Advertisement - scroll for more content
“The reality is we need people now more than ever that can’t be bought,” White stressed during his speech. “They don’t have a price, and I can’t stress that to you enough.” After landing the endorsement, White seethed at media reports noting his past marching with Black Lives Matter activists. “I never marched with BLM, they marched with me… to The Federal Reserve,” he claimed on X. “As soon as the higher ups in BLM run mainstream media figured out I wasn’t there to pitch the same ol story and smart enough to speak about a much deeper money problem, they quickly decided this Black [sic] man’s life DOESN’T MATTER so much.”
In response to this detail, a Black Lives Matter chapter in Chicago posted a picture of a paraglider with a Palestinian flag and a caption that read, “I Stand With Palestine.” Moldovan, who is Jewish, responded to that image on Instagram, with his own caption: 72 hours after terrorists paraglided into a music festival and slaughtered 260 young people. This is how BLM chose to symbolize where their support lies. Fuck BLM and anybody who supports them.
Some have blamed the drop in eyeballs on the league’s embrace of the BLM movement in the wake of social unrest following the killing of George Floyd. The NBA painted “Black Lives Matter” on all the league’s courts and allowed players to wear jerseys with social justice messages. “Half the country says this is not us,” the source close to the NBA said.
“After the Floyd murder (in May 2020) and all the things that were going on, I reached out to my players and (special advisor to the general manager) Joe Dumars and said, ‘What can we do? … how can we be helpful?,” Ranadivé, the Kings’ chairman, said in a phone interview. “I marched for Black Lives Matter,” he continued. “I said BLM is not enough; we need to do more. Black education matters. Black internships matter. Black schools matter. And the people here said, ‘You know the governor. You know the people in the White House. You know the attorneys general. You need to use that platform to affect real change and access to power.'”
Advertisement
How do you respond to the criticism that the NBA and its players are outspoken about BLM and police violence, but don’t talk about human rights abuses in China? Adam Silver: My response there is that we and our players speak about issues that are closest to home. Our players have the absolute freedom to speak off the floor about any issue they want. I think it was a unique set of circumstances that led us to talk about Black Lives Matter over the course of last summer.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: However, in September of 2020, following the summer of national Black Lives Matter protests, he offered more direct support of the activists’ cause: “Everyone should deserve the opportunity to reach their fullest potential. Being in the locker room for 20 years and being around guys with every different race, religion, skin color, background and different states. Everyone [brings] something different to the table and you embrace those things. They expand you in ways that you couldn’t have been expanded if you weren’t exposed all those different things.” That suggests to me that he’s becoming a player who wants to use his voice to help achieve equity among Americans.
Marc J. Spears: The Hawks say the Pope wanted to acknowledge the stand #NBA players took in support of #BLM. Vatican reached out 1/7 asking for MLK Hawks jerseys the Pope could pray a blessing over on MLK Day. Pope also met with 5 players November praising their fight against social injustice. pic.twitter.com/N41r8Dr1MV
The Hawks say the Pope wanted to acknowledge the stand #NBA players took in support of #BLM. Vatican reached out 1/7 asking for MLK Hawks jerseys the Pope could pray a blessing over on MLK Day. Pope also met with 5 players November praising their fight against social injustice. pic.twitter.com/N41r8Dr1MV
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) January 15, 2021
Eric Walden: Jordan Clarkson, on how today's Capitol invaders were treated, as opposed to summer BLM protestors: "People see the difference; they saw what people did today and how there were no consequences for them. On the other side, it would have … ended in multiple arrests and deaths."
Jamal Crawford: Whole different energy for BLM though... 🤷🏾♂️
Advertisement
Adam Silver: Now, some people might suggest that the words Black Lives Matter are causing massive amounts of people to tune out the NBA. There’s absolutely no data to support that. And in fact, as I said, there’s no doubt there are some people—and whether or not they were truly our fans to begin with is unclear—who have become further engaged with the league because they believe in our players and they believe in the positions they’ve taken, even if they don’t agree with everything they say. They respect their right to speak out on issues that are important to them.
Serge Ibaka: Can’t stop, won’t stop... until no more unarmed black men and women are killed #blm #enough pic.twitter.com/Em4ajxPNdl
Can’t stop, won’t stop... until no more unarmed black men and women are killed #blm #enough pic.twitter.com/Em4ajxPNdl
— Serge Ibaka (@sergeibaka) August 24, 2020
While approved protests — such as kneeling — could easily be misconstrued, Benjamin Crump, the civil rights attorney who has handled several high-profile cases, from Martin to Floyd, believes the influence of subliminal messaging over the next three months — such as the Black Lives Matter signage on the court and on T-shirts — cannot be overstated. “Symbols and images matter,” Crump said in a telephone interview with The Athletic. “There is a reason the NAACP has the Image Awards, because as the psychologists say, ‘Once you observe an image, even if it’s just for a few seconds, it literally left an indelible mark on your brain, on your subconscious.’ For every NBA fan to have to see that image every game really helps put in their subconscious mind, Black Lives Matter.”
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement