Page 24 - Florida Sentinel 9-4-20

Sports
'Society Has To Change': NBA Players Spoke Up Before Walking Out
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After NBA players spent days discussing a potential protest of playoff games, the Milwaukee Bucks decided to not take the floor last Wednesday for Game 5 of their first-round series against the Orlando Magic, prompting the NBA to post- pone all three games sched- uled that night.
Milwaukee is about 40 miles north of Kenosha, Wis- consin, the city where 29- year-old Jacob Blake, a Black man, was shot seven times by police on Sunday. Blake was shot as he at- tempted to enter the driver's side door of his vehicle with three of his children inside. Video of the shooting was distributed on social media.
Players across the NBA and the sports world quickly displayed support for the Bucks' decision, including former NBA player Mah- moud Abdul-Rauf, who was suspended for one game in 1996 when he refused to stand for the national an- them.
"This in my estimation is not only an intelligent but bold step forward, the kind of positions taken that, when sustained, can produce
NBA players explaining why spreading awareness on racial injustice isn't enough to make change following the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
meaningful results," Abdul- Rauf said in a statement to ESPN. "We have burnt police precincts and been arrested in protest. We have pleaded time and again with politi- cians, had meetings with sheriffs and chiefs of police, shed tears in disgust on na- tional television for the world to see and drawn the atten- tion of much of the world that was protesting with us over the unarmed, unjustified killing of Black people by murderers in police uni- forms.
"Still, white supremacist racism is failing to hear our cries. So just maybe -- just maybe -- this new generation
of human beings who happen to be athletes, and powerful ones at that, will do what our generation failed to do, and that is to stick together for something bigger than them- selves. This is a sacrifice I'm hoping they will sustain."
Three MLB Games Postponed As Players Protest Wisconsin
Three Major League Base- ball games were postponed last Wednesday as players across the sports landscape re- acted in the wake of the week- end shooting by police of Jacob Blake, a Black man, in Wisconsin.
Games between the Cincin- nati Reds and Brewers in Mil- waukee, Seattle Mariners and Padres in San Diego and the Los Angeles Dodgers and Gi- ants in San Francisco were called off hours before they were set to begin.
Dodgers star Mookie Betts, who is Black, told his teammates he was sitting out and they backed him.
"For me, I think no matter what, I wasn't going to play tonight," Betts said.
"I have to use my platform to at least get the ball rolling,'' he said.
Shooting
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