Athletes such as Lebron James have been noticeably silent in the wake of the death of Daunte Wright.
Black Lives Matter protests broke out prevalently in the sports world last year, spurred by the murder of George Floyd which forced the movement into popularity across the nation. Black people are still being murdered by policemen, and where the sports world was previously vocal, it seems suddenly quiet once more. Where have the sports activists gone?
Unlikely as it would seem, baseball—a sport that has a history of abstaining from political statements—is one sport in which activism remains visible. Despite being the last American sport among the leagues to publicly acknowledge George Floyd’s murder, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced in early April that the league would no longer situate the All-Star Game of 2021 in suburban Atlanta.
This choice was in reaction to a new law in Georgia which seems to promise to disenfranchise Black voters. Despite disagreement from players, this strong statement worked to achieve Manfred’s goal to “‘demonstrate our values as a sport.’”
So, baseball is upholding BLM’s principles, namely the value that Black lives are constantly in danger and deserve better and more equitable opportunities in America. Unfortunately, the rest of the sports world has been remarkably quiet on major issues.
An article by Terence Moore in Forbes suggests that the sports world failed the Black community with their silence surrounding the murders of Casey Goodson Jr., Andre Hill and Dolal Idd. Black Lives are still being stolen by law enforcements, and Black Lives will always matter, but this sentiment has hardly been reflected recently by professional athletes.
Moore calls out Lebron James, who was one of the loudest voices of outrage directly after George Floyd’s murder, for his lack of action in response to this continued violence. Moore denounces the sports world for its general quietude, even if things like the baseball activism occasionally crop up in the media before quickly fading from the limelight.
Largely, the internet seems to agree with Moore. This year, there is a severe lack of articles about BLM in sports, despite the fact that we’re already four months into 2021. One article discusses the possibility of seeing BLM protests at the Olympics this year, but in no certain terms.
Frustratingly, the sports world also largely kept quiet after the riots at the United States Capitol on January 6 this year. Seattle Seahawks offensive lineman Duane Brown noted the lack of visible activism from those who had been vocal before now.
"It's here now, and it's not being met with the same outrage and the same anger as other protests, and things that have happened over the last recent months,” Brown said.
Sure, some players kneeled during the anthems before their games. Some teams released statements about the riots. Otherwise, Brown seems to be correct—the passionate activism is missing from these choices.
And now, as violence against Black individuals continues, there’s barely any response from teams or players to analyze for missing passion. Were players just following the trend of BLM support?
In December of 2020, NBA players promised to carry their passion for the movement into the new year. According to the NBPA President and Phoenix Suns guard Chris Paul, the teams planned to continue communicating about the subject.
“Those are conversations that we are going to continue to have, and start having more,” Paul said over a zoom call in late 2020. “We started the Social Justice Coalition, and we’re going to keep working on that.”
If players and teams are still working on their activism, they haven’t brought it to the attention of the public. Part of the significance of activism in the sports world is the platform that players have, but without public statements, this platform is useless and will not influence the thoughts or opinions of fans. Hopefully, we will start to see protests again soon. Until then, regular sports fans will have to carry the activist torch on their own.