On August 25, 2020, the world was in the throes of fear and uncertainty as the global COVID-19 pandemic was causing the deaths of millions of people. America, however, was not only battling COVID-19. The country was also plagued by the overt rise of white nationalism and police brutality tacitly sanctioned by President Donald Trump.
The NBA, holding its postseason in what was called the Bubble — a meticulously maintained environment at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake/Orlando, Florida, was not oblivious to what was transpiring outside of the contained facility.
The shooting of 29-year-old Black man Jacob Blake by white police officer Rusten Shesky in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on August 23, 2020, was preceded by more than 20 killings of unarmed Black men and women in the U.S. by law enforcement in 2020. The most notable was 26-year-old Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, in March and 46-year-old George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the latter sparking international protests in up to 90 countries by some reports.
While Blake, who was holding a knife in his hand while sitting in his car during the encounter with police, survived the shooting, the massive public outrage was still palpable.
“All you hear is Donald Trump and all of them talking about fear,” said Glenn “Doc” Rivers, then the head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers, of the president and other attendees at the Republican National Convention at various locations, with the central programming in Washington, D.C. “We’re the ones getting killed. We’re the ones getting shot,” said Rivers, the son of a Chicago police officer. “We’re the ones that are denied to live in certain communities. We’ve been hung. We’ve been shot. And all you do is keep hearing about fear … It’s amazing why we keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back.”
This September 1 will mark 10 years since Colin Kaepernick began a global movement of kneeling on one knee during the customary playing of the “Star-Spangled Banner,” the United States’ national anthem, before the start of sporting events to protest police brutality and other racial and social injustices. Kaepernick sacrificed tens of millions of dollars in NFL earnings after helping to drive the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl in 2013 and the NFC Championship Game the following season.
After playing 12 games for the 49ers in 2016, starting 11, he was out of the league in his early prime at the age 29. The general opinion by many who closely followed the NFL was that pressure from Trump and other prominent political figures who vehemently opposed the peaceful demonstration of kneeling, which other NFL players subsequently carried out in following Kaepernick, deterred owners from signing him.
Today, at 38, Kaepernick is founder and CEO of Lumi Story, an artificial intelligence startup, and continues working as a social justice advocate. NBA icons LeBron James and Stephen Curry, former WNBA players Maya Moore and Renee Montgomery, and British Formula One racing great Lewis Hamilton are among the many professional sports athletes who use their substantial voices and resources to espouse racial and gender equity and social justice in a time in America’s 250-year existence as a nation when diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), African-American history, voting rights, constitutional liberties, and meritocracy are being eradicated by extreme right-wing elements and their enablers in governmental and private institutions.
