Response to BLM in Sports

By: Synaia Faust '22

(Image courtesy of trtworld.com)

As we all know, there has been a recent surge of protests concerning the Black Lives Matter movement ever since the passing of George Floyd and many other African Americans as a result of police brutality. Since the sudden commotion concerning the movement, everyone around the world has been raising awareness and speaking out against the ongoing racial injustice in our society. The uproar in the movement has become such a serious concern, sports teams have decided to become vocal about the situation.

The latest string of protests concerns the NBA, MLB, MLS, and the WNBA boycotting scheduled games to protest the recent shooting of James Blake. Athletes were also taking a knee before the games.

A few years back in September of 2016, NFL star Colin Kapernick decided to take a knee during the national anthem before a game, which at the time was his way of supporting the BLM movement. He told NFL media in an exclusive interview, "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.”

Following his actions, Kapernick received serious backlash and was blacklisted by almost all professional football teams. To this day he does not play football anymore but continues on his activism journey. The ways the league reacted to Kapernick’s attempt to raise awareness for the BLM movement shows how deeply rooted the issue is. Luckily, there is a bright side.

As of recently, the NFL will display social justice statements in the end zone of every stadium this season. The NBA, who is finishing the shortened Coronavirus season with the playoffs, plastered "Black Lives Matter" on the game court in Walt Disney in Orlando after the Milwaukee Bucks boycotted the fifth game in the first round in response to the shooting of Jacob Blake in late August. They also also approved 29 statements for players to wear on their jerseys such as "I can't breathe".

Major League Baseball teams engineered opening day publicity to bring attention to the BLM movement. The New York Yankees, Washington Nationals, LA Dodgers, and San Francisco Giants, every player and coach on all teams assembled and kneeled along their respective foul lines with long black ribbons before their games, and the BLM logo has been stamped onto the pitchers mound.

This situation concerning racial inequality is something that has been embedded into the foundation of our country as a whole. Since sports are a very big part of many people's lives all over the world, having teams make such big statements to raise awareness of the Black Lives Matter movement is one big step forward in this fight for equality.