“People are tired of watching the highly political @NBA.” President Trump wrote on Twitter. “I hope football and baseball are watching and learning because the same thing will be happening to them.”
Trump wants his entertainment so he can ignore the lives of others. The rich and powerful just want their money and influence. What these strikes do is deprive them of their entertainment and revenue.
The systemic racism in our country is at a boiling point and even boiling over. We use an analogy of dealing with current race issues and police brutality with washing the dishes.
Wash The Dishes
“Wash the dishes”Ok I hear you, I’ll get to that at some point.
A day later, “Wash the dishes”
Yes I hear you, and I’ll get to it but I’m busy right now.
“I’m not going to cook dinner because all the dishes are dirty”
Why are you acting like this? This isn’t going to accomplish anything!
“Come look at all the this thats been piling up in our sink. I keep telling you and telling you, but you’re not doing anything about it. We literally cannot cook if these dishes are not washed. If we can’t cook, we can’t eat. If we can’t eat we can’t survive!”
People say all the time that “we already know this” but do they really? Do they understand WHY these issues need to be addressed? Do they understand WHY it affects these players?
Will It Change?
No, sitting out these games will not end the issue of black Americans being shot and murdered by the police. Nobody ever said it was supposed to. But maybe, if it gets them to take a look at the sink, they’ll understand how this issue has been piling on and on over the last months, years, decades, centuries- maybe they’ll understand how dire the situation is.
Unfortunately those who oppose Black equality movement in America currently say: “I personally do not believe there are any dishes in that sink.”
Change takes time. Maybe this doesn’t lead to something more immediate, but it throws more kindling on a fire that was beginning to fade. It lead to a baseball game to cancel. It’s going to garner national attention. Even the smallest act can reward benefits further down the line. Why do we say that you should plant a tree today if you want fruit eventually?
Maybe we don’t see what it accomplishes this week, but maybe we see what it accomplishes in a few years, as this is just a part of the tree of those who came before, from MLK all the way up to Colin taking a knee. Sometimes it’s the cascading effect of so many small actions that lead to the eventual change.