Time September 21/September 28, 2020TheView Sports
PROTESTS
The games force change
By Sean Gregory
deny systemic racism, though many—
including the President—still do. And
it’s not just a few players taking a stand.
After Floyd’s death, the NBA painted
black lives maTTer on its courts at
Walt Disney World.
Jacob Blake’s shooting shook An-
thony Lynn, coach of the Los Angeles
Chargers, one of only three Black head
coaches in the NFL (around 60% of the
league’s players are Black). The Char-
gers, whose season starts Sept. 13, can-
celed practice after other sports teams
declined to play. And while Lynn has
previously tried to keep political discus-
sions out of his locker room lest they be-
come a distraction—“We can talk about
that sh-t in February, in late
February, hopefully,” he says
of his usual philosophy—it’s not
so this year. “If I was to suppress
this, I think it would hurt their
passion and I don’t think they
would play the game that they
love well.”
Lynn hopes the recent action
taken by sports figures will help
spark change, in NFL hiring
practices and beyond. “I played
in this league for eight years,
and a player knows a head coach
when he sees one. There were
African- American coaches that could
have been head coaches but just never
got the opportunity,” he says. He also
believes he’ll have less time to prove
himself than his white counterparts.
“I know I’ve got to turn this damn
thing around, soon. But at the same
time, I’m going to stand up for what’s
right. I’m going to speak out when
I have to. I’m not going to let that scare
me from doing that as a human being.”
What happens next remains in ques-
tion: If players walked out for Blake,
will they do so after future horrific
episodes of police violence? And what
will it take to bring them back the next
time? A new bar for athlete activism
has been set. Players have shown the le-
verage they have and their willingness
to use it. Kaepernick and others who
joined him in protest couldn’t effect
change on their own. But together ath-
letes have the opportunity to demand
meaningful action.
Taking a knee was once a bold move.
Now it’s not enough. □On aug. 23, pOlice shOT JacOb blake seven Times in
the back, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. Three
days later, the Milwaukee Bucks declined to take the court
against the Orlando Magic, and the NBA playoffs came to
a halt. Games in the WNBA, Major League Baseball, Major
League Soccer and the National Hockey League were post-
poned. Tennis star Naomi Osaka announced she would not
play her semifinal match in the Western & Southern Open;
soon, the tournament went on temporary hiatus.
The message was clear: sports are no longer some pleasur-
able distraction in tough times. It’s no longer acceptable to
use Black Americans as entertainment but do little to demon-
strate that their lives matter.
Though the strikes were
short-lived—the NBA playoffs
resumed a few days later—they
showed what athletes can accom-
plish through collective action.
The basketball players returned
only after their bosses pledged to
work with officials to turn arenas
into voting locations for the gen-
eral election.
“I respect the hell out of them
for doing that,” says John Carlos,
the American sprinter who fa-
mously raised his fist along with
Tommie Smith on the medal stand at the 1968 Olympics.
“Because you have to squeeze the toothpaste tube to get
people to respond.”
The sporTs sTrikes marked the latest leap in modern-
day athlete activism, which can be traced to the 2012 death
of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed Black teen from Florida
gunned down by a neighborhood watchman. In response,
LeBron James posted a picture of himself and his Miami
Heat teammates in hooded sweatshirts; Martin was wearing
a hoodie when he was killed.
As the decade progressed and violent incidents against
Black people were captured on video, the demonstrations
grew more pronounced. Players wore i can’T breaThe warm-
up shirts; in 2016, James and fellow NBA stars opened the
ESPYs, typically a feel-good awards show, by denouncing po-
lice violence. Then a few weeks later, Colin Kaepernick began
sitting, then kneeling, during the national anthem. As the
country’s divisions, stoked by President Trump, grew starker,
athletes in NFL stadiums and on Pop Warner fields across the
nation began following Kaepernick’s lead and taking a knee.
Such gestures were powerful conversation starters, but they
were largely symbolic. Kaepernick was effectively banished
from the NFL. Owners tried to shut down protests during the
anthem. George Floyd died under the knee of a police officer.
This year, however, it has become harder than ever to
‘I’m going to
stand up for
what’s right.
I’m going
to speak
out when
I have to.’
ANTHONY LYNN,
coach of the
Los Angeles Chargers