FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 18, 2021

OFFFICIAL STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE

MOREHOUSE COLLEGE SPEECH AND DEBATE TEAM
REGARDING PENN USUDC 2021

It is with great solemnity that the Morehouse College Speech and Debate Team is no longer

engaging with or competing further in the Penn USUDC 2021. We are by no means new to the BP

circuit having competed on the U.S. and the international circuit for the past decade and having

formerly hosted USUDC in 2016. As such, we looked forward to competing this weekend, even

with the online format necessitated by this current pandemic. However, after experiencing issues

of anti-Blackness, and ableism by extension, at this tournament to a worrying extent we can no

longer continue to compete and support the tournament in good conscience.

Consistently, we have been the only Black debaters present in our rooms. As one of the

only Historically Black Colleges that competes in this space, we are used to this – especially with

a debate space that struggles with true representation. However, there is no excuse for the events

of this tournament. We have experienced a constant attitude of dismissal from both debaters and

the judging pool as it relates to us as Black people, which has been especially disconcerting and

traumatic. This becomes exacerbated when debaters engage in the elitist mocking and caricaturing

of Black debaters’ tonality and speech before then being rewarded by panels on the round calls. It

becomes worse when there is an implicit bias on the attitudinal level of chairs and panels in

explaining round decisions, sending the signal that argumentation posited by Black debaters is

worth only the most surface level of engagement and weighing.

We have brought our concerns to equity, and while they have been verbally understanding

concerning the trauma endured at this tournament, their responses to issues from previous rounds

have been restricted to general announcements. There is no larger dialogue that we have seen with

problematic panelists or chairs, and our complaint centering around the experience of our debaters
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 18, 2021

in the fifth round, which caused great emotional harm, went unaddressed when it was promised

that another “general announcement” would be made. The announcements prior to round 6 were

devoid of the promised equity statement surrounding our concerns – only speaking in regard to the

issue of this tournament’s “trainee status” categorization.

It is unclear to us why this issue being addressed precludes addressing the concerns of

Black debaters. It sends the message that in an effort to remain on schedule, this tournament’s

organizers find it acceptable to confront anti-Blackness “when time permits”. Immediately

addressing the issues and marginalization that Black debaters face in round is not an issue that can

wait for any period of time. We are sure equity will make some future statements concerning the

generalizations, anti-Blackness, and marginalization debaters have faced in round; however, unlike

this tournament’s coordinators, we refuse to wait for the sake of remaining on schedule. We invite

the adjudication team and equity team as well as the debating community writ large to interrogate

the nature of their biases – explicit or implicit, and to engage in conversations that prevent the

perennial anti-Blackness our debaters have to experience at tournaments like these for the sake of

bettering the activity as a whole. However, until that conversation happens in an earnest and

accountable manner, publicly and privately in all of the ways that it needs to happen, Morehouse

will not be debating further here.