Casual sports spectators have never been more motivated to root for something. COVID-19 keeps us indoors and makes us tired of the stale air in our homes and the routines that we create for ourselves.
World news is bleak at best and incomprehensibly appalling at worst. Fans are desperate to feel again—to cheer again. We were excited by sports returning to the national stage.
Perhaps we initially sought solace in following televised games because we knew that the competition would fill us with adrenaline. Watching Lebron James pull out his signature “chase-down block” is as good a substitute for the will to live as any.
But it’s not just about the highlights anymore. Since August, fans’ motives have morphed from support for players’ skills to support of their causes and protests. Black Lives Matter has come to the forefront.
We now look to our favorite players for their takes on the issues and listen to Black individuals who know more than those of us that come from a place of privilege and ask what we can do to contribute.
James has become a leader in the BLM sports sphere, recently speaking out against the people who wonder when Black Lives Matter sentiment will fade from popularity.
“When you wake up and [you’re] Black, that is what it is,” James said. “It shouldn’t be a movement. It’s a lifestyle. This is who we are.”
Black lives must always matter. There’s never been a more effective time to spread this message to the masses than during the months that sports fans are confined indoors, wasting time on social media, reading the news and watching sports.
The Women’s National Basketball Association went dark on Aug. 26 in protest of the shooting of Jacob Blake by police in Kenosha, Wis. Players delivered a statement in which they demanded that lawmakers and law enforcement be held accountable for the atrocities they’ve committed against Black individuals.
Major League Baseball followed the National Basketball Association’s lead by cancelling three games to support the protest. On Sept. 6, CBS Sports aired several programs intended to highlight race and racism in sports.
Los Angeles Magazine commented that James “hopes that the worldwide protests against racism and police violence in the wake of George Floyd’s death will help to combat voter suppression among African Americans and other minorities in time for the presidential election.”
The fact that the 2020 election is drawing closer constitutes one reason that the protest was well-timed. Another particularly auspicious element of the protests was the date on which they began: Aug. 26 is the same date when former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick chose to kneel for the National Anthem for the first time back in 2016.
Kaepernick hasn’t been signed to a football team since his 2016 protests, which stripped his power and limited his platform. The NFL has since been criticized for its refusal to support Kaepernick in 2016. Ironically, the league made a recent promise to address systemic issues that affect “players, clubs and partners.”
There’s no way to know if, in a normal year with regular sports seasons, the Black Lives Matter movement would be receiving this much attention and overwhelming support. Maybe more people are paying attention to sports during the pandemic because we’re relatively confined to our homes. Maybe people have more time to form opinions on protests and Black Lives Matter when they’re free from their pre-COVID social lives.
Perhaps, we’re fortunate that our circumstances are what they are. We’re lucky that athletes are taking advantage of their current, sometimes larger than normal, platforms to defend Black lives.
We’re lucky that Lebron James is playing basketball right now, which means he has more attention on him than he would during the offseason, as he demands justice for Black individuals like Breonna Taylor.
Thank you, athletes, for risking your jobs to bring awareness to the suffering of Black lives. Maybe the nation will finally listen.