Chesapeake’s Isaiah Davis-Allen, Connecticut’s Kris Alleyne, New York’s Mark Ellis and Philadelphia’s Chad Toliver were excited to get back to playing lacrosse. But winning a championship wasn’t the only thing on their minds. As MLL’s only black players, Davis-Allen said they wanted to take a stand for the Black Lives Matter movement and express solidarity as the outliers in a predominantly white sport.
“It was definitely strange,” Davis-Allen said. “There were a lot of conversations, and some not so cordial, just trying to create an open dialogue and to change our sport for the better.”
During the playing of the national anthem before games, Davis-Allen, Alleyne, Ellis and Toliver stood separate from their teams at midfield. Davis-Allen said the players discussed kneeling, an act professional athletes in other sports have used to protest police brutality, but they stood because of the symbolic nature of playing at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium and to ensure there were no ways to misinterpret their message.
The “MLL Four” were disappointed by the league’s muted response to Black Lives Matter and grew frustrated in meetings with commissioner Alexander “Sandy” Brown. They questioned why MLL did not do more to promote images and videos of their demonstrations on social media and felt disrespected.
“Our league did not support us,” Ellis told US Lacrosse Magazine’s Matt Hamilton. “It wasn’t a priority for them.”
Toliver walked out on the first meeting in anger. “I was frustrated and pissed off,” he said. “As a league and commissioner, once you did Blackout Tuesday and sent out a letter giving a stance on George Floyd, you put yourself in a boat to use your resources and platform to support the African American players. ... You let us down. You let the league down. More importantly, you let the little black kid watching at home on TV down.”
In contrast to the icy reception from league officials, Davis-Allen said he felt very supported by his teammates, coaches and opponents. Sconone, who is teammates with Alleyne, said they had nothing but respect for the MLL Four, and he and his teammates would do whatever they could to help support them.
“Kris is the best teammate anybody can ask for,” Sconone said. “He put out a message Sunday [before the games]. ‘Hey, guys. I want to let you know, me and a few other players are going to stand at the midfield line during the national anthem. I hope you guys support me on this.’ We were 100-percent supportive of him. We were happy for him.”
Tensions eased recently, as the newly named Black Players Coalition released a statement vowing to hold the MLL accountable. Brown released a statement of his own not long after, expressing his support.
“I am committed to being part of the positive change and look forward to working with our newly established Black Players Coalition, as well as our Players Council, to enable, empower and ensure our players and our league are leaders in the fight to end racism in this country,” he said.
What Davis-Allen, Alleyne, Ellis and Toliver did prompted other players and coaches to join them. When news circulated that the Iroquois Nationals would not be allowed to compete in The World Games in 2022 due to eligibility criteria set forth by the Olympic charter — the reaction to which has since caused both World Lacrosse and the International World Games Association to commit to finding a solution — players like Lyle Thompson and Randy Staats wrote about the anger, disappointment and disrespect they felt in their exclusion. Davis-Allen, wanting to help bring light to the situations of all people of color, invited the Haudenosaunee players to stand with the black players.
Before the July 26 championship game between the Cannons and Outlaws, all players on both sides stood at midfield.
“We don’t have any African American players on our team, but we had them talk to our team and share their stories and perspectives. It’s really powerful,” Adler said. “We saw Philly go out to support Chad Toliver. It was a split-second decision for us. We didn’t want to take away from what they were doing. It was something I was trying to debate, but you have a second to decide. I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s good. We should do this.’ Chad said how much he appreciated that support.”
Davis-Allen said he hoped the demonstrations would create a conversation that continued beyond the games.
“A big thing is education,” he said. “There’s a clear issue in our society but also in our sport. People can’t fix something they don’t know is wrong or something no one has ever checked them on. I let a lot of things slide growing up. Now, guys are starting to call things out, and it’s uncomfortable, and it’s sparking conversation. That’s a good place to start.”