Et was a spontaneous protest with no clear strategic line and no sustainable action plan. Was it a boycott? A warning strike? A walkout? The terms were used interchangeably to denote that the basketball players in the best league in the world had paralyzed NBA gaming on Wednesday for political reasons. The confusion continued when the spontaneous demonstration in the quarantine bubble in the amusement park Walt Disney World outside of Orlando ended a day later. It is in the interests of the players to continue the play-offs and determine a championship team, according to Florida.
LeBron James is one of the familiar faces in the fight against racism and police violence by athletes.
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Image: AFP
So what happened It took a while before it became clear that for the first time in the history of American sport, athletes had persuaded a league to make solid political concessions. This includes a measure with a signal effect: In all cities in which the team owns the arena, the huge buildings will be converted into polling stations on November 3rd. This should help to cope with the expected rush for the presidential election.
The action plan may have little effect in view of a nationwide election in which 136.7 million people cast their votes four years ago. However, it symbolically bridges the gap between the recent video-recorded case of white police officers brutalizing African-Americans from the state of Wisconsin and the call for social change.
And it is a clear sign that a growing number of athletes no longer see themselves only as highly paid, naive entertainers of the masses, but as self-confident, thinking participants in the disputes over social justice. LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers), the man who finances an entire school for underprivileged blacks in his hometown of Akron, knows that only concrete commitment will make a difference: “Change doesn’t just happen through speech! They happen when you do something. ”Even if it’s just what Chris Paul (Oklahoma City Thunder), the players’ union president, calls for: Go vote.
Donald Trump, whose concerns include making it more difficult to cast votes in postal votes, let this hint roll off at the Republican election convention this week. He didn’t know much about the NBA protest, he said, but added: “They have become something of a political organization.” He continued: “That’s not good. Not good for sports. And not good for the country. “
The criticism sounded comparatively mild. Earlier this month, Trump said some of the basketball players were “very nasty” and “frankly, very stupid”. After all, he seems to have chosen his son-in-law and political advisor Jared Kushner to contact players like LeBron James. Allegedly to sound out whether there are common ground for political initiatives. It is unlikely that this will happen.
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