The demand for justice from the sports world went international Sunday, after days of frustrated, sometimes riotous protests crisscrossed America following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last week.
In Atlanta, NBA players helped organize a march for justice and called for change. In Germany, soccer players from England and France amplified that message on the pitch. On social media, white athletes spoke not just of support for justice for African-Americans, but of recognition of their own ignorance of abiding injustice. Coaches, franchises and athletic departments broadcast sweeping support for African-American communities, for empathy and for a path to positive change.
And a broader mood, defiant and demanding, suggested the public may not allow sports figures and institutions to sit on the sideline regarding prominent social issues any longer.
“People are going to look back,” Pacers star Malcolm Brogdon told the crowd during a peaceful protest in his hometown of Atlanta. “Our kids are going to look back at this and say, ‘You were a part of that.’ I’ve got a grandfather who marched next to Dr. (Martin Luther) King in the ’60s. He was amazing. He would be proud to see us here.”
The deaths of Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Ky., drove fresh pain into old wounds in minority communities across the country.
Social media amplified those messages. Video of Brogdon’s speech — delivered at a protest organized in part by Boston Celtics player and fellow Atlanta native Jaylen Brown — was liked and shared thousands of times across multiple platforms within 24 hours.
With most sports leagues halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, social media was the principle method for athletes to offer leadership, show support and even acknowledge their own failings in coming to terms with the injustices protesters have highlighted from coast to coast this weekend.
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“Institutional racism in this country breaks my heart and needs to stop,” Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz wrote in a message posted to Twitter on Thursday evening. “(I) can’t even fathom what the black community has to endure on a daily basis. Being from North Dakota, I’ve spent a large part of my life surrounded by people of similar color, so I’m never gonna act like I know what the black community goes through or even has gone through already.
“I’ll never know the feeling of having to worry about my kids going outside because of their skin color. However, I do know that we are all equal at the foot of the cross and Jesus taught us to value others’ lives like they were our own — regardless of skin tone.”
Wentz was not alone in his sport. In a pair of tweets Friday, Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence demanded “a shift in the way of thinking.”
“Justice must outweigh injustice. Love must outweigh hate,” Lawrence wrote. “I’m siding with my brothers that deal, and continuously deal, with things I will never experience. The injustice is clear … and so is the hate. It can no longer be explained away. If you’re still ‘explaining’ it — check your heart and ask why.”
Sports executives and coaches across multiple leagues were not shy in voicing their frustration, or supporting a broader call for justice. Those who did not speak up, or spoke late, or inadequately in the public’s view, found themselves facing criticism.
No entity felt this more pointedly than the NFL, which released a three-paragraph statement Saturday evening. The public was quick to point out the league’s opposition to quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s peaceful protests of police brutality during the playing of the national anthem as far back as 2016.
Kaepernick’s protest — first sitting, then kneeling, during the anthem — and his subsequent excommunication from the NFL, sowed division among the league’s fans and, in the eyes of many, cheapened this weekend’s statement.
Elsewhere in the sports world, prominent figures were unabashed in their desire to speak loudly and clearly.
In the Toronto Globe and Mail, Raptors President Masai Ujiri wrote about his reaction to the now-widespread video showing a police officer pressing his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes as Floyd calls out in distress, before falling silent.
“No one can deny,” Ujiri wrote, “the police have a tough job. But they are peace officers. They are supposed to protect all of us. This is the profession they chose. I didn’t see any peace or protection when that officer had his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck. I saw indifference.
“The ‘order’ in ‘law and order’ should not mean the deadly suppression of people of color; it should mean preserving a society so we can all feel free and safe, to live in peace with each other.”
In a lengthy statement posted to the Miami Dolphin's social media accounts, coach Brian Flores repeated a message he said he delivers to his players: “My message to them and to anyone else who wants to listen is that honesty, transparency and empathy go a long way in bringing people together and making change. I hope the tragedies of the last few weeks will open our hearts and minds to a better way of communicating and hopefully create that change.”
Indiana University football coach Tom Allen posted a message to his Twitter account Friday afternoon saying, “Racial injustice is WRONG and it must be addressed!! I believe we are to LOVE EACH OTHER! No matter one’s skin color. Love is a choice.”
"I just felt like silence was wrong. There’s just so much going on, so much emotion, even from myself, from what I saw happen, and just knowing so many players came to my mind, our current guys. My heart was broken for them," Allen said in a separate interview with IndyStar. "I know how our players have struggled with that. In talking with them, I knew they were really hurting. Their families, there was fear and anxiety and anger. I just couldn’t be quiet. It was the right thing to do."
The University of Tennessee athletic department went a step further, releasing a department-wide call for action.
“It’s time to demand change,” the tweet accompanying the statement read. “It’s time to demand progress. The standard of empathy, respect and equity is one we must meet.”
In what Tennessee termed “a unified statement from our head coaches,” department leadership called on fans to “rise to the challenge to meet a new standard. If you’re going to support our black student-athletes when they compete, please have the courage to support them and their families in their daily pursuit of peace, happiness and equity.”
Sports brands stepped up as well. Nike released an ad Friday evening advocating awareness and action. Adidas, Nike’s greatest industry rival, shared Nike’s message on social media.
“For once,” the ad read, white words set against a black background, “don’t do it. Don’t pretend there’s not a problem in America. Don’t turn your back on racism. Don’t accept innocent lives being taken from us. Don’t make any more excuses. Don’t think this doesn’t affect you. Don’t sit back and be silent. Don’t think you can’t be part of the change. Let’s all be part of the change.”
Where athletes could use the platform of the field to promote their message, they spanned an ocean in a moment.
In Germany, Borussia Monchengladbach’s Marcus Thuram knelt and bowed his head after scoring a goal in a 4-1 victory over Union Berlin. Later that afternoon, Englishman Jadon Sancho, playing for Borussia Dortmund, removed his jersey after scoring a goal to reveal an undershirt bearing the words “Justice for George Floyd.”
Sports have long played a role in the effort for wider social justice, from Joe Louis, to Jesse Owens, to Jackie Robinson, to Tommie Smith and John Carlos, to Kaepernick.
But, in a country where 67 percent of people identify themselves as sports fans, according to statista.com, there is increasingly a feeling that there is no more time — and no more room — for silence.
“There is a sense of helplessness,” Ujiri wrote in the Globe and Mail, “but that must not paralyze us. Your voice matters, especially when you are a leader or influential figure, and especially if you are white. Leaders have to be bold enough to state the obvious and call out racism.
“The conversation can no longer be avoided because it is hard. We have to have it. Now.”
Follow IndyStar reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.
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