Since protests for justice and against police brutality have taken place across the nation (and in many places, continue), we have seen a number of individual athletes and sports teams take a stand. In fact, we’ve seen entire leagues take a stand. One powerhouse who hasn’t gotten nearly enough media coverage is tennis player Naomi Osaka. Osaka won the 2020 U.S. Open on Saturday and earned her third Grand Slam title. While her athleticism is clearly incredible, one post-win interviewer asked her about the seven face masks she’d worn in tournaments over the last two weeks in support of Black Lives Matter and racial justice. The champion’s answer is a must-watch.
As some background before the clip, each mask bears a different name. The names include Elijah McClain, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, George Floyd, Tamir Rice, and Philando Castile. In her first match, Osaka wore a mask bearing Taylor’s name, and according to The Washington Post, afterward, explained, “I’m aware that tennis is watched all over the world, and maybe there is someone that doesn’t know Breonna Taylor’s story.” She said her goal is to spread awareness, adding, “I feel like the more people know the story, then the more interested they’ll become in it.”
After her win, Tom Rinaldi, a reporter for ESPN, asked Osaka: "You said from the beginning you had seven matches, seven masks … seven names. What was the message you wanted to send?"
"Well, ‘what was the message you got?’... is more the question," she responded. "I feel like the point is to make people start talking.”
Here is that clip.
In an Instagram post on her account, Osaka previously wrote in reference to Trayvon Martin: “I remember being a kid and just feeling scared. I actually didn’t wear hoodies for years cause I wanted to decrease the odds of 'looking suspicious.'" She added: “I remember watching the events unfold on TV and wondering what was taking so long, why was justice not being served? To see the same things happening over and over still is sad. Things have to change.”
Osaka also made headlines in late August when she protested and decided not to compete in a semifinals tournament after Jacob Blake, a Black man, was shot seven times in the back by a white Kenosha police officer in front of Blake’s three children.
Osaka tweeted about her protest then, and her message is absolutely worth reading and sitting with.
from Daily Kos https://ift.tt/2Fvf2wj
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