{"id":29910,"date":"2020-07-06T19:30:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-06T19:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/colorlines.madeostudio.com\/article\/nba-players-will-wear-words-protest-during-games\/"},"modified":"2020-07-06T19:30:00","modified_gmt":"2020-07-06T19:30:00","slug":"nba-players-will-wear-words-protest-during-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/colorlines.com\/article\/nba-players-will-wear-words-protest-during-games\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Players Will Wear Words of Protest During Games"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NBA Players Will Wear Words of Protest During Games<\/h3>\n

\n By N. Jamiyla Chisholm<\/span> Jul 06, 2020<\/span>\n <\/p>\n <\/div>\n

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Fans who are anxious for the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>National Basketball Association<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> (NBA) to resume games will find that some of their favorite players will use the back of their team jerseys to publicly promote their stance on social and racial justice, the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>NBA<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> reported on July 3. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe league and the players are uniquely positioned to have a direct impact on combating systemic racism in our country, and we are committed to collective action to build a more equal and just society,\u201d said NBA commissioner <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Adam Silver<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>, in a June 24 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>statement<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>. \u201cA shared goal of our season restart will be to use our platform in Orlando to bring attention to these important issues of social justice.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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According to <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>ESPN<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>, the association and players approved 29 different messages that speak directly to police violence against Black people: Black Lives Matter; Say Their Names; Vote; I Can’t Breathe; Justice; Peace; Equality; Freedom; Enough; Power to the People; Justice Now; Say Her Name; S\u00ed Se Puede (Yes We Can); Liberation; See Us; Hear Us; Respect Us; Love Us; Listen; Listen to Us; Stand Up; Ally; Anti-Racist; I Am A Man; Speak Up; How Many More; Group Economics; Education Reform and Mentor.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The decision to turn jerseys into political statements was possibly made during a <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>June 23 meeting<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> between the NBA and <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>National Basketball Players Association<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> (NBPA) executives who agreed that the league needed to have a louder voice around systemic racism and play a larger role in the Black community. Honing in on that point, the statement<\/a> said that, \u201cIn recognition that long-term change can only come from an informed and sustained commitment, conversations regarding these efforts will be ongoing, and additional details will be released at a later date.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Many basketball fans will remember the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Miami Heat<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> donning <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>hoodies<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> and demanding justice in 2012\u2014eight years ago\u2014for 17-year-old <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Trayvon Martin<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> who was murdered in Sanford, Florida. They will also remember some of the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>pushback<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> they received for pushing for justice.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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As players gear up to restart the 2019-20 season in Orlando, about a 30-minute drive from the city where Martin was murdered, the NBA said it is focused on prioritizing players\u2019 activism and leadership. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Stressing the athletes’ position as role models, NBPA president and <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Oklahoma City Thunder<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> player <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Chris Paul<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> said<\/a>:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The issues of systemic racism and police brutality in our country need to end. As a union of NBA players and as a league, it is our job to use our collective platform to both put a spotlight on those issues and work to effect change. As players, we have taken a leadership role when it comes to using our voices and implementing practical solutions, but there is much work ahead both in Orlando and long-term to continue the momentum and bring about real, long-lasting change to our society.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
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Tags<\/h3>\n <\/div>\n
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\n Archive<\/a>Arts & Culture<\/a>Basketball Jerseys<\/a>black athletes<\/a>National Basketball Association<\/a>National Basketball Players Association<\/a>Protests<\/a>Trayvon Martin<\/a> <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chris Paul of the Oklahoma City Thunder: “It is our job to use our collective platform to both put a spotlight on those issues and work to effect change.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_gspb_post_css":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[16402,16412,1804,2107,10207,10208,11706,15051],"article-type":[],"topic-meta":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/colorlines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29910"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/colorlines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/colorlines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colorlines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colorlines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/colorlines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colorlines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/colorlines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colorlines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29910"},{"taxonomy":"article-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colorlines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article-type?post=29910"},{"taxonomy":"topic-meta","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colorlines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic-meta?post=29910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}