Unity and community: Yinka Braimah’s CardinalBLCK logo

Much of what we believe in can be represented in a symbol - a cross, a star, an emblem, a flag. Yinka Braimah, a junior long jumper on the Stanford track and field team, considered another as she pondered how to best represent a new group of Black student-athletes at Stanford: a fist. The vision actually wasn't that difficult. After all, the most famous representation of Black empowerment and equality has not lost its impact in the 52 years since sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their gloved fists and bowed their heads on the medal stand during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games to protest against racial injustice in the U.S. That Smith and Carlos were kicked off the team, sent home, and harassed, vilified, and blackballed, placed inequality and racial double standards into even greater relief. Their demonstration, so long ago, never seems outdated and seems more fitting now than ever. It stands for racial justice and the Black community..To see that, as a Black student-athlete, is to know that this is a safe space for you. Yinka Braimah Braimah, who received art instruction for 14 years but never tried digital art until this project, completed the logo in one day.