“That’s what made these fines so appalling,” said Terri Jackson, the executive director of the players’ union, where she’s worked since 2016. “It’s the league trying to send the message.”In the midst of a summer where gun violence led to the deaths of several unarmed Black people, and with Black players making up the majority of W.N.B.A. Even before that game, the Liberty had been discussing ways to address the spate of shootings of people who were unarmed. Stokes said players often sat together in the locker room, stunned as they watched videos of shootings on their cellphones. For Stokes and Allen, though, two of the youngest players on the Liberty at the time, the decision to protest wasn’t clear-cut.

Source: New York Times July 05, 2021 03:56 UTC