Jalen Portis
Comm 208
Professor Fuglsang
09/15/2020
Black Lives Matter Support In Sports
The topic that I chose was the support of Black Lives Matter in different sports.Throughout the hectic year of 2020, Black Lives Matter along with the Coronavirus have become the center of attention in the United States. From basketball to tennis, teams and individual players have used their platform to support and spread awareness of the Black Lives Matter movement. Black Lives Matter is a decentralized political and social movement advocating for non-violent protests against incidents of police brutality and all racially motivated violence against black people.
Back in July, the NBA decided to start back up in “The Bubble,” located in Orlando, Florida. “The Bubble” is a place where the players and staff are away from the public and staying all while playing basketball with virtual crowds. Although the start up was exciting with close games like the Lakers and Clippers, “…the restart of the NBA season was bigger than basketball. Every NBA player kneeled during the national anthem, wearing “Black Lives Matter” shirts” (CNN). One of the most famous players around the world, Lebron James, is a leader for this movement in the league as well. “After Thursday’s game, James stressed that while there’s been progress and the league has been supportive of Black Lives Matters efforts, there’s more work to be done” (CNN).
About 3 weeks ago, the players of the NBA were again in support of the movement by boycotting and not playing their respective games in wake of the Jacob Blake shooting. This really disrupted the professional sports as the boycotts followed from WNBA, MLB, and MLS teams. “Players from the N.B.A. and the W.N.B.A. have long been at the forefront of protests against racism and police brutality” (NYTimes). About 3 hours after the first boycott came from the Milwaukee Bucks, George Hill, a point guard for the team, gave a team statement saying, “We are calling for justice for Jacob Blake and demand the officers be held accountable” (NYTimes). Other players from other leagues also took to social media to share their frustration with police brutality and support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
One of the most famous players in tennis has been shown to be one who is in full support of the movement. In the US Open, Naomi Osaka came out before each match, wearing 7 different facemasks for each round, which named an African American person whose names were cited multiple times in nationwide protests about racial injustice and police brutality. Of Japanese and Haitian descent, she said, [the masks were her way of using her platform to protest this injustice and advocate that Black lives matter (NYTimes). After being asked by a reporter after the tournament what her message was, Osaka replied with, “Well, what was the message that you got was more the question. I feel like the point is to make people start talking.” People are now starting to state that politics are trying to take over sports , which is not the case. People Just want equality, especially if we are playing on the same platform as everyone else.
- https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/31/us/lebron-james-black-lives-matter-nba-spt-trnd/index.html
- https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/26/sports/basketball/nba-boycott-bucks-magic-blake-shooting.html
- https://time.com/5888583/naomi-osaka-masks-black-lives-matter-us-open/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lives_Matter