The Hatley Family, first Black family in Texas to race quarter horses, is trending with their special horse according to a Khou article from February 28 which reports
“Members of a north Texas family believe they have made history as the first Black family in the state to race Quarter Horses.
“The Hatley family has been getting a lot of attention thanks to their horse named ‘Black Lives Matter.’
They won their first race at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, but they say the best part is hearing the name called over the loudspeakers. That moment soon went viral on TikTok.
“The horse and the name has really set a tone for what’s going on in the world,” Gregory Hatley said. “And people have to hear it, no matter, everywhere you go, now social media.”
The Hatleys recounted how they were able to arrive here 31 years after they started horse racing even after they were the only black family in the race tracks according to a CBS 21 DFW article from February 26. They say,
“We have this love for the horse world and we’ve been involved in it, you know, ever since we was kids,” Charles Edward Hatley said.
“It started in 1961 when we was children right here in Dallas, Texas,” Hatley Jr. said. “We started racing horse in 1963.”
“My daddy was a trailblazer; we followed in his footsteps,” Hatley Jr. said. “When we started racing horses. When we went to the track we were the only Black people there.”
“We lost our dad in ’06, we lost our mom in ’08. We hadn’t run a horse competitively since 1990,” Hatley Jr. said.
“We’d go to the race tracks, it’d be 500 to 600 white people and we’d be the only Blacks there and they’d cheat us so bad,” Gregory Hatley said.
Their parents overcoming the odds inspired them to come back 31 years later and race in 2021.
The Hatleys and Black Lives Matter are set to race again on April 30 in Houston where it will be decided whether they can qualify for the May finals.
