How Did the NBA Become a Platform for Social Justice?
The NBA has been an active platform for social justice for a long time. The league is also filled with predominantly African American players. As reported by Doug Merlino, author of The Hustle: One Team and Ten Lives in Black and White, back in 1961, Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics boycotted an exhibition game when they were not allowed to sit at a restaurant because of the fact that they were African Americans.
In 2012, many NBA players, including the whole Miami Heat team, expressed their support for 17-year-old African American Trayvon Martin by wearing hooded sweatshirts, as noted by Dan Levine of Yahoo Sports. Martin was killed by a white neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman, because according to Zimmerman, the 17-year-old looked suspicious. Levine reported that Martin was wearing a hooded sweatshirt. Zimmerman claimed that the murder was self defense, even though the 17-year-old was unarmed, and he was not arrested, as proclaimed by Levine.
In 2014, Eric Garner and Michael Brown Jr. were killed by the police, as reported by Michael C. Wright and Khari Arnold. NBA players supported the protests following the killings, as noted by Rheana Murray of ABC News. Murray reported that athletes wore “I Can’t Breathe” t-shirts during warmups before games. As described by former Time Magazine journalist Nolan Feeney, Garner was murdered in July in Staten Island, New York, with his final words being “I Can’t Breathe,” as he was placed in a chokehold. Only a month after that, Brown Jr. was killed in Ferguson, Missouri, as reported by Eliott C. McLaughlin of the CNN.
In 2020, after the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, the fight for social justice has taken an even more central place in the NBA.
May 25: Death of George Floyd
Meredith Deliso, who is a reporter for ABC News, proclaimed that George Floyd was a 46-year-old African American who was killed in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Deliso declared that Floyd was murdered by a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, while being in police custody. In the following days, as reported by the Washington Post journalist Ben Golliver, nationwide protests against police brutality started and several NBA players took part in them. The murder of Floyd touched a nerve as it was similar to Eric Garner’s. ESPN’s Tim Bontemps noted that Jaylen Brown, who plays for the Boston Celtics, drove for 15 hours from Boston to Atlanta to take part in protests. Steph Curry, Russell Westbrook, Trae Young, Damian Lillard and several others also demonstrated throughout the country. In an article for Sports Illustrated, Melissa Rohlin stated that Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for 8:46.
July 30: Resumption of NBA Season
After a three and a half month hiatus, the NBA season was resumed at the Walt Disney Complex in Orlando, Florida as reported by Alex Raskin, a sports news editor for the Daily Mail. One of the main goals of the restart was to address racial inequality and police brutality. Marc Spears of the ESPN announced that the league approved 29 messages that players could have written on the back of their jerseys. Some of them were “I Can’t Breathe,” “Say Their Names,” “How Many More,” and “Equality.” Ryan Gaydos, a sports reporter for Fox News, noted that the rule which required players to stand for the national anthem was scrapped for the return and athletes knelt during the anthem without facing any consequences. Taking a knee during the anthem is a protest against police brutality and racial injustice, as reported by Gaydos.
August 5: President Donald Trump Responds to NBA Players Kneeling
As reported by Steve Wyche, a National Football League(NFL) media reporter, the kneeling movement started in 2016, when Colin Kaepernick, the former quaterback of the San Francisco 49ers, kneeled during the anthem before a game in the NFL. Kaepernick’s decision was provoked after the death of Mario Woods, who was shot 21 times by the police. This was revealed by Cherise Johnson, who works for Revolt. President Donald Trump has been against the movement since its beginning and his reply, via USA Today’s Scott Neelson, to the kneeling of the players in the NBA came soon enough. “I think it’s disgraceful. When I see them kneeling during the game, I just turn off the game. I have no interest in the game,” Trump said when talking on Fox News’ Fox & Friends. Responding to Rohlin of Sports Illustrated, Lebron James stated that “the basketball community wouldn’t be sad about losing his viewership.”
