think while we may seem to be growing more diverse and are perceived as inclusive, the animosity toward one another has grown and kind, caring actions have fallen to the wayside. I just don’t think people care.
This next part is for everyone, outside of the Black population, who has engaged with this sport as spectators, volunteers, officials, and players. What have your roots done for us? From your first day in this sport to now, what has been your journey? Your legacy? What have you left behind in your path today? How has it affected any (and every) Black person with which you have interacted? Did you leave any of their lives better than you found it? I don’t owe a single minute of my time today to this community, I never have, but I will still spend much of it working toward the future because I care. Do you?
To each and every one of my Black family out there–engaged, hopeful, frustrated, and otherwise standing on business–I’m proud of you. I’m always hoping that you win. For you, I look to the importance of today outside of just emancipation, to Jubilee, the celebration of everything that comes with it. In quadball, I always notice y'all. On rosters, in film, at events, I get excited just because you exist. There is another person that looks like me and has the capacity to understand parts of me that I’ve tried to materialize in an article or conversation so many times that I’ve exhausted myself. Today, know that no matter your experience in this sport–whether isolating, invigorating, or somewhere in between, I’m rooting for you*, and I always will be.
Ad Ojo
Alexander-Paul "OB" Ogbeide
Amiri Rivera Sillah
Aniyah Dillard
Ashton Glenn
Ashton Jeanlewis
Billy Nellums
Christopher Dorsey
Darian Murcek-Ellis
Darius Housey
Ebli De La Rosa
Elizabeth Alexander
George Blackwell III
Great Usiaphre
Jason Plain
Jay Stewart
Jorrin Bailey
Kaysha Boles
Kellan Cupid
Marcellus Lewis
Matthew Bessard
Matthew Blackwood
Michael Sanders Valdes
Milly Hunter
Mohamed-Yahia “MY” Monawar
Mohammed Haggag
Mykal Jones
Nathan Reid
Nick Love
Oliver “Lee” Hodge III
PJ Mitchell
Remi Reed
Robbie Wallace
Terra Robinson
TJ Martinez
TJ O'Connor
Trevor Smith
Ugochukwu Nwadike
William Richardson
Wren Morgan
Zachary Armantrading
You all matter.
*This may not be every one of you that is playing in MLQ this season, but you are all the ones of which I am personally aware. I hope that you are also celebrated by the teams and leaders around you, because you do deserve it–even if you have not realized it.