An Open Letter To Senator Kelly Loeffler

Don’t end up on the wrong side of history — Black Lives Matter and this movement will press forward with or without you

Dear Senator Loeffler,

I can’t speak for what’s in your heart, but after hearing about your letter to WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, I can speak to the issue at hand.

Your comments hurt deeply because it was a veiled “All Lives Matter” response. It’s not that you’re tone deaf to the cry for justice, but you seemingly oppose it. And you are speaking from a position of immense influence as a team co-owner in our league and as a US Senator.

When Black Lives Matter started, the founders never thought that they would have to add the word “too” at the end of it: Black Lives Matter Too. We just assumed that people would understand that we matter also. Is that too big of an ask?

If Aborigines had said, “Aboriginal Lives Matter,” would an appropriate response be, “All Australians Matter?”

After civil rights activist Medgar Evers was murdered on the steps of his home in Jackson, would it have helped salve the wounds of a country by saying, “All Mississippians matter”?

Imagine your friend overwhelmed with grief, tears flowing down her cheeks, confiding in you that she has breast cancer. How good of a friend would you be if you crossed your arms and replied, “All cancers matter”?

This year, I don’t need more friends who tell me, “Everyone matters.” I already know that. I need someone to tell me, “You, Renee, matter.”

I know you have a tough upcoming election in November and must appeal to your base. I get it, I do. But to say sports shouldn’t mingle with politics denies our past.

When Bill Russell and his Black teammates were refused service in a Lexington restaurant in October of 1961, Russell boycotted the game. Was he wrong to get involved “in politics”?

Jackie Robinson was not just a baseball player. Tommie Smith and John Carlos were not just sprinters. Muhammed Ali is not just a pugilist.

And LeBron James is not just a dribbler.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” For this to remain true however, we need Benders, people who actively bend our society towards justice. Until a few weeks ago I was a player on your Atlanta Dream basketball team. I left so I could do my small part as a Bender. I sacrificed my season so maybe the next Maya Moore wouldn’t have to give up her Hall Of Fame career to create a more just society.

Senator Loeffler, with or without you, we will continue this movement because it’s bigger than me or you. From Senator Richard Russell Jr. to Senator Herman Talmadge, whose seat in the US Senate you now occupy, Georgia has a long history of politicians opposing civil rights. However, I want to live in a world where you’re standing with me, arms interlocked in solidarity, just as I would have been with you during the suffrage movement in 1919 to give you, a woman, the right to vote.

I kindly invite you to rethink your stance and join a discussion with me. While you might very well be on the “right” side of this November’s elections, you are on the wrong side of history if you can’t see that Black Lives Matter.

With Momentum,
Renee Montgomery