By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Publisher When Kim Smith first got together with her husband, Jim Drinks, she knew he was the man she had been searching for. She knew he was the man she wanted to marry, and have children with. Her parents weren’t quite so enthusiastic about her choice. You see, Kim is white, and Jim is black. Two decades ago, Kim’s father wasn’t ready to accept his daughter being in an interracial relationship. That was before his grandchildren came along. One of those grandchildren is Haley Drinks, a senior at Egg Harbor Township High School and a starting guard on the basketball team. Simply by being born 18 years ago she helped bring two families together and break down barriers, and her story is similar to many high school athletes throughout South Jersey. These athletes embrace their multicultural backgrounds and are at the forefront when it comes to eliminating stereotypes and bringing families and teammates together to help understand one another better. “When my husband and I got together, my father (who has sinced passed) was a very prejudiced man. Not that he would outwardly show it, but he didn’t like the fact that I was dating a black man. But it was one of those things where (my father) needed to get past that because Jim wasn’t going to go anywhere. I told my father, this is what I’ve decided, and you are not going to stop me from living my life. You can either be a part of it or not be a part of it, that’s going to be your choice. Before you knew it, my dad openly admitted he was wrong for seeing just the color of skin and he couldn’t have asked for a better son-in-law to take care of his only daughter as well as help raise his grandchildren,” Kim said. “It was one of those things where he just got more comfortable (with Jim) as he was given the opportunity to sit and talk with him. It was hard at first. My husband doesn’t talk much, but we just kept at it and broke down those walls, and everything was fine. Jim’s first priority is his family, and you can have that regardless of whether you are black or white. My dad just had to see that he was a good guy. “I think stereotypes are still there, but I think kids realize that society is what it is, but ever so slightly it is changing. It’s still a work in progress and it’s still something that people are trying to accept. It’s something that our older population is still, in some respects, dealing with, but that’s OK. They grew up in a different time.” “My mom tells me about how her parents didn’t really like the idea of her and my dad being together. I think it’s interesting to see history manifest into my parents and me, basically,” Haley said. “As you grow older you learn to respect people and be more accepting.” February, which is Black History Month, allows us the opportunity to reflect back on how far we have come as a nation when it comes to race relations. We now have a black president, which, 20 years ago, would have seemed impossible. It’s also a reminder that there still is a long way to go when it comes to acceptance of different cultures in our society today. 
Egg Harbor Township athletes, from left, Haley Drinks, Jamie Cheeseborough and Corinne Davis each have one white parent and one black parent, and say their mixed backgrounds have allowed them to have a unique perspective not only on sports, but the world around them. (Photo by Ben Hale/Benjamin Hale Photography) Mixed-race children are in a unique position to continue to break down the barriers between white and black, and being involved in high school sports gives them even more of an opportunity to have an impact on the world and people around them. “Of course people shouldn’t define other people because of their skin color or their race,” said Jamie Cheeseborough, a senior on the Egg Harbor Township indoor and outdoor track teams whose mother is white and father is black. “I look up to Jackie Robinson a lot. Using him as an example, I don’t think people should judge people based on their race. He was a great player, he made it into the Hall of Fame. I feel like when I see people being racist, of course that’s not right, and I try to do whatever I can to stop it in the right way.” Said Corinne Davis, another senior on the EHT track team who is biracial: “We are able to connect with both races and I think that’s really eye-opening and gives me more insight on life. I get to connect with so many different people of different races because of how I was born. I’ve never been confined to just one clique, I don’t have to hang out with just white people or just black people. I hang out with everybody, and that’s opened me up to a whole melting pot of people, which I think is great.” A new era Corinne, Haley and Jamie grew up in a different time than their parents. They were all born in the late 1990s and were in elementary school in the early 2000s, far removed from the 1970s and 1980s. They have grown up in a time of much greater acceptance of people who come from different backgrounds, and Egg Harbor Township is a community that has all types of different people. Cheeseborough said that melting pot of all kinds of different races — black, white, Hispanic, Asian — has helped EHT become one of the more diverse high schools in South Jersey and has fostered an attitude of acceptance. He said that, for the most part, the students and athletes at EHT get along very well. A player’s desire, dedication and willingness to be coached and learn are much more important that what color their skin is or who their parents are, he said. “I’ve kind of always fit in with anybody. Everybody (on the track team) treats everybody the same, no matter what. If I like an athlete it’s for how they play and who they are, that’s what gets my attention. I don’t think race or skin color makes a difference,” Cheeseborough said. “Especially in Egg Harbor Township High School, we are very diverse. There are all kinds of different races and skin colors. Because we come from such a diverse community, I feel like everybody gets along. There’s not really any hatred or judgment toward any particular race.” “There are people who try to stereotype, like, oh you are black you must be a good sprinter, or you’re white you must be good at distance running. But just because I’m black doesn’t mean I want to be a sprinter, and just because I have white in me doesn’t mean I can be a great miler,” Davis said. “I’m just a runner, that’s how I see myself. And my teammates don’t care that I am two races, they just see me as who I am, which is great.” “I think it has helped me make more friends because there are no boundaries for me,” Haley said. “I have a lot of black friends, I have a lot of white friends, and I have a lot of Spanish friends because a lot of times people think I am Spanish.” Cheeseborough said that track, in particular, has traditionally been a sport where stereotypes can linger. People assume that the best sprinters and high jumpers tend to be black, where as the best distance runners more likely will be white. He said it is up to the individual athlete to prove those stereotypes wrong. “Sometimes people may think, OK, this kid is this, he’s not going to be that fast, or this kid is this and he won’t be able to jump that high,” Cheeseborough said. “But then they earn respect when they do jump that high or run that fast, and I think that kind of brings everybody together more, when you can earn that respect.” Family bonds Davis said that similar to Haley, her grandfather on her mother’s side wasn’t exactly on board when her parents got together. But as time went by and her grandfather got to know her father more, the Davis fami
ly grew stronger. “It’s much easier growing up as a biracial child now because it’s more common and more accepted than it was years ago. My grandfather wasn’t accepting of it (at first), he had a hard time coming to grips with it,” Davis said. “But once I was born, things obviously changed, and he and I were very close up until his passing a couple years back. For my family members, I think it has changed their lives and made them change their views on the African-American race. “We are basically one big family. We celebrate holidays together, which I think is fun. It’s definitely different, but I enjoy it.” Kim Drinks said the key to family harmony is making sure her kids know that being biracial isn’t something to be ashamed of, and that they should embrace the fact that they are unique in their own way. 
