A Man of Passion
By Max smith
As a junior in high school, Arthur Pinckney wrote a statement on his NCSA webpage, a site that helps high school athletes share tapes and connect with college recruiters. Part of his statement said: “I want to be great, I want to be the best I can possibly be and I WILL work at that goal everyday.” While football may have been on his mind when he wrote it, those words have gone far beyond the field in his time at Marist.
It is impossible not to notice that Arthur is a man of passion.
In the fifth grade, Arthur practiced throughout the entire summer to make the Pop Warner team in his hometown of Union, New Jersey. When the day of tryouts finally came, Arthur was sent home without a chance to even step on the field. His birthday just fell days after the age cutoff for that year’s team. Disheartened, Arthur returned home with nothing to show for his hard work. From that day on, Arthur wouldn’t let any work he put in go to waste. “Every team I’ve played on, I’ve been a starter ever since then,” Arthur says.
While he was in the process of deciding where to attend college and play football, Arthur’s stepmother, Sherlene, was insistent that he have backup plans in case something went awry. Arthur’s plan A was to play Division 1 college football. “I said, ‘What's your plan B?’ And he repeated the same thing over to me,” she recalls. “I'm proud that he was able to prove me wrong.”
Today, Arthur is on a scholarship playing Division 1 football at Marist.
Unfortunately, during his senior year at Union High School in New Jersey, Arthur suffered an undiagnosed knee injury. He finished the season playing injured. When Arthur came to Marist his freshman year, he discovered his knee injury was much more severe than he thought. Doctors discovered that Arthur’s knee injury was actually a torn ACL. Arthur didn’t take the field once his freshman year.
Then, COVID-19 took another season from him in 2021. Arthur has done everything he can to get on the field. He even created a petition to reinstate the 2021 Spring season following Marist’s decision to not participate in January. The petition received over 1,500 signatures, but the season was never reinstated.
Arthur speaks extremely highly of his parents, and credits them as the main influence in his life. “They always lived what they preached to us,” he says, “I’ve never known my father to take a day off.” As for his mother, Arthur says his stepmother is his mother. “That is my rock,” he shares, “Just having that love in my life shaped me to be who I am.”
Arthur grew up surrounded by people that not only put an emphasis on their culture’s history, but celebrate it. One day, he wants to be that person that inspires the next generation of young Black men and women. “I believe it’s liberating to our youth to really understand where you come from,” he says.
From a young age, Arthur was taught the importance of his heritage. His father owns Art’s World, an art shop that exclusively sells Black art. Arthur Pinckney Sr. originally opened the business in his garage in Paterson, New Jersey. Today, the brick and mortar shop has stood at the corner of Vauxhall Road and Harding Avenue in Union for over 20 years. “My dad’s job has played a huge part in who I am today,” Arthur says.
Arthur has been helping out at his father’s business since he was five years old. “A lot of the information I got in terms of Black history comes from being around my father,” he explains. “I was always seeing a lot of different Black successes and tragedy stories and how we overcame a lot of that stuff.”
The business’s rich history was jeopardized this summer in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pinckney Sr. was considering moving the shop back into the family’s garage, due to a lack of business. Arthur knew it was time to step up for his father. “He was going through a lot, I could see it all over his face,” Arthur says. “I know how much this means to him.”
Illustration by Eva Wenrich
With the help of a friend, Arthur put together an advertisement for the business that was picked up by a local news station. “We got a lot of business,” Pinckney Sr. said, “It’s one of the reasons we’re still alive here.”
While football and family hold great importance in Arthur's life, it’s a different passion that has inflicted the greatest impact on the world so far: education.
Fittingly, Arthur is a History Education major. In the future, Arthur wishes to work in an inner city, teaching young children about the kings and queens of Black lineage. His experience in education is already underway. Arthur is deeply invested in educating the White majority at Marist on the struggles facing the Black community.
When Arthur originally came to Marist, his eyes were opened to how many White Marist students don’t understand the struggles in the Black community. “I’m so happy to be here because it’s changing my perspective on how I can talk to White people who don’t get this information,” he says. Arthur doesn’t blame those students, but chalks it up to blissful ignorance. “It’s not that you don’t care; it’s that you were never presented with the information to even care about it.”
An eye-opening moment for Arthur came in the days after George Floyd was murdered by police on a Minneapolis sidewalk. He was on a Zoom meeting with the football team and couldn’t understand why no one was talking about the incident. “We were talking about everything but what happened,” he recalls. Arthur decided to speak up, which led to a meaningful conversation within the team. “My coaches were a lot more receptive to what was going on,” he says. “I think we learned a lot from that day.”
Since the Fall 2020 semester, Arthur has done work to educate Marist students on the racial injustices facing the nation. This summer, he put together a petition challenging Marist to adopt mandatory classes on systemic and racial oppression. “The biggest thing that could change is a more focused curriculum to get some of this info out on a mandatory basis,” he says.
In order to make Marist a better place for everyone, there’s still a lot of work to be done. Arthur encourages Marist’s Black population to come together. “There’s no need to be separate, ever,” he says. “We’re all in this together at the end of the day.” He also believes it is important for Marist’s Black students to have confidence in who they are: “Always be comfortable in your Black skin.”
To the White population of Marist students, he says: “Get comfortable with the uncomfortable conversations.”
After graduating, Arthur is considering getting his doctorate in History Education. Above all else, Arthur wishes to empower Black children in his future. “In America, you’re told your Black skin is a threat at a young age,” Arthur says. He wants to change that narrative.
In his lifetime, Arthur’s greatest accomplishments may not happen on the football field –– they may very well come in the classroom, teaching young children what it means to be a determined Black individual. “I think if you present a lot of information on a large scale within this generation, we may be looking at a different America in the next 20 years.” And Arthur will be working on the frontlines to deliver a new and improved America.
While Arthur’s ambitions are vast, he realizes that major change takes time. “Some of the stuff I want to see happen will never happen in my lifetime,” he admits.
You can see the intensity in Arthur's eyes when he talks about something he’s passionate about. There’s a fire inside of him that isn’t common in many people. Arthur can lose himself in his own words when he speaks from his heart. When talking with him, you know that the sense of passion he carries will take him a long way in life.
for the record uncut
object photography
Photography by Bobby Oliver
For this year’s project, we asked our Changemakers to bring items that had meaning to them to the shoot.
“My 3 items were the elephant, the Bible, and the shirt labeled “Change the Narrative”
The elephant- my biological mother passed away when I was young. Elephants were her good luck. This was her elephant so I keep it to remind me of her and that she’s with me.
The Bible- Personally religion is my foundation. It is my rock. Has brought me through a lot of times in my life. It reminds me that I only answer to one person and that I can be unapologetically me because someone has already accepted it to the fullest extent.
The Shirt- The “Change the Narrative” shirt is a piece from my older sisters clothing brand WhylingForRespect. It is a constant reminder to never just accept the negative narrations. It’s a reminder to be the change and be the person that flips the script. It’s a reminder to stand up. It’s a reminder to fight the status quo. It’s a reminder to keep pushing the agenda. It’s a reminder to keep going against the odds.”