The Black Woman Athlete Standing Strong

Estimated reading time: 9 minute(s)

What if someone were to ask you what sport would be the one to stand up together and use their platform in no watered down way to let the world know #BlackLivesMatter to them? Being honest with yourself you probably wouldn’t have guessed the bold women of the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association). Yes, the Black woman is stepping up and forward.

Not to take anything away from the brief, some would argue watered down speech Lebron, Anthony and Wade gave at the ESPY. It received great feedback and applause from the predominately white media and those in attendance, so ask yourselves, how effective was their act to stand up and speak out if the white media applauds and have nothing but good things to say? (I know Ali or Jim Brown or any athlete who really stood up the white media was quick to demonize their efforts) You can watch it below and judge for yourself.

What about the WNBA? The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan teaches us that the woman is the second self of God. He also said if there’s no fight in you then there’s no God in you. Its clear that our Sisters again are showing the God in them. In the locker room Thursday afternoon, following a home-court loss to the Indiana Fever, players from New York Liberty refused to answer questions about basketball. Same with the Fever. That morning, the Women’s National Basketball Association fined the New York Liberty, Phoenix Mercury, and Indiana Fever $5,000 apiece, and their players $500 each. Their transgression? During warmups in recent games, they’ve donned black t-shirts in support of the Black Lives Matter Movement. https://www.periscope.tv/w/1lDGLQwbbbYJm

Why would the league fine these Black players (70% of the league is Black) for speaking up on an issue that affects the children they will or have come into this world, the hypocrisy of league administration action is demonstrated by the words of star player Tanisha Wright: “More than 70 percent of this league is made up of African-American women, so that affects us directly. We need [the league] to be just as supportive of this issue as they were with any other issue: Breast cancer awareness, they support that. Pride, they support that. Go Green initiative, they support. So we want them to stand with us and support this as well.”

Is there an issue with our women standing up? No, the issue is our men who are the protectors of the community aren’t doing enough and should also stand in solitary with our sisters. How great it would have been to see the NBA players pay the fines of the WNBA players (where the average salary is 36K). I can’t take anything away from our Brother Carmelo Anthony who appears to be making a sincere effort to get the NBA players to do something, but the overall spirit of the brothers today are far removed from the giants such as Muhammad Ali and the Jim Browns. Maybe the Missouri Football Team could sit the NBA and NFL players down and go over with them the power of their voices or maybe we are just seeing the women of today do the same as when it was the women that stood up to defend Jesus when it wasn’t a popular thing to do.

Bro. Artiium Muhammad,

Sis. Aqueelah Muhammad,

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