Natasha Cloud ’15, athlete activist and WNBA Champion, spoke on sports, social justice and faith as part of the “Sport for Social Change and Social Justice Speaker Series” that was held on Thursday Feb. 4 at Cardinal Foley Campus Center.
Stephanie Tryce, J.D., assistant professor of marketing, started the event by expressing how fitting it was to have Cloud there to talk, considering it was National Girls and Women in Sports Day (NGWSD), Black History Month and it fit with St. Joe’s “2020 Focus on Women” initiative.
Cloud is a former St. Joe’s women’s basketball co-captain and current starting point guard for the Washington Mystics. Through Tryce’s asking about Cloud’s background in sports, Cloud expressed her love for the significance and impact sports has on not just her, but on society.
“I believe sports have a way of bringing everyone together, regardless of race, gender or background,” Cloud said. “That is the meaning of sports.”
Cloud described herself as a “gray-area kid.” Being biracial, she said she never felt like she fit in to a group at school. Now as an adult and identifying as bisexual, Cloud said that she doesn’t feel like she fits in in the church.
“As a woman engaged to another woman, I kind of pulled back [from religion] because what they’re teaching me is that I’m wrong,” Cloud said. “I wouldn’t say I’m Catholic, I would say I’m a spiritual person.”
Although, Cloud said that her faith is still very important to her, as she dedicatedly follows the simple practice of treating others the way you would want to be treated, and, “loving the person to the left and right of you.”
Cloud’s fiance Aleshia Ocasio, former University of Florida softball player and current member of the Chicago Bandits of the National Professional Fastpitch softball league player, joined her on the couch to answer some questions. Cloud got emotional when referring back to the time her house burned down when she was a junior at St. Joe’s, and Ocasio helped her out with speaking on it.
“Her mom was telling me about the community of St. Joe’s,” Ocasio said. “She said, ‘If Tasha wasn’t here we wouldn’t have been able to make it back’, because of all the people that were so sympathetic and helped, who donated money, food, gift cards to help her family out in a time of need, in a time of despair. It’s just a testament to the family of SJU.”
That is why Cloud said it “broke her heart,” when she heard about the racial bias incidents that occurred on campus last semester, because it was, “not the St. Joe’s that she remembers.”
In 2016, Cloud and the rest of the Mystics wore “Black Lives Matters” shirts in response to the WNBA fining other teams for wearing black warmup shirts after a police-involved shooting incident.
Since then, Cloud has gained confidence in being more socially active, and has used her court presence and social media presence to speak out on issues that are important to her.
As for Ocasio, who just graduated last year and is still trying to figure out what she wants to do in the future, her current focus is to use her platform in order to give back to the youth.
“When I was little I wanted somebody to show me the way and give me insight into what it was like to be an athlete and to be a student and to be able to balance everything,” Ocasio said. “It’s really hard so I want to do that for younger generations, so it’s about giving back.”
