23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace has been a crucial voice in bringing social justice and equality to NASCAR’s race tracks. He has been involved on multiple fronts, from protesting against the Confederate flag to mentoring young Black drivers. The inspiration to be this beacon for the Black Lives Matter movement came from one incident that impacted him deeply.
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In February 2020, three white men chased 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man, around the streets of a South Georgia neighborhood before killing him with a shotgun. The men were found to have been racially motivated to commit the crime and were sentenced to life in prison (one was sentenced to 35 years in jail). This hate crime is what created unrest in Wallace.
In a 2021 interview, he told the Men’s Journal, “After hearing of Ahmaud Arbery’s story and then watching the video over and over again, it hit me hard. I didn’t sleep well and I couldn’t get it off my mind. I felt like I couldn’t be silent and had to say something, stand up for what is right, and use my platform to promote compassion, love, and understanding.”
Wallace faced a good share of trouble for his involvement in the movement. In June 2020, a noose was found hanging in his garage in Talladega. Following heavy doubts that it was meant as an action of hate and threat against the driver, the FBI concluded that no crime was committed and that the rope had been in place since October 2019.
Nevertheless, it left Wallace shaken with a greater desire to continue his work. Soon after, he received a message from Donald Trump, the POTUS, and found himself in deep turmoil once again.
Wallace’s interaction with the POTUS and his subsequent decision
Following the FBI’s discovery that the noose incident wasn’t an intentional crime, President Trump called the entire sequence a “hoax” and asked for Wallace to apologize to the drivers and people who stood in solidarity with him. He also spoke against NASCAR’s prohibition of the Confederate flag, a move in which Wallace played a prominent role.
The driver responded to his stand on X by writing that he wanted to send a message to the next generation. It went, “Always deal with the hate being thrown at you with LOVE!… Love should come naturally as people are TAUGHT to hate. Even when it’s HATE from the POTUS.” NASCAR followed the tweet with a statement supporting Wallace.
To the next generation and little ones following my foot steps..#LoveWins pic.twitter.com/tVaV3pkdLe
— Bubba Wallace (@BubbaWallace) July 6, 2020
After this set of events, the Men’s Journal asked him how his new role as an advocate for social justice would impact the way he interacts and races on the track. Wallace said, “It makes me want to go out and compete to silence the naysayers. It has been quite a journey over the last few months.”
“Just to juggle everything from COVID-19 to my commitment to the #BLM movement to the noose incident and interaction with POTUS. I don’t sit here and worry that I have so much on my plate, but managing what I see as a social responsibility and the racing side of things can be challenging.”
As he continues working through some dense and thorny bushes, Wallace looks back to the grave injustice committed against Arbery to remember what he started it all for.