August 19: Los Angeles Lakers Players Wear Hats Demanding Justice for Breonna Taylor
Lebron James, Anthony Davis and the other members of the Los Angeles Lakers squad wore, as reported by Jill Martin of the CNN, Maga-like hats before their first playoff game against the Portland Trailblazers. As noted by CNN’s Eric Levenson, they demanded justice for Breonna Taylor, an African American woman, who was shot 8 times in her home on March 13 by the police. The Lakers were not the only one’s mentioning Taylor, as many players dedicated their post-game interviews to her, as reported by CNN journalists Allen Kim, Elizabeth Joseph, and Martin. A virtual meeting with Taylor’s mother, Tamika, was held before the season was resumed, as stated by Insider’s Scott Davis. Monte Poole of NBC Sports revealed that Breonna Taylor was an honorary member of each team that played in the bubble in Orlando.
August 23: Shooting of Jacob Blake
Just three months after the death of George Floyd, another act of police brutality against an African American shocked the United States. CNN’s McLauglin and Amir Vera reported that Jacob Blake was shot in front of his kids seven times in the back by a police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Blake survived, but was left paralyzed, as noted by Victoria Albert of CBS News. Vanity Fair’s Dan Adler gathered the reactions of NBA stars and what followed was something few people expected.
August 26: The Milwaukee Bucks Boycott Game 5 Against the Orlando Magic
Three days after the shooting in Kenosha, which is located only 40 kilometers away from Milwaukee, the Bucks made a decision that will be remembered forever. Martin, Leah Asmelash, Kim, and David Close of the CNN reported that the team boycotted game 5 of its First Round series of the playoffs against the Orlando Magic and did not show up to play. Soon, the other two playoff games that were supposed to be played that day- the Houston Rockets vs the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers vs the Portland Trailblazers were postponed, again reported by the journalists from the CNN. A chain reaction followed and matches from the WNBA,MLB, and MLS were cancelled. The Western and Southern Tennis Tournament was also stopped for a day. All of this was reported by Martin, Asmelash, Kim, and Close. The Bucks released a statement, that was published by the NBA a couple of hours later, in which they explained their decision for the boycott and called for justice for Jacob Blake. Sports Illustrated journalist Micheal Mccann reported that one of Milwaukee’s players, Sterling Brown, was a victim of police brutality in 2018.
August 27: President Donald Trump Responds Again to Protests in the NBA
President Donald Trump again showed that he is against the protests that are happening in the NBA. As reported by Caitlin McFall of Fox News, Trump stated that “people have become tired of the NBA and that the league has become a political organization.”
August 29: The NBA Resumes the Playoffs
After a few difficult days when the resumption of the season was under threat, play in the NBA resumed on August 29 with Game 5 between the Milwauckee Bucks and the Orlando Magic, as reported by Bontemps of ESPN. The players agreed to continue the playoffs only after the league promised to take new measures in the fight for social justice. Three main commitments were made, which were announced in a statement made by NBPA Executive Director Michele Roberts and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver:
“1. The NBA and its players have agreed to immediately establish a social justice coalition, with representatives from players, coaches and governors, that will be focused on a broad range of issues, including increasing access to voting, promoting civic engagement, and advocating for meaningful police and criminal justice reform.
2. In every city where the league franchise owns and controls the arena property, team governors will continue to work with local elections officials to convert the facility into a voting location for the 2020 general election to allow for a safe in-person voting option for communities vulnerable to COVID. If a deadline has passed, team governors will work with local elections officials to find another election-related use for the facility, including but not limited to voter registration and ballot receiving boards.
3. The league will work with the players and our network partners to create and include advertising spots in each NBA playoff game dedicated to promoting greater civic engagement in national and local elections and raising awareness around voter access and opportunity.”
This year for the NBA has been difficult and for months it seemed that the league would’t be able to resume play. While there will be a team which takes home the Larry O’Brien trophy after all, this season will forever be remembered as the one where the fight for social justice and racial equality reached a new high.
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Ilina Stoyanova is a Junior at the American University in Bulgaria. She plans to be a sports journalist in the future.
