Friday, July 10, 2020

The WNBA has come too far to be silenced by Kelly Loeffler




Opinion by Roxanne Jones Thu July 9, 2020



I'm calling 'BS': WNBA player on Loeffler's objection to honoring BLM 02:08

Roxanne Jones, a founding editor of ESPN Magazine and former vice president at ESPN, has been a producer, reporter and editor at the New York Daily News and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Jones is co-author of "Say it Loud: An Illustrated History of the Black Athlete." She talks politics, sports and culture weekly on Philadelphia's 900AM WURD. 


The views expressed here are solely hers. Read more opinion on CNN.


(CNN)The women of the WNBA are not to be taken lightly, ever.



Roxanne Jones

Back in 1997, the sports world was put on notice when squads of trailblazing women stepped on to the court, including Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, Rebecca Lobo, Tina Thompson, Cynthia Cooper and one of my favorites, Teresa (T-Spoon) Weatherspoon. Their fearless leader? No-holds-barred sports executive Valerie Ackerman, the league's first president, and current NCAA Commissioner of the Big East basketball conference.

Their message was clear: women were done sitting on the sidelines. It was their game, too. And they were taking their shot.

They were then -- and are now -- determined to command respect and forge a future for young girls and women that confirms: when we play the game, we win -- on and off the court.

So today, when I watch amazingly talented players like Renee Montgomery (Atlanta Dream) and Breanna Stewart (Seattle Storm) not only pushing the game forward but leading conversations around social justice and equality, I know they are a testimony to the strong legacy left behind by those original WNBA icons. Those of us who follow women's basketball closely, know that often it's been the WNBA, not the NBA, that has initiated conversations about justice and equality, prompting their male counterparts to speak out, though the women received much less fanfare.

That's why the players' recent resounding rebuke of Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, co-owner of the WNBA's Atlanta Dream was such a proud moment for me -- and I'm sure, many other WNBA fans.

These women have come too far to be silenced by the likes of Kelly Loeffler.

An avid supporter of President Donald Trump, Loeffler, on Tuesday, strongly urged the league to cancel plans to allow players to wear jerseys with the words "Black Lives Matter" and "Say Her Name," a reference to Breonna Taylor and untold numbers of other women who have been killed by police or died in custody. Instead, Loeffler wrote in a letter to league Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, she wants to see the American flag on all WNBA apparel.

In the letter, obtained by the Atlanta Journal Constitution and ESPN Loeffler argued Black Lives Matter was a "political movement, which has advocated for the defunding of police" and "promoted violence and destruction across the country. I believe it is totally misaligned with the values and goals of the WNBA."

But the women of the WNBA, which is more than 80% Black, are not buying Loeffler's brand of politics and now some are calling for her to relinquish her co-ownership of her team.

The outrage was immediate.

Breanna Stewart, who is White, is just one of a growing number of WNBA players of all races who are challenging Loeffler's fitness be a part of the league, tweeting:

"How is she still a owner? Bye Kelly. Keep that negative energy out of our league."

Renee Montgomery, who plays for Loeffler's team but had already decided to forego the 2020 season weeks ago to focus on social justice issues, said she was saddened by her team owner's stance, tweeting:

"I'm pretty sad to see that my team ownership is not supportive of the movement & all that it stands for. I was already sitting out this season & this is an example of why, I would love to have a conversation with you about the matter if you're down?"

Even the players' union wants Loeffler out of the league.

Despite the criticism, it looks like Loeffler isn't shying away from the attention.
She's playing to her crowd. And likely hopes her race-baiting message will resonate in November, when she faces a tough special election among a field of 20 other candidates for her US Senate seat. The Republican senator was appointed back in 2019 by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.

And ironically, or perhaps intentionally, the senator appears guilty of the very thing she's accusing the WNBA of doing -- injecting politics into sports.

A day after she penned her letter, Loeffler ripped a page out of Trump's campaign playbook and paused to disparage athletes who take part in protests against police brutality and murders of unarmed citizens. On Twitter, Loeffler said, "We should keep politics out of sports. We shouldn't promote movements that encourage violence. And I will not be silent about it." Several politicians, especially Democrats, have already called this move a desperate ploy to score political points.

