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PROVO — Danny Frazier had three different perspectives when he heard about the alleged racial incident last week involving the BYU women's volleyball match against Duke: as a former BYU athlete, as a Black man in Utah, and as a criminal defense attorney of the past 30 years.
He even understands the difficult decision the BYU police department was in, and the report filed wherein the department described the lack of evidence in finding the alleged perpetrator of the slur.
But the overarching feeling for Frazier, who played both football and basketball at BYU From 1977-79 before finishing his basketball career at BYU-Hawaii and earning a law degree from BYU, was heavy emotion.
"I'm 63 years old, and I generally have two responses to these types of situations," said Frazier, who played football and basketball at BYU from 1977-79 before finishing his career at BYU-Hawaii and returning to his home state of Utah to practice. "My first one is to cry. And my second one is to fight."
Frazier added he doesn't doubt the account presented by the Duke volleyball player — the only Black starter on the team — and likewise doesn't doubt BYU's response to the incident, saying it was driven by love for the individual because of the way he knows athletic director Tom Holmoe and others in the athletic department. But as far as moving forward from an ugly incident that highlighted a concern of racial inequity at his alma mater, he has a suggestion — even a piece of literature he thinks would help in the school's mission to "root out racism," as directed by Latter-day Saint church President Russell M. Nelson.
"There are a lot of books by authors who are great in this field. But for me, it comes down to this: Just be kind," said Frazier, one of the first Black football and basketball players in BYU history whose son Jameson also played football in Provo. "The Book of Mormon is probably the best tutorial on not being racist, on being kind to everybody, and treating people who have faults, differences and conflicting viewpoints with respect and love."
The former BYU linebacker was a guest on the KSL.com Cougar Beat podcast, where he and current BYU rugby player Ronald Weaver III discussed last week's alleged incident of racism during the women's volleyball match with Duke, and what can be done to "root out racism" on campus, in the country and around the world.
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