Players sit out, send message concerning racial injustice
NBA takes the lead, but athletes in other sports quickly follow
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Making their strongest statement yet in the fight against racial injustice, players from six NBA teams decided not to play postseason games on Wednesday in a boycott that quickly reverberated across other professional leagues.
Also called off: Three games in Major League Baseball — San Francisco-Los Angeles, Milwaukee-Cincinnati and Seattle-San Diego — were not played. Jason Heyward of the Chicago Cubs and the Colorado Rockies’ Matt Kemp also sat out while their teams played.
Five matches in Major League Soccer and the three WNBA contests also were called off as players across four leagues decided the best way to use their platform and demand change was to literally step off the playing surface.
Players made the extraordinary decisions to protest the shooting by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Sunday of Jacob Blake, a Black man, apparently in the back while three of his children looked on.
Kenosha is about 40 miles south of Milwaukee. That city’s NBA team, the Bucks, started the boycotts Wednesday by refusing to emerge from their locker room to play a playoff game against the Orlando Magic.
“There has been no action, so our focus today cannot be on basketball,” said Bucks guard Sterling Brown, who joined teammate George Hill in reading a statement on the team’s behalf. Brown has a federal lawsuit pending against the city of Milwaukee alleging he was targeted because he was Black and that
his civil rights were violated in January 2018 when officers used a stun gun on him after a parking violation.
Other NBA playoff games that were not played: Oklahoma City-Houston, and the Los Angeles Lakers-Portland. The NBA’s board of governors have called a meeting on Thursday to discuss the new developments, The Associated Press reported.
“The baseless shootings of Jacob Blake and other black men and women by law enforcement underscores the need for action,” the NBA Coaches Association said in a statement. “Not after the playoffs, not in the future, but now.”
The statement by the Bucks also called for state lawmakers to reconvene and take immediate action “to address issues of police accountability, brutality, and criminal justice reform.”
“I couldn’t agree more. Thank you, Bucks,” Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers tweeted.
The NBA did not say when Wednesday’s games would be played or if Thursday’s schedule of three more games involving six other teams would be affected. NBA players and coaches met for nearly three hours Wednesday night to determine next steps, including whether the season should continue. They did not come to a consensus.
“We fully support our players and the decision they made,” Bucks owners Marc Lasry, Wes Edens and Jamie Dinan said in a joint statement. “Although we did not know beforehand, we would have wholeheartedly agreed with them. The only way to bring about change is to shine a light on the racial injustices that are happening in front of us.”
Added Jeanie Buss, the Governor of the Lakers, in a tweet: “I stand behind our players, today and always. After more than 400 years of cruelty, racism and injustice, we all need to work together to say enough is enough.”
Several NBA players, including the Lakers’ LeBron James, tweeted out messages demanding change. Some teams did the same.
“We weren’t given advanced notice about the decision but we are happy to stand in solidarity with Milwaukee, Jacob, and the entire NBA community,” Orlando guard Michael Carter-Williams said. “Change is coming.”
Magic players and referees were on the court as if the game was happening, unaware that Milwaukee did not intend to take the floor. The National Basketball Referees Association said it “stands in solidarity” with the players.
Many players wrestled for weeks about whether it was even right to play, fearing that a return to games would take attention off the deaths.