The National Black Players Coalition (NBPC) has announced its support for the NAACP’s newly launched “Out of Bounds” campaign, a national call urging Black athletes, families, fans, alumni and consumers to withhold athletic and financial support from public universities in states moving to limit Black voting representation.
The campaign comes in direct response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, a decision the NBPC says effectively shattered what remained of the Voting Rights Act. In the ruling’s wake, Southern states have begun redrawing congressional maps in ways that could eliminate majority-Black districts, potentially threatening the seats of 19 of 62 Congressional Black Caucus members. The NAACP has identified eight priority Southern states at the center of the fight: Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Georgia. This critical moment underscores the urgent need to advocate for Voting Rights and protect democratic representation.
The NBPC argues that Black athletes at both the collegiate and professional levels hold tremendous economic power — and that now is the time to use it. The coalition is urging professional athletes across the NFL, NBA, WNBA, Major League Baseball and other major sports leagues to refuse to play if they, their families and their communities are denied equal political representation. The organization is also calling on former players, sports media personalities and those with public platforms to raise their voices in solidarity.
Founded on the campus of Howard University in 1994, the NBPC has long advocated for equal opportunity for African American men and women in sports. The coalition notes that the current voting rights crisis unfolds against a troubling backdrop of racial inequity within professional sports itself. The organization points out that when 10 NFL head coaching positions were recently vacant, not one was filled by a Black coach, and that of 10 quarterbacks drafted or signed during the same period, only one was Black.
In making its case, the NBPC drew a powerful historical parallel to the early days of American horseracing. Black jockeys, many of them enslaved, were among the most skilled horsemen in the country and dominated the sport in its earliest years. Oliver Lewis, a Black jockey, won the inaugural Kentucky Derby in 1875, and Black jockeys went on to claim 15 of the first 28 Derby victories. Yet as the sport grew more lucrative, the rise of Jim Crow systematically forced Black jockeys out of the industry entirely — stripping them and their families of hard-earned economic opportunity.
The NBPC sees a direct line from that history to today. The coalition previously outlined its position in a September 2022 open letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, reminding the league that Black players are, in Goodell’s own words, “the foundation” of professional football. “Without Black players, there would be no National Football League,” the letter stated. It called on the NFL to protect Black voting rights and preserve Black history in education, and pointed to Major League Baseball’s decision to relocate its 2021 All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver — in protest of Georgia’s voter suppression law — as a proven model for sports-driven civil rights action.
With the Callais ruling now accelerating those challenges, the NBPC says the moment for action has arrived.
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter,” said NBPC Founder and President Fred Outten, quoting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
For more information, contact Fred Outten at (202) 704-9708 or [email protected].