Professional Athlete Jacob Blake Strikes

Overview

Professional Athlete Jacob Blake Strikes refers to players from several professional sports teams across multiple leagues refusing to play their scheduled games in protest of the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Notably, the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks refused to play their scheduled playoff game against the Orlando Magic on the evening of August 26th, 2020. The Thunder, Rockets, Lakers and Trail Blazers, who also had games scheduled that evening, followed suit. Teams from the WNBA, Major League Soccer and Major League Baseball refused to play that evening, as did professional Women's Tennis player Naomi Osaka.

Background

On August 26th, 2020, the Milwaukee Bucks refused to play their playoff game against the Orlando Magic in protest of the police shooting of Jacob Blake.^[1] The decision to strike in protest reverberated throughout professional sports, as teams from several professional leagues refused to play that evening, including the four other NBA teams scheduled to play that evening, several Major League Baseball teams, teams from Major League Soccer, the WNBA and tennis star Naomi Osaka.^[2][3]

Some have called the athletes' refusal to play a "boycott," though this terminology is technically incorrect. The move is akin to a "wildcat strike," in which workers decide to strike without union support.^[4]

Developments

Team owners initially voiced their support for the players' decision, but the decision left the immediate future of sports in general in question, particularly the remainder of the NBA Playoffs.^[1] All the teams in the NBA Playoffs, who are in Orlando as part of the NBA's "Bubble" experiment to safely play games amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, met that evening to discuss the remainder of the playoffs. Most teams agreed that they wanted to finish the playoffs, with the notable exceptions of the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers. Laker Lebron James reportedly expressed that he wanted the rest of the playoffs canceled in protest of the Jacob Blake shooting.^[5] James tweeted^[6] "FUCK THIS MAN!!!! WE DEMAND CHANGE. SICK OF IT," gaining over 250,000 retweets and 1.1 million likes.

Several prominent media personalities expressed their support of the players. Kenny Smith, a TNT NBA commentator, walked off the set that evening in solidarity with the players (shown below, top). Chris Webber, also a commentator, gave a passionate speech about the protests and the climate of America (shown below, bottom).

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External References