The past three months have been insane. On Wednesday, March 18th New York City was already like a ghost town when I left work to head home. The shelter in place order had been announced and as I said goodbye to my coworkers, I jokingly said “see you in six months”. I really didn’t believe that, but it’s looking more likely.
Like many I was furloughed and have had a lot of free time on my hands. As a sports fan I usually spend countless hours watching my favorites (baseball and soccer). With leagues throughout the world suspended due to the virus, I suddenly realized how much enjoyment these games provided me. The void in my life was palpable.
While baseball still fumbles and bumbles its way to some sort of a season, soccer leagues throughout the world have figured out a way to restart. Of course empty stadiums, piped in crowd noises and social distancing rules are not what we want. However, the fact that the matches are back is a great start to some type of return to normalcy.
2020 has so far been the year that keeps on giving things you don’t want and that pattern continued with the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis. This has led to weeks of protests and is forcing the country to deal with the systemic racism that exists whether we want to acknowledge it or not.
I was pleased to see that the demand for justice extended beyond the United States. To see Jadon Sancho display a t-shirt that read “justice for George Floyd” after scoring for Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga was eye opening. I know that racism in European Football has been an ongoing problem and the Black Lives Matter movement in the US has led to a global outcry for justice.
The Arsenal squad were pictured wearing a variety of t-shirts addressing the racism issue and the Premier League. In addition the Premier League will replace players’ names on the back of their jerseys with the words Black Lives Matter for the first 12 matches as the league resumes play this week after three months.
Racism exists in all facets of society and sports is not immune to this situation. The fact that the US protests has been felt and picked up on throughout the world has raised awareness and started a conversation that is necessary.
Back in 2016 San Francisco 49’ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick caused controversy when he refused to stand for the pre-game playing of the Star Spangled Banner. Instead he would take a knee as the anthem played. To anyone that would listen it was clear that he was not doing this to disrespect the flag or the country. Instead he was trying to raise awareness of how black Americans were not being treated equally and fairly in many aspects of life.
Unfortunately Donald Trump had somehow won the 2016 presidential election and his reign as Divider In Chief had begun. Trump has no ability to listen or care what anyone has to say. Instead of taking the time to understand the point that Kaepernick was trying to make, Trump instead lashed out at how disrespectful the player’s protest was. Trump didn’t see anyone trying to point out racial inequalities, instead he saw a troublemaker who didn’t love his country.
Four years later, it’s apparent that Kaepernick’s protests had validity. The Black Lives Matter movement has taken off and people are now listening. In fact, both the NFL and MLS have announced that players will be allowed to peacefully protest by taking a knee pregame.
This led to the #WorstPresidentEver putting out the following Tweet:
It will be great know that the #RacistInChief will not be enjoying MLS and NFL when he’s voted out of office in November.
Stay safe, wash your hands, enjoy the matches and hopefully we’ll all be able to gather and watch the games together.