Earlier this week, the sports world took a pause to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake, and the killings of protesters demanding justice for him by vigilante Kyle Rittenhouse, by boycotting teams’ respective playoff games.
The Milwaukee Bucks commenced this groundbreaking movement when team members refused to play in game five of their playoffs against the Orlando Magic. “Over the last few days in our own state of Wisconsin, we’ve seen the horrendous video of Blake being shot in the back seven times by a police officer in Kenosha and the additional shooting of protesters,” started Bucks guard Sterling Brown, who was accompanied by the rest of his team and guard George Hill, who also later spoke. “Despite the overwhelming plea for change, there has been no action so our focus today cannot be on basketball.”
Since then, the team has spoken to members of Jacob Blake’s family to ask how they can help deliver justice and awareness to him, and the NBA has announced that it would resume games.
So, Saturday (Aug. 29) was the day that NBA games, once again, kicked off with the Bucks finally going up against the Magic. However, before the actual competition began, the teams made it a point to have a moment of silence for now late actor Chadwick Boseman, who sadly passed away on Friday (Aug. 28) at the age of 43 after privately battling colon cancer for the last four years of his life.
In video posted to social media, players were positioned on one of their knees as they remembered the iconic actor for everything that he gave us with his art. The athletes also acknowledged fallen NBA player Cliff Robinson and NBA coach Lute Olson, who passed today and yesterday, respectively.
Take a look at the clip below.