Senior Haley Drinks has been one of the leaders of the Egg Harbor Township High School girls basketball team this season. (Glory Days Magazine photo/Dave O’Sullivan) “I think a lot of it is how you bring up a child. From the very beginning we told her that she was very special because she was a mix of both of the races. She has the best qualities of both of us. We had them embrace the fact that they were different in a positive way. (My children) really embrace the way they are in a positive way, and they feel that if somebody has a problem with it, that’s really their problem and they don’t have to associate with them if they don’t want to. Whether you are black or white, everybody is not going to always get along,” Kim said. “Is Haley proud of her black heritage? Absolutely, positively, 100 percent. She’s also proud of her white heritage. It’s all basically the way we as parents raise them, and make them understand that they are special no matter what nationality they are. If a person looks down on them, that is that person’s fault. You either have the opportunity to change them and make them understand, or you just move on from that person.” “I remember once when I was younger somebody was giving me a hard time about it, but my parents said, yeah, sometimes people will give you a hard time about it but it’s nothing to be ashamed of, they aren’t exactly like you,” Davis said. “Now it’s much more common, people being mixed with different races, but back then it wasn’t as common. They just told me there’s nothing wrong with being biracial.” Davis said she has seen a change in attitude in her family as she has grown up, and that she is happy she is one of the main reasons behind that change. “African-American people sometimes have a bad reputation and a lot of people tend to judge them based on that. The fact that I could get my mother’s family members to sort of change their views on how they saw African-Americans, there are no words that can describe that,” Davis said. “I look back now that I am older and can understand more, and to see my family come together as one big family, I think that’s something that my family can really be proud of. We went from not really understanding the other race to being family now. It’s a proud feeling that I’ve changed somebody’s life because I was born as a biracial baby. Not everyone can say that, and I think that’s cool.” Importance of sports Kim said that being on the basketball team has been very important to Haley’s maturation process through her high school years. When you are part of a team, she said, you have to learn to get along in order to have any success. “Haley has always had her teammates to lift her up, and they don’t care if you are black, if you are white, if you are injured. Every last one of them was always lending a hand. There was no racial barrier when it came to sports. You’re just a teammate,” Kim said. “It didn’t make a difference if you were black or white, you’re a part of that team, and that’s something you’ll never get otherwise. You’re with these girls constantly, and they become your family whether you like it or not. And it’s great when everyone can accept each other for who they are. “I think any kid who can get involved in sports, that’s huge because the racial barriers go down as soon as you get involved. Team sports definitely get rid of those racial barriers. You get to watch kids be kids and not worry about what the color of their skin is. If the outside world is worrying about it, once they step on that court it all goes away and they are just having fun.” Kim said she believes that in the coming decades, sports will play a major role in bridging the gap between white and black. “I think sports have definitely broken down a lot of barriers for kids. They get to be kids and they don’t have to worry about what parents or what elders are saying,” Kim said. “They get to know kids on that level and know what they are about. The more that the kids are interacting and getting to know each other, I pray that those stereotypes are going away. I think that they are and with each generation it gets better.” “At first it was kind of hard to understand (when I was younger) because I wasn’t really sure where I fit in,” Haley said. “All my friends were (either just white or just black). I think basketball showed me that it doesn’t really matter because my teammates were always accepting of everyone.” Self-awareness Haley, Corinne and Jamie understand that as students who are also prominent athletes at their high school, and as young adults who are preparing for their lives beyond high school, they are in a unique position to be leaders when it comes to fostering more acceptance and racial harmony, and they don’t shy away from that responsibility. “(Diversity) helps a lot, not just in school and sports, but also in life because you are going to meet all kinds of different races from all over the world,” Cheeseborough said. “And in sports, it’s a bond, with all these different people and races competing against each other, it really helps a lot to get to know how to accept people better.” “I think (being biracial) makes me more interesting because I’m not bound to just one heritage, I can explore both of them. I think it’s more eye-opening than if you are just one race,” Davis said. “I don’t claim one culture more than the other. If you ask me, I’m black and white. I’m not more proud of my black side or more proud of my white side, I claim both equally. I think because of that I’m a little more open minded to other races and cultures.” Kim Drinks said the confidence Haley has gotten from being a part of a high school sports team will help her daughter as Haley goes through life. She said her daughter has learned that, ultimately, a person is judged not by the color of their skin but by the strength of their character. “She won’t let the fact that she is mixed race define her,” Kim said. “She’s going to be defined by being Haley Drinks. She’s proud of who she is, and that’s a good thing.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays [adsense]
Multicultural athletes proud of blended heritage, at forefront of breaking down barriers
