Activism Extends Past Championship Titles

Sep 26

It’s clear to us that racism plays a role in our everyday lives despite the refusal to acknowledge its presence when it comes to sports. Although teams are somewhat diverse in their makeup it does not eliminate the weight of social injustice. It’s ironic in America that people will praise a Black athlete when they play better than their white counterparts but ostracize an athlete when they speak up about their disillusionment with racial injustice. Let’s look at the way the sports world turned their back on Colin Kaepernick after he took a knee. They continue to disingenuously claim they can’t offer him a job, as he wouldn't take anything other than a starting job despite very little interests shown in him. Adding insult to injury, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell expressed his remorse in wishing “we had listened earlier” to what Kaepernick was trying to do.

Sports are a microcosm of society and athletes represent much more than the game. They’re childhood heroes, bring communities together, agents of hope, champions and so much more. We’ve witnessed the way they’ve paved racial integration in the past and on contemporary levels. Athletes like Serena Williams who are resilient and praised are abruptly and hypocritically chastised for her outburst. Portrayed as the angry Black woman whom America loves so much to deceive and discriminate when so clearly her predecessors have shown similar behavior in the professional sports world.

We are seeing our athletes voice their outrage and discontent with the murder of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Jacob Blake and many more. The WNBA players like the Washington Mystics, the Sparks and Minnesota Lynx are an example of how playing a sport while seeing your own being killed is not possible. With the shooting of Jacob Blake, the Washington Mystics got together to bring awareness through t-shirts with 7 bullet holes on the back and each shirt had a letter to spell out Jacob Blake. Being a female athlete has its own financial challenges, but this is bigger than the sport itself. Being a woman and an athlete during this time brings another set of emotions. We hear players saying “this could have been my son, my husband, my brother, my father”. As women we carry the weight of emotions so high and coupled with the inherent responsibilities as a professional athlete, makes this time more important than ever. With so much more on the line granted the major pay gap between them and the NBA’s players- this isn’t a game to them.

TGM wants to honor those athletes who despite the pressures they face from asserting their positions as incredible athletes but the back of the coin that alludes to discriminative and hateful pressures. There are those that refused to pretend they’d play the game while the world continued to love them when they’re winning, but treat them less than humans outside the court.