On Monday, Aug. 23, 2020, a Black man, Jacob Blake, was shot seven times by Kenosha, WI, police officer Rusten Sheskey. Since then protests have occurred in Kenosha and around the U.S. On Wednesday, athletes decided to take a stand and boycott their league games.
The Milwaukee Bucks were supposed to tip-off against the Orlando Magic in game five in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. However, the Bucks players didn’t come out to shoot around and stayed in their locker room. With a few seconds to spare until game time, the Magic entered the locker room and reported the Bucks would boycott their playoff game.
The Magic joined in the boycott and it trickled down to the other two playoff games for that day. The boycotts led to the WNBA and a couple of Major League Baseball games. On Thursday, the NBA will still be boycotting but will resume the season soon. In addition, MLB players are boycotting some games. Meanwhile, the NHL is trying to boycott their games and the majority of the NFL teams decided not to have practice.
As a white man who’s played sports all my life and is interested in sports journalism, I have never been more proud in the world of sports with what athletes and organizations are doing. Yes, sports are a way for us to escape from what’s happening in the world. However, nothing is bigger than the injustice being done to Black men and women in our country.
This can’t be happening every other week. This shouldn’t be happening at all. It brings anger and outrage every time. I have interacted with a lot of Black people that have become my friends, family members, co-workers, teammates and coaches, but I’m worried about them because they could be next. That shouldn’t be the case. Life is meant to be lived, not feared.
If you’re mad about athletes protesting and boycotting their games, that’s the point. Focus on the big issue in society. Do your part to bring change. Help bring justice to people like Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Elijah McClain, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, Alton Sterling, Eric Garner, George Floyd, Jacob Blake and others that don’t get caught on video or heard about.
There’s a lot of injustice right now and sports are distracting us from seeing that. Sports are the reward for a functional society, and we clearly aren’t there. The games can wait. We need to listen and see what we can do to make a positive impact. It is all of our responsibility to fight for equality as human beings because ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. As a nation and as a community we must accept equality or we will never move forward.
