Todd Predicts Protests At Next Olympics, Hopes For Unified Message

By Kristian Rhim for DyeStat

Jasmine Todd was in sixth grade when she realized that the color of her skin mattered.

As she walked through CVS pharmacy with her white friends after school in search of false nails, she felt someone following her.

Todd didn’t pay it much mind and put her wallet inside of her purse. 

As she headed to the register prepared to pay, the store clerk greeted the 12-year old by saying, “We know you took it. We saw you put something in your purse.”

Todd angrily opened her purse and turned it upside down, only for her small red Hello Kitty wallet to fall on the counter. 

Ten years later, when Todd was driving home on a dark highway from a friend’s house at 1:30 a.m., she feared for her life. 

“I was shaking so much, and as soon as the officer walked to my car, I cracked the window and said, ‘I don’t care what you say, but I need to get to somewhere where there’s people because I’ve seen too many black lives taken by police,’” she said. 

The officer agreed and followed Todd to a nearby gas station where she was eventually let go with a warning.

She says she felt lucky to make it home in this situation and the few other encounters she’s had with police because of the number of times Black people have not made it back to their families.  

In recent months, George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer after the officer placed a knee on Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes, Breonna Taylor, an unarmed 26-year-old black woman, was shot and killed by police in her apartment, and Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old black man, was shot while jogging in a Georgia suburb. 

When Todd learned of Arbery’s death, it hit home for her as a runner. 

“All of the tracks are closed nearby, so a lot of us are working out and training outside, so when I saw that, I thought, ‘It could’ve been me or any of my friends,’” the 26-year old said.

Todd also stressed her frustration with the lack of national coverage for Breonna Taylor’s unjust killings. 

“We have to do a better job also at getting justice for our Black women,” she said this week. “Breonna’s killers are still out there, not even convicted or locked up.”

Todd further described in detail on her Instagram the reality of being a Black woman competing in professional track and field in America.

She writes, “We represent our country, a country that time and time again screams it doesn’t love us….They only care about the entertainment we bring them just like in a zoo.” 

In response to Floyd’s death, Todd took to the streets in San Diego with a group of other protesters and friends in support of getting justice for the murder of the 46-year-old father.

Todd and others chanted, “Hands up don’t shoot” and “Justice for George Floyd” in front of the La Mesa police department in California. Suddenly the peaceful protest quickly changed. 

“All of a sudden tear gas is being thrown and rubber bullets being shot,” Todd said. 

During the protest, she says, that officers peaked from the doors entering the police department around every 30 minutes, but never engaged in conversation with any of the protestors.

“They have all the gear and all the equipment. All we had was signs, you know? We have nothing to hurt you with, and there was no warning,” Todd said. “There was no announcement to say, ‘If you guys do not disperse, we will begin to throw tear gas,’ and they didn’t even come out at any point to communicate in the community.”

Todd has since emailed the department’s police chief and hopes to use her platform to begin a conversation and build change. 

Protests have become common in pro sports in the U.S., whether it be Colin Kaepernick kneeling in the NFL, or NBA players wearing team apparel inside-out.

Track and field athletes staged one of the most famous protests in American sports history when Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised black-gloved fists while on the podium at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games. 

The International Olympic Committee, however, prohibits protests at the Games. Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter bans taking a political stand in the field of play, and during any official ceremonies. The committee updated its guidelines in January ahead of the now-canceled Olympic Games that were scheduled for July 24- Aug. 9 in Tokyo, Japan. 

“It is a fundamental principle that sport is neutral and must be separate from political, religious, or any other type of interference,” the document says. “Specifically, the focus for the field of play and related ceremonies must be on celebrating athletes' performance, and showcasing sport and its values.”

Todd, who earned a silver medal at the 2015 World Championships as part of the 4x100-meter relay team, hopes to make her first Olympic team in 2021. Despite the IOC’s guidelines Todd says that protests will undoubtedly happen.

“I don't think they should take our rights away for protesting as long as it doesn't take from anyone else’s shine,” Todd said. “I would absolutely take part if we do something as a unit. If someone says we aren’t going to go to the Olympics, or any person who gets put on a podium (protests) – whatever it is, I'm all in. I just want us to do it unified. I want us all to do this together and show that we mean business and we are a unit.”