Loeffler is not backing down. And though the league is clearly trying to distance itself from their Atlanta team owner, it remains to be seen what, if any, repercussions she will face from the league.

For now it looks like the WNBA will continue with plans to honor the BLM movement taking place all around the globe. In a statement, Commissioner Engelbert asserted that the league "will continue to use our platforms to vigorously advocate for social justice."

Fighting for social justice is nothing new to the women of the WNBA.

I should know, I was there in the beginning.

In 1996, I was assistant sports editor at the New York Daily News and in charge of coverage around the launch of the league. Like the women on the court, the WNBA gave many women in sports a chance to finally prove themselves at work. In media, it was by default -- the mostly white-male sports writers mocked the game, balked at covering women's basketball.

Today's league is steeped in a culture that has long been vocal about matters of social justice and women's equality, from equal pay for all women and mental health awareness to racial justice and LGBTQ equality.

Back in 2009, when I was board co-chair of GLAAD (formerly the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) we were invited to work with the WNBA to develop and host team and fan events for the LGBTQ fans. Our goal was to help eradicate the toxic, homophobic attitudes that too often follow women in sports. The WNBA, guided by former NBA Commissioner and civil rights champion David Stern and then-WNBA president Donna Orender, fearlessly led these initiatives, long before gay marriage and other LGBTQ rights had been won on a federal level.

This time around, I'm betting Loeffler's attempt to silence the players backfires. Players are right to want her out of the league. And there is precedent: Donald Sterling, former owner of the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers. Sterling was banned for life from the league and fined $2.4 million after his racist tape recordings went public.

Today, watching the woman of the WNBA -- indeed all the young voices -- demanding justice in the face of such horrifying racial hate keeps me hopeful for the future.

It feels like they are playing for all of us to win.



Sen. Loeffler: Black Lives Matter ‘A Very Divisive Organization Based on Marxist Principles’

“This isn’t about me" OK IT'S ABOUT ME 

RIGHT WING REWRITE OF STORY 
FROM NTD NETWORK ARM OF EPOCH TIMES
VOICE OF THE 4TRUMPERS OF THE FALUN GONG GANG 

POSTED FOR VIEW OF STANDARD RIGHT WING SPIN 


POLITICS Zachary Stieber Jul 10, 2020


Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ill.) walks through Statuary Hall with other senators to the House Chamber for President Donald Trump's State of the Union address in the Capitol in Washington on Feb. 4, 2020. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Black Lives Matter is a divisive organization that doesn’t belong in sports, Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) said late Thursday.

Loeffler, who co-owns the Women’s National Basketball Association’s (WNBA) Atlanta Dream, urged the league’s commissioner earlier this week to reverse its planned Black Lives Matter (BLM) initiative.

Facing attacks for her stance, the senator said her efforts stem from the BLM’s goals, which include disrupting the nuclear family, defunding the police, and threats to burn down the American system.

“Sports have tremendous power to unite us. But the WNBA has embraced the Black Lives Matter political organization,” Loeffler said during an appearance on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle.”

“This is a very divisive organization based on Marxist principles,” the senator added.
Two of the three BLM co-founders are self-described Marxists, followers of theories that stem from Karl Marx’s teachings. Marx is known as the founder of communism.

Black Lives Matter Global Network didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn also took aim at the group this week, writing on social media: “The founders of the political arm of the Black Lives Matter organization are self-proclaimed ‘trained Marxists.’ We are witnessing a movement to wipe out our history, destroy our families and burn our country to the ground.”


Patrisse Cullors, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter, speaks in Los Angeles, Calif., in a file photograph. (Rich Fury/Getty Images for Teen Vogue)
WNBA

The WNBA is planning to start its season late this month with a weekend of games centered around the Black Lives Matter movement.

Teams will wear special uniforms featuring the names of people killed in instances of confirmed or alleged police brutality, including Sandra Bland and Breonna Taylor, and players will warm-up shirts that say “Black Lives Matter.” The phrase will also be displayed on courts.

