Chief Legal Officer and Secretary of the Special Olympics Board of Directors, Brandon Fitzgerald has been championing fairness and equality his whole life.
In Brandon’s role, he has played an integral part in making sure Special Olympics operates at the highest standards ensuring policy, partnerships, and organizational decisions remain firmly rooted in inclusive practices. His work is essential to building a more equitable global sport community that empowers and uplifts the voices of Special Olympics athletes around the world.
How long have you been part of Special Olympics and how did you join the movement?
I joined Special Olympics in January 2022. However, I’ve been a part of/familiar with the movement for far longer. I co-created a legal internship program, and we placed law students with the Special Olympics Legal Department for many years. One year, Angela Ciccolo (a former Special Olympics Chief Legal Officer), invited all the interns and other individuals involved with the internship program to attend a Special Olympics Unified Sports® Bocce event almost 15 years ago.
Why should everyone celebrate Black history?
In college, I was at a speech that the legendary Dr. Maya Angelou gave in college. She, quoting the Roman playwright Terrence, said “I am human, I consider nothing human alien to me.”
When I’m asked why everyone should celebrate Black history, my answer, as a history major, is that Black history is history. It isn’t separate and apart from the human story.
The history of Black people in America is a core part of the American story. The architects of the American Republic constantly grappled with race-based chattel slavery. Eventually, a civil war was fought to settle whether an agrarian economy based on slave labor would be America’s future. America was still, unfortunately, grappling with race one hundred years later in the Civil Rights Movement.
If you look at the stories of Harriett Tubman, Fredrick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, James Weldon Johnson, John Hope Frankin, and so many others, you more deeply understand American history.
What Black historical figure inspires you and why?
There are far too many to name. Two of my favorites are Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe. Gibson, long before Ashe, broke the color barrier in tennis. These two individuals didn’t just win multiple Grand Slam titles but also fought for civil rights. They had the wit and the calm presence needed to advance equality.
In your view, how do you think institutions and individuals can actively promote racial equity beyond performative gestures?
The Civil Rights Movement was, at heart, about fairness. In one of the seminal civil rights cases, a restaurant open to the public argued that segregation was okay based on religious belief. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected that argument. It’s important to take a moment to think about what America would be like if someone, at any time, could exclude individuals from public spaces and justify prejudice by claiming that it was premised upon a religious belief.
If you are truly committed to equity, you have to work to make the world more fair and just.
Brandon Fitzgerald, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary of the Special Olympics Board of Directors
In the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Black taxpayers demanded that public buses treat them the same as their non-Black brethren.
To my mind, racial equity is about ensuring that Black Americans have the same access and opportunity as other Americans.
If you are truly committed to equity, you have to work to make the world more fair and just. Black Americans are often the tip of the spear when it comes to conversations about equity and justice in America. When you see something not working for Black Americans, you can be sure that it’s not working for other segments of the population. America is at its best when it works for all.
The work of Special Olympics is equity-based. The goal is to help people see the full beauty and capacity of individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID). Special Olympics wants to ensure that individuals with ID have access to health care and can live the fullest possible lives.
As has been said (in one form or another by various individuals), “the arc of the moral universe may bend towards justice, but it doesn’t bend on its own.”
So, if you’re serious about actively promoting racial equity, be about equity for all people. Be committed to the principle that we are stronger together and that injustice against any of us is injustice against all of us. If we look after all of us, no matter whether we’re in the Rust Belt or the Black Belt, America wins.
About Black History Month
Since 1976, Black History Month has been celebrated each February in the U.S. to honor the achievements and contributions Black Americans have made to this country.
Since its inception in 1968, Black American athletes and staff have been at the forefront of the Special Olympics movement, leading the way for inclusion for people with and without ID.
The message of inclusion extends to all people, no matter race or ethnicity. Visit our Black History Month page to learn about more stories of impact.
