odinsblog: swagintherain:There is a long history of African-American athletes using their global pla
odinsblog: swagintherain:There is a long history of African-American athletes using their global platforms to bring attention to injustices in America. On June 4, 1967 top black athletes in the country met in Cleveland in support of Muhammad Ali’s Vietnam War draft protest; Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Summer Olympics; Jesse Owens winning the 1936 Summer Olympics hosted by Hitler in Germany; Jackie Robinson who said, “I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I can not salute the flag; I know that I am a black man in a white world.”; Colin Kapernick who took a knee in protest of police violence against unarmed black men in America. The NY Liberty’s WNBA team wearing #BlackLivesMatter t-shirts and the NBA’s Miami Heat wearing hoodies in honor of Trayvon Martin. This has been going on forever. In one way or another—ever since our ancestors got off the first slave ships—black people, black athletes and Civil Rights activists have always said, “Stop Killing Us. Black Lives Matter” And just like always, there are willfully ignorant or racist white people who say, “Just be quiet, you’re dividing us”And the thing that really gets me heated is knowing that 50yrs from now, the same people who are hating on Kaepernick and BLM will whitewash their personal histories and tell everyone how much they supported the movement, just like people did with MLKjr. Hell, they’ll probably try to tell everyone that the main point of #TakeAKnee was “be nicer to white people” -- source link