We Stand Together

NBA: Black Lives Matter and basketball’s role in discussion on racism

This article from the BBC gives the reader contextual information about how the NBA has become a major voice in the Black Lives Matter movement recently. We chose this article because it is really good at giving that contextual information.

Source: British Broadcasting channel

Link: https://www.bbc.com/sport/basketball/53556565

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This is a photo of the Boston Celtics player Jayson Tatum #0 in black lives matter jersey. This is a powerful photo because it is symbolic of the black folk of the NBA making their voices heard and later being supported by the NBA itself. 

Source: Boston.com

Link: https://www.boston.com/culture/books/2020/09/10/boston-dot-com-book-club-shares-what-readers-said-about-athletes-in-protest/

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This still image is of a Black Lives Matter protest in front of the Martin Luthor King Junior Memorial in Washington DC. This item paints a compelling narrative of the black lives matter movement across the country. It is loud and powerful. 

Source: Pinterest

Link: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/black-lives-matter-pictures-and-photos-getty-images--795307615442641404/

These items help us illustrate and articulate our ideas to the audience because the items we have chosen give different examples of good and bad through a movement. Also, without the NBA players taking a stand to take action in the movement, the movement probably would not be as well-known as it is today. With NBA players pushing the movement, people who look up to them will as well.

We chose these three video items because they explain how the NBA became the face of social injustice. When you are at a level as NBA, players and are looked up to by many, a lot of what you do will be noticed and that was their plan here. Now that they are the face and being noticed of the BLM movement, they start the kneeling process and started to stay in the locker rooms when they got criticized for kneeling when coming out for the national anthem. A lot of players decided to not enter the bubble because of the movement. Some players decided to sit out the rest of the season in the bubble to show how they feel. When you are black this movement is not so much of a movement, it is a lifestyle because racial injustice is something we go through every day. Hopefully, years later, this movement will be carried on and more will be educated even when the movement stops.