“There seems to be a standard for how to treat each race and if your skin is darker, it’s worse,” Dotson said. “Do I look more dangerous than a white man?”
Dotson said that despite race being a complicated and complex topic, he still thinks it is important to bring that consciousness and social awareness to conversations on campus.
“When we say Black lives matter, we don’t mean that we’re the only lives that matter. We’re the only ones in trouble,” Dotson said.
Sac State senior wide receiver Isaiah Gable said he has also been outspoken about the Black Lives Matter movement because it is personal to him.
Gable recalled the story of how he and his friend were walking to a store when a police car drove by, turned around and stopped them. Once out of the car, the police officer instructed the boys to hold their hands up above their heads.
“He just patted us down and was talking rowdy to us, for no reason,” Gable said.
Even though Gable and his friend only had cellphones and money in their pockets, a second police car was called to assist the first police officer.
“One of the guys started being rowdy with my friend, just police harassment,” Gable said. “And another had his hand on his gun the whole time, like we were about to do something.”
Gable said the encounter felt horrible, and he thought it was ridiculous that he was targeted for the color of his skin.
“As long as we keep fighting, we’re going to find justice,” Gable said.
Gable said he is behind the new mandated requirement of an ethnic studies course for the California State University system. The football player himself is majoring in ethnic studies.
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