Danielle Boaz quoted in NY Times about Duke’s basketball heckling
Danielle Boaz, associate professor of Africana Studies, discussed the intense heckling by basketball fans at Duke University, which reach a fever pitch during March Madness. Duke’s student government association held a town hall with fans and student residents of the basketball tent city and suggested gentler cheers to encourage that chants don’t turn into slurs.
Boaz said Duke’s town hall might be a sensitive topic because it could displease certain donors, or the event’s purpose could be misconstrued. “Unfortunately, even saying, ‘Hey, we shouldn’t be racist’ can be seen as too liberal or too ‘woke,’” Boaz said.
“Sports always become this place of tensions and this place that we try to say, ‘Well, this should be outside of politics,’ but it never really is,” Boaz said.