“We are incredibly proud of WNBA players who continue to lead with their inspiring voices and effective actions in the league’s dedicated fight against systemic racism and violence,” Cathy Engelbert, commissioner of the league, said in a statement.

Loeffler in her letter to the commissioner urged league officials to roll back the plan and instead place the American flag on every jersey.

“Our flag has weathered countless storms, wars, and civil unrest. It symbolizes the strengths unique to our country and the American people. It stands for freedom, equality, and hope. This important symbol will unite us as we work toward a better, brighter, and more equitable tomorrow,” she wrote.

A
number of players around the league spoke out after Loeffler’s letter was made public. Many of them were critical of the senator. Some called for Loeffler to be removed as co-owner of the Dream.

“Our league is made up of 80 percent of black females,” WNBA player Natasha Cloud said during an appearance on “CNN Tonight” this week.

“To be a partial owner … but you don’t support them when they take their uniforms off—it’s a problem.” 
Natasha Cloud marches to the MLK Memorial to support Black Lives Matter and to mark the liberation of slavery, in Washington on June 19, 2020. (Michael A. McCoy/Getty Images)
Not Stepping Down

On Thursday night, Loeffler said she would not step down from her position.

Loeffler said she’s against racism but charged that BLM isn’t about combating racism.

“They want to abolish the police completely within five years. and we can see what’s happening across the country with this threat of defunding the police,” she said. “You’ve seen anarchy and riots, you’ve seen murders in Atlanta. This organization didn’t come out and protest the murder of an 8-year-old girl in our streets as a result of this mob rule that was happening in this autonomous zone.” 


TWO SEPARATE SITUATIONS ON TWO DIFFERENT COASTS,
 BUT FACTS DON'T MATTER 

Secoriea Turner, 8, was killed by a bullet near the Wendy’s where Rayshard Brooks was shot by police after resisting arrest. The car the girl was riding in was surrounded by an armed group who has been stopping locals and manning checkpoints, according to police and elected officials. That’s when someone opened fire.

Secoriea’s father said at a press conference: “They say black lives matter. You killed your own. You killed an 8-year-old child.”

Loeffler said she’s taking attacks over her anti-BLM push. She hopes that her speaking out will inspire others to do the same.

“This isn’t about me, this is about every American’s right to speak out, to enjoy free speech, to support whatever cause, and not be canceled,” she said. “We have this cancel culture that is threatening America, and the foundation of it is that Americans are afraid to speak out.”


From The Epoch Times


ANOTHER OUTRAGED RIGHT WINGER SLAGGING BLM AS MARXIST RIOTERS.
WHICH IS THEN REPEATED IN THE RIGHT WING PRESS, SANS EVIDENCE, BY QUOTING EACH OTHER. 

AS A LIBERTARIAN SOCIALIST I FIND THESE CLAIMS AND ATTEMPTS AT GOOD OLD COLD WAR 
RED BAITING EXCEPT IT'S NOT BLM CUDDLING 
UP TO PUTIN

Companies Must Answer For Their Support Of The Radical Black Lives Matter Org

I&I Editorial
Several companies have been bragging recently that they’re providing financial support to the official Black Lives Matter organization to burnish their PR image. No doubt they’re getting Woke points for doing so. But do the executives at those companies have any idea how radical this group is and what it’s trying to achieve?
The Daily Signal reported earlier this week that at least 18 corporations have pledged hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation.
The list includes: DoorDash, Deckers, Amazon, Gatorade, Microsoft, Glossier, 23andMe, AirBnB, Unilever, Bungie, Nabisco, Dropbox, Fitbit, Developer Digital, Skillshare, Square Enix, The Game Co., and Tinder.
The Daily Signal notes that other companies said they were giving to Black Lives Matter, but didn’t specifically say it was to the foundation.
Private companies are free to give their money to whomever they want. But you’d think that the executives at these corporations would have done the least bit of due diligence before forking over the funds.
So, here are some questions for these companies, and any others that are giving money or encouraging donations to the BLM foundation.
Do your shareholders and employees know that their company is supporting a group run by “trained Marxists”?
In 2015, Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors gave an interview in which she said: “We actually do have an ideological frame. Myself and Alicia in particular, we’re trained organizers. We are trