Players lend their names to powerful protest in return
The way Warren Creavalle tells it, his services were readily volunteered by teammate Ray Gaddis.
Gaddis, a founding board member of MLS’s nascent Black Players for Change, was discussing with his peers how to mark the league’s return in the MLS Is Back tournament. When the topic shifted to what to wear, Gaddis reminded them of Creavalle’s prowess as a fashion designer with his eponymous clothing brand.
“It’s something that came about because Ray kind of put me out of my comfort zone,” Creavalle said Thursday, after the Union opened the tournament with a 1-0 win over New York City FC. “When we were talking about doing something apparel-based and representative of the group, he threw my hat in and said, ‘Hey we have somebody here that can do all these things,’ and kind of put me on the spot. Obviously I’m grateful for the opportunity to execute.”
The t-shirts that Creavalle designed were worn at a moving display Wednesday night. Black players and coaches in MLS ringed the field before the tournament opener between Orlando City and Inter Miami as the teams knelt for 8 minutes, 46 seconds in tribute to the death of George Floyd and as a show of solidarity against racial injustice, systemic inequality and po
lice brutality. The Union’s show of protest a day later would also be sartorially defiant: Every member of the team replaced his name on the jersey back with that of a Black man or woman who’d died at the hands of police.
The jerseys were worn under Creavalle’s t-shirt for the ceremonial walkout. They also bore a sticker on the back that had a handwritten message devised by defender Mark McKenzie to encapsulate all the names they didn’t have room for: “One Name, Too Many.” Captain Alejandro Bedoya, who scored the game’s only goal, wore an armband with the names of the dead.
The effort was a collective decision made by Union players. With it, they went beyond taking a knee or silent protests.
“It was a collective group of people,” Gaddis said. “It’s to continue and further the conversation that needs to be had. We first and foremost asked our team if they would be OK with it, because solidarity is key and we want to make sure everybody feels
comfortable. Not only did we come together, we have these great shirts here that the league is going to be wearing throughout this tournament, made by our very own Warren Creavalle. But the initiative came from the top with a great coach, a great captain, myself, Mark McKenzie and Warren Creavalle, just seeing that actions are louder than words. It’s to further the conversation and use our platform to be a voice for the voiceless.”
The move had the organization’s support, coach Jim Curtin said. Whether or not MLS is OK with the demonstration remains to be seen, but Curtin is hopeful that the action will be received as the socially responsible gesture it was intended.
Even if not, Curtin said, it’s change that needs to happen, the kind that is rarely comfortable.
“There’s certainly things going on in our country right now that are far bigger than soccer,” Curtin said. “I have to say, I’m very proud of my players throughout the last four months for the leadership they’ve shown, for taking a real leadership role with the Black Lives Matter movement, for educating
a lot of our other players on our team.
“The idea behind today was action over permission, and I hope that the league understands that. I hope that everybody can embrace that and wrap their head around that. It was done to show respect, to learn, to grow and to make our country better.”
Each player chose who to represent. McKenzie wore the name of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy killed in Cleveland in 2014 when police officer Timothy Loehmann shot him multiple times within (literally) two seconds of stopping his squad car. Barely two months younger than McKenzie, Rice would’ve turned 18 last month.
“It was something that emotionally touched me in his story,” McKenzie said. “Each of us did our research on our guys, and I chose Tamir because he was a young black man, similar to Emmett Till (a victim of a 1955 lynching in Mississippi). And I felt it was important that his story was told, that we brought light to his situation because it’s a long list of people of victims who were murdered, and ultimately we can sometimes get lost in the names, but in highlighting some of their lives, we were trying to bring a positive light to them.”
For Creavalle, the story of Elijah McClain resonated. McClain was killed by police last year in Aurora, Colorado, while walking home.
“That could’ve been any one of my friends,” said Creavalle, who entered as a sub in the 73rd minute. “That could’ve been myself, just a quirky, warm, fun-loving person. Not that that makes him more or less deserving than any other victim of police brutality, but it just hits home a little differently in different cases. I think when that happened, I told our kit guy, that’s the guy I want to represent.”
Gaddis wore Breonna Taylor’s name. Taylor, an EMT in Louisville, Kentucky, was shot multiple times by officers executing a no-knock warrant March 13. Bedoya wore the name of Walter Scott, shot in the back by North Charleston, South Carolina, police officer Michael Slager in a 2015 incident caught on video. Floyd’s name was worn by Andre Blake, who made seven stops in a sensational performance.