Long promoted as role models, WNBA players faced harsh league reaction after taking a public stand on Black Lives Matter.
It was the New York Liberty’s final game before the women’s professional basketball league went on its five-week Olympic break. The team, which is leading the Eastern Conference, lost a tough game to the Indiana Fever 82–70 at Madison Square Garden. Following the game, the members of the Liberty staged a postgame media blackout of sorts.
Rather than the players sitting in their individual spots as members of the media asked questions about the game, they stood together as a unit in the center of the locker room and would only address questions about Black Lives Matter. Earlier that day, news hit that the New York Liberty, the Phoenix Mercury and the Indiana Fever were all being fined for violating league uniform regulations. Each of those teams had worn black T-shirts prior to games rather than regulation warm-up shirts. The fines would be $5,000 per team and $500 per player.
“We’re considered role models,” said Swin Cash, a 15-year veteran of the league. “There are a lot of young girls, a lot of young African-American girls, young boys, that look up to us. It’s only right that we have a voice in this and they can see that we’re not just role models that can play basketball, but we’re speaking about issues that directly affect us.”
Diverse has reached out to several individuals in academia who teach media studies, communications and journalism and asked them what impact these professional female athletes have and why there was a public outcry over the fines.
“To not say anything about what is happening right now to some African-Americans would make the athletes out of touch with their fan base,” says Valerie Black, an instructor of communication arts at Johnson C. Smith University. “Creating dialogue and awareness is critically important in a democracy.
“It’s one thing for the news to cover stories like Alton Sterling and Philando Castile and for you to see everyday citizens protesting these acts of violence. It’s another thing to see people who are famous also share their feelings about what is happening.”
