Hosted by NFL player and activist Ryan Russell, “Shut Up and Play” brings together professional athletes, journalists, and scholars of race and sport to interrogate the long and continuous history of racism in sports and sports culture in the United States. The purpose of the event is to bring this issue into the awareness of the widest possible audience while at the same time providing support, insight and care for those who are most affected by it, namely, BIPOC athletes. To that end, we have partnered with South Florida All Stars to help bring in middle and high school student athletes, and with FIU Athletics to engage our own student athletes. 

• WNBA star and ESPN host Chiney Ogwumike, the first Black woman to host her own show on ESPN, will participate
• ESPN contributor, journalist and author William Rhoden will be speaking on his book Forty Million Dollar Slaves
• Through a partnership with South Florida All Stars, more than 500 middle and high school students will be in attendance as a part of their day’s class
• Through a partnership with FIU Athletics, FIU student athletes will be in attendance

“Shut Up and Play” is the first event supported through the Center for the Humanities in an Urban Environment's new partnership with Wells Fargo, and is co-sponsored by FIU’s Division of Diversity Equity & Inclusion; African & African Diaspora Studies Program; College of Arts, Sciences & Education; Center for Women’s and Gender Studies; Department of English; FIU Athletics; and South Florida All Stars.

Watch "Shut Up and Play" on Tuesday, Jan. 26, at 4 p.m. EST: https://go.fiu.edu/racismsports