A Student-Athlete's Perspective: Zenab Keita

Yale women's basketball player Zenab Keita is in her junior season playing for the Bulldogs. Through the first 20 games of the 2012-13 season, she is averaging 6.6 points and 4.6 rebounds and has started every game at center.

1. When you think of the history and accomplishments of African-Americans in our country, what jumps out in your mind?
Keita: The acceleration of those accomplishments within that history is what jumps out in my mind. Any time I see a movie depicting, read a book about, or discuss with a friend the sheer oppression that blacks in the United States had to face, I always come to the same dumbfounding conclusion: Man, that wasn't that long ago. There are people alive today that still vividly remember the injustices that blacks faced in this country, and my amazement comes from the velocity with which blacks were able to combat those injustices and that oppression and reach the levels they have today. It is impressive and inspiring how quickly they managed to change the course of their history and ultimately, the history of the world.

2. What do you enjoy and what are the challenges in your current experiences as an African-American student-athlete on an Ivy League campus?
Keita: Being black on an Ivy League campus alone is unique, regardless of being African-American or like me, of direct African ancestry. We are true minorities on this campus and because of that and the history of our race in the United States, I feel an invisible standard that I must live up to in order to do right by those that came before me. Just think: there was a point in history when African-Americans were regarded as beasts incapable of learning. Now we are continuously accepted at all of the top academic institutions in the world. In the world! Whether it is the blacks that walked Ivy League campuses before me or all the African-Americans that sacrificed so much fighting for the right to do so, I feel an obligation to not let their struggle go to waste. I feel an obligation to disprove the oppressive ideologies that previously kept blacks out of Ivy League schools and schools in general. This gives me a great sense of pride and confidence to know I represent the success of a grand struggle. That same pride and confidence of being a black student on an Ivy League campus carries over tenfold for being a black student-athlete. Representing my school proudly on the field, in the airports, or wherever I can and knowing that my school is proud to have me represent them as a black student-athlete because they gave me the opportunity to do so is a phenomenal feeling. I could not feel more honored than to do that for my school.

My only challenges lie in the burden I set up for myself in order to keep up that pride. I always feel that my lows cannot be at the same level of my non-black peers for fear that I will be feeding into the stereotype that African-Americans and blacks on Ivy League campuses have fought and continue to fight so hard to destroy. Relatedly, I feel I must perform at the same level or higher to that of my non-athlete peers. This internal challenge reveals itself daily from the way I wear my hair to how I speak to my professors. I admit, this burden may be socially unwarranted, but I still do carry it. Ultimately, the amazing thing about challenges is the feeling when you overcome them. There is great gratification in defying two stereotypes of being black and being an athlete by doing well in the classroom and in my realm of sports.

3. As you reflect on Black History month, talk about one person who has influenced your life and why?
Keita: It is very easy to look at the Martin Luther Kings, the Maya Angelous, or the Oprahs, and say how they have influenced my life in their own unique, obvious ways. But I have never met them personally and although their existence definitely makes mine better in abstract, sometimes indirect ways, I do not have a genuine, personal connection with them. This year, as I reflect on Black History Month, I think of the remnants those black icons left for our society to appreciate--the servitude of Martin Luther King, the wisdom of Maya Angelou, the confidence of Oprah. Upon coming to Yale, I met a young woman named Faeisha Morrison. She was my boss while I worked at an inner-city sports summer camp and she was incredibly confident and self-sufficient. Immediately, I took to her as a mentor. Faeisha (better known as Fae) didn't have the easiest life growing up, but you would have never known with the way she carried herself. She has degrees upon degrees, carries multiple leadership positions, and keeps it classy all the while. Fae easily became a new role model of mine. What strikes me the most about Fae is her selflessness and servitude despite how much people have been selfish with her in her past. The saying she always says is "Pay it forward." She doesn't believe in someone paying her back for something she's done for them, but she is huge on making sure you help the next person to keep the cycle going. She works tirelessly to help others, knowing that they have nothing with which they could possibly pay her back and her only request is that the goodwill continues on to the next person that needs it. Fae has influenced me because outside of my mother and sister, she has been the best role model I could have ever asked for. She has shown me what true selflessness is, how to be a successful black woman without compromising my ideals, and the meaning of friendship. In her, I have found what Black History month was made to appreciate and recognize, and I am thankful to know her.

4. What do you feel is your role in being a leader or role model as African-American student-athlete on your campus and in your communities both at school and at home?
Keita: Referring back to the pride I feel in representing the success of an American black struggle to achieve equality, I carry myself in a manner that reflects that pride. With everything I do, I try to uphold a high standard in order to continue a legacy and to encourage others to follow my lead. I feel like, although I am only one person, my lone actions can influence many people beyond me to do the right thing or just to look at the categories that I fit in (black, female, student-athlete) in a different light--hopefully, a more positive one.

5. Projecting forward, what is one thing you would like to achieve or be part of once you graduate to advance the African-American ideal for future generations?
Keita: As cliché as it sounds, I just want to continue the work with the youth in black communities, particularly young girls. This may not end up being my actual career, but I definitely need it to be a part of my life somehow. The only way we can stop cycles of negativity in the African-American community is to reach the younger generations in hopes that they will teach their children differently and lead them to more progressive paths. My interest with black girls comes from my own experience in a household of only black women with a single mother. I know firsthand the difficulties black mothers have raising daughters when life isn't so easy. Those daughters often feel the first lashes of frustration and look to society's--sometimes negative--standards for comfort. I was blessed enough to have a mother that was capable of fighting past the obstacles in front of her, and lead my sister and me to fulfilling, successful lives. I only want to do my part to help another young girl whose mother cannot fight these obstacles, whether it be because of time, resources, or mere strength. My one intervention may lead to a positive difference that affects young girls many generations past my time.