“I love my home country, but I feel like America loves me more.”
That’s a strong statement, especially coming from somebody who has yet to embark on a professional career and enter the “real world.” Yet this is how Diaba Konaté, a 23-year-old senior guard for UC Irvine, feels about France. The country welcomed her parents, immigrants from Mali, who moved there in search of a better life for themselves and their children. She wants to pay back the debt her family owes her country, but France won’t let her.
In 2022, the French Federation of Basketball and the Ministry of Sport banned wearing religious symbols during sporting competitions. Two years earlier, during lockdown, Konaté decided to reevaluate her life and become a devout Muslim. She experienced the ban firsthand on Jun. 5, 2022, when she entered a regular 3×3 tournament. As she recently told The OC Register:
I got there (to the 3×3 tournament) and it was like, “I’m gonna play with my friends and we’re gonna win and it’s gonna be so much fun.” But then one of the organizers told me, “Hey, you can’t play with your hijab.’” And I’m like, ?Are you kidding me? Excuse me? Why?”
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She cried, but refused to take off her hijab. It’s a part of her identity, something worth standing for. The sociology major averaged 7.5 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists during her senior season for the Anteaters. UC Irvine, a No. 13 seed in the NCAA Tournament, lost to No. 4-seed Gonzaga in the first round. What’s next for Konaté is a big question mark. Will she return to her country and give up on basketball or chose a different place to be a pro?
Diaba believes that there’s a third path, one which will allow her to represent her country in her hometown, Paris, during this year’s Olympics. And you can help her. Just sign the petition and let’s change the discriminatory law.
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