Bucks’ decision will alter history
There are moments that transcend sports, actions that get seared into the public consciousness and alter the course of history.
The Milwaukee Bucks’ refusal to take the court for their playoff game Wednesday is now one of them. By deciding not to play, and bringing a good portion of the sports world to a halt, the Bucks held a mirror up to America, demanding it confronts what too many have ignored, excused away or, worst of all, accepted.
Systemic racism, the poisonous attitudes and mindset that allow a police officer to treat a Black person as if they have no worth, no humanity, is woven tight into the fabric of this country. The very foundations of American society – education, housing, banking, policing, our criminal justice system, you name it – are rooted in racism.
And unlike when Colin Kaepernick first took a knee to protest police brutality, four years ago to the day Wednesday, there will be no distorting this message.
Within an hour, the NBA was forced to postpone the day’s remaining games. Not long after that, the Milwaukee Brewers announced that they would not play, either, and at least two other Major League Baseball games were called off.
The WNBA, long a leader in social justice issues, stood in solidarity with the NBA and also refused to play.
“We’re fed up. Enough is enough,” Alex Lasry, senior vice president of the Bucks, said on Twitter. “Change needs to happens.”
Anyone who thinks this quiet rage will blow over, or won’t have a lasting impact, doesn’t recognize how significantly the world just shifted. For 400 years now, in word and deed, this country has told Black Americans that they have no power or sway. That they must “shut up and dribble,” as Black athletes are so often instructed.
By refusing to play, the Bucks said they are no longer willing to be America’s escape, celebrated when they’re entertaining us but treated like trash when they take off their uniforms. They will not be put off by the hollow promises of change each time another Black man or woman is killed or abused by police, and you can bet their courage will embolden others. Bucks players said in a statement Wednesday that read in part: “It is imperative for the Wisconsin state legislature to reconvene after months of inaction, and take the meaningful measures to address issues of police accountability, brutality and criminal justice reform.”
America has been reckoning with its most original sin since May, when a white police officer knelt on George Floyd’s neck and squeezed the life out of him. But despite the marches and protests, despite the slick ad campaigns and powerful slogans, despite assurances that America was ready to address its failings in a way it wasn’t after Eric Garner, Philando Castile, Tamir Rice and far too many others, not a damn thing has changed.
On Sunday afternoon, a police officer pumped seven bullets into the back of Jacob Blake, whose great “crime” seems to be disobeying an order to stop. Blake is still alive, fortunately. But for Black people, his shooting was further proof that their lives really don’t matter to America. That liberty and justice is not really meant for all.
For the Bucks, as much as anyone, this is deeply personal. Kenosha, where Jacob Blake was shot, is about 40 minutes south of Milwaukee. Milwaukee remains one of, if not the most segregated cities in the country, and Bucks players have not been immune from the effects of that discrimination.
In January 2018, Bucks guard Sterling Brown was racially profiled, tasered and beaten up by Milwaukee police. In October 2015, a jewelry store owner called 911 on another Bucks player, John Henson, saying he looked “suspicious” and not like a “legitimate” customer.
Athletes refusing to play might not seem like a seismic moment. But it is the quiet gestures – the raised fists of John Carlos and Tommie Smith, the refusal of Rosa Parks to stand up – that end up speaking the loudest, becoming a roar that cannot be ignored.