UChicago students team up with pro athletes to fight inequality

For many University of Chicago students, George Floyd's death at the hands of police-and the racial reckoning it ignited-became a renewed call to action in the battle against inequality. Urged by classmate Richard Kohng, AM'20, a group from the  Harris School of Public Policy 's Evening Master's Program volunteered to help  Athletes for Justice  (A4J), a nonprofit committed to fighting structural inequalities in Chicago and beyond. Kohng already had a relationship with former Chicago Bears linebacker Sam Acho, who started A4J in 2017 in the wake of Colin Kaepernick's protests for racial justice. But even working with then-teammates Trey Burton, Chase Daniel, Akiem Hicks and Mitch Trubisky, Acho had found it hard to get the organization off the ground. Professional athletes, after all, don't often stay in one city for their entire career; Burton most recently played in Indianapolis, and Daniel is now in Detroit. For help, Acho turned to Kohng, the director of civic engagement at North Park University. "Sam and I exchanged texts, grieving after the murder of George Floyd, and Sam decided it was time to get the organization up and running," said Kohng, who now describes himself as the volunteer executive director.