ATHLETE, ACTIVIST, DAUGHTER: THE FORMS OF THE FORMIDABLE NAOMI OSAKA
Here at the US Open, she has worn masks revealing names of the slain. For her first-round match Monday night, Osaka honored Breonna Taylor, a Black emergency medical technician who was fatally shot by Louisville Metro Police Department officers. This evening she paid tribute to Elijah McClain, a Black man from Colorado, killed while walking home from a convenience store.
“I think when I heard about his story it was very hurtful,” said Osaka. “I mean, they’re all very hurtful, but just the fact of the character and the way that he was, just to hear stories about him, for me it was very sad. I think this was a bit different because no one can really paint the narrative that he was a bad guy because they had so many stories and so many, like, warmhearted things to say about him.
“I don’t know. I feel like I still don’t think his name is very put out there compared to, like, George Floyd or Breonna Taylor. For me, today was very special in the way that I wanted to represent him very well.”
Elijah McClain’s father on Nuggets’ T-shirt tribute: “He would’ve been thrilled”
The idea came to Malone while sitting in his Orlando hotel room amid the NBA’s re-start. As teams and players grappled with the uncomfortable question of whether playing basketball during a time of racial and social unrest was prudent, Malone and the Nuggets made an effort to spark conversations that address racial inequities. The shirts, just one of the team’s many examples, were about highlighting discrimination within Colorado.
“Because this is Aurora, this is our backyard, these are the people that we represent on the court every night, I just felt really strongly about trying to do something where we could honor Elijah McClain, his memory, his name, his family,” Malone told The Post. “If the police cameras were not conveniently all knocked off the night of Aug. 24, when he was arrested, 2019, maybe it would’ve been a little bit more sensationalized, like George Floyd’s was, because everybody would’ve seen it. But that didn’t happen. It’s truly a tragic event.”
after confirming the family approved of the gesture. © Garrett Ellwood, NBAE
E para fechar a nota, mas não o assunto…
Já escrevi aqui no blog e repito, gosto muito da NBA. Não só por serem os melhores do mundo, mas também pelo ativismo, pela consciência e pelo bom uso da imagem. Poderosos!
O nome disso é resistência!
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Naomi Osaka, Lewis Hamilton e Lebron James – Photo Resistance
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