On Thursday, the WNBA fined several players for wearing Black Lives Matter tee shirts and the players from the New York Liberty and Indiana Fever responded by staging a bold boycott. The players refused to answer any questions after their game unless the questions were about Black Lives Matter or the fines that had been levied against them.
–Cops walk off WNBA game over Black Lives Matter jerseys
“We feel like America has a problem with the police brutality that’s going on with black lives around here, and we just want to use our voices and use our platform to advocate for that,” the Liberty’s Tanisha Wright said, according to Deadspin.
“Just because someone says ‘Black Lives Matter’ doesn’t mean that other lives don’t matter. People put out this imaginary ‘black lives only matter’ whenever people say, ‘Black lives matter.’ What we’re saying is, ‘Black lives matter, too.’ Period.”
–Tina Charles donates half of her WNBA salary to charity
The Liberty’s Tina Charles accepted a Player of the Month award with her jersey inside out, while Indiana Fever star Tamika Catchings told Excelle Sports she would only answer Black Lives Matter questions.
“There’s a lot of other stuff outside of basketball that’s going on that, as a whole, all the players have grabbed a hold of,” said Catchings. “I think it’s important that us as players — being able to utilize our voice, and being able to stand for, and stay united for what matters to us.”
–NBA stars open ESPYS with moving speech about police shootings and gun violence
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— Excelle Sports (@ExcelleSports) July 21, 2016