A Black college baseball player has been kicked off his school’s team because of the length of his hair. Outfielder Asher Akridge, a Valdosta State University student who transferred from Jackson State, posted a video on TikTok of a recorded conversation between him and a man identifying himself as Valdosta’s baseball program’s “head coach.” VSU’s head baseball coach is Greg Guilliams, a white man.
“If you comply with what I said, you got your haircut, then I wouldn’t have to keep telling you about it,” the coach said in the video.
“The rule was to have your hair under a certain length,” Akridge said.
The two men continue to go back and forth.
“I will say this, in all fairness to you, here’s what I feel,” the coach finally said. “I should have said from the very beginning, and I didn’t do it, and this is my fault, and I can see how that gave you the wrong impression, so I’m not going to totally blame you because it takes two.”
When Akridge mentioned that his hair was shorter than that of other players on the team, the coach kept saying he wasn’t talking about other players; he was talking about Akridge.
Akridge ended the TikTok with a selfie showing how long his hair is compared to the length of other players on the team.
@asherthegreat24 Massa please. I’s will be a good boy! #valdostastateuniversity
