While his university has been the center of a national debate about racism, Jaren Hall has been breaking down a barrier his own way.
While his university has been the center of a national debate about racism, Hall has been breaking down a barrier his own way.
This is Hall’s comfort zone. The one place where there are no expectations heaped onto him as BYU’s first Black starting quarterback. No pressure about who the person walking around in his boundary-scuffing shoes has to be or how he has to act, especially at this moment in time, with the university at the center of a national discussion about race and inclusion.
So that is what Hall does. And on this day, knowing his family is settled, Hall sits back up in his chair and embarks on what will be several hours of signing, smiling and making small talk. He weaves in and out of conversations as the mostly white receiving line continues. He talks to a young Black girl, who looks up at Hall with a smile and awe.
If there was anybody who could handle a role with no blueprint or manual, Brad Burtenshaw believes it would be Hall.“He just knew eyes were on him,” Hall’s high school coach said. “At that level, some dads are like, ‘Come watch my son.’ Jaren’s dad knew that people would come to him.” So Kalin, intentional or not, showed a young Hall how to handle himself when the spotlight glared the brightest. He demonstrated how to keep family the touchstone of life, even as people gradually came to want more. Hall internalized it.
“We feel very passionately that we can have a strong voice and share the differences in our lives and share the stories of where we came from, but also let everybody know that we have the same goal,” Hall said at the time. “I was blessed to be a part of it and I’m glad I was asked to be a part of it. It was a powerful deal.”had its troubles with race in the past.
With Hall in his second season as BYU’s starter, pressure from both sides has increased. Some students on campus, “It is also important not just speaking out, but how you align yourself with the Black community privately. It is hard for Black people to think you are representing them when you don’t feel like them.”
“Every person of color that is a pioneer, in one form or another, is expected to speak for his community,” he said. “So of course people are going to expect Hall to stand up and say something. It is a tremendous pressure, particularly in this time and age when diversity and inclusion are a huge issue.
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