Muhammad Ali’s courage inspires athletes’ activism

This protest is about the enormous racial injustice in America.

I have spent more than 50 years trying to encourage athletes to use the power of sport to bring about positive social change. Sunday, Sept. 24 was the most important sports day since Muhammad Ali said he would not go to fight in Vietnam. For decades, only a handful of athletes publicly argued for social justice All of them understandably feared for their careers.

The gates opened for protest as soon as Roger Goodell criticized President Trump for making a “divisive statement” about the NFL and the protests. Trump had, of course, called on owners to fire any “son of a bitch” who knelt during the anthem.

The first game of the day was in London between the Jaguars and Ravens. Jacksonville players locked arms with their owner, Shahid Khan, during the anthem prior to the start of the game. Khan was the first owner — but not the last — who stepped forward with his players.

But I believe the gates had already opened slightly over a year ago with the death of Muhammad Ali, when today’s athletes saw more than 100,000 people in the streets of Louisville on the day of Ali’s service. I was there with my wife, Ann, and our daughter, Emily, and everyone else to thank him for his life of service and the risks he took to make this a better nation.

ESPN then gave LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wade and Chris Paul the platform to address the recent shootings of blacks by white police officers at the ESPY’s.

I believe that all of that set the stage for Colin Kaepernick to risk his career by kneeling for the national anthem as the 2016 NFL season started. No owner has allowed him back in the NFL in 2017, although his skills merit his inclusion on some NFL team.

Enter President Trump, a person who has made many outrageous statements through his campaign and throughout his presidency. Insulting the NFL’s players took on a strong racial connotation as have many of his statements. These players were using their right of free speech to protest. Floodgates of protest burst open as games across the NFL had anthem demonstrations with locked arms, kneeling players, owners and coaches joining the players in a show of unity. Three teams stayed in the locker room during the anthem. The WNBA Sparks did the same during the WNBA Finals Sunday. Oakland catcher Bruce Maxwell became the first Major League Baseball player to take a knee during the anthem. The NBA has always supported players’ activism against racism, and in the same weekend the NBA Champion Warriors found out that Trump said they would not be invited to the White House after it looked like Steph Curry was joining Kevin Durant in refusing to go to the White House if the invitation were extended.

I hope that the message of the protest remains clear: It is about the enormous racial injustice in America. We live in a nation where the disparity between the aggregate wealth between white people and African-Americans is greater than it was between whites and blacks in South Africa during the height of apartheid.

The owners can be the key here. I was impressed that 28 of the 32 owners made statements critical of the president and supportive of the players. But again, no owner has had the courage to sign Kaepernick.

It is my hope that all the leagues create community forums in each franchise city with players, police, local officials, civil-rights leaders and community leaders to openly discuss the issues and to help us understand each other as we do not seem to do now. Unity has been the word about the protest. With that as our goal, we must include facing racism head on.

Now there is a tidal wave of people who are not just being asked about how they played that Sunday. They are being asked about racism and social justice. If they continue, what we saw on Sept. 24 may have been the beginning of a social transformation in our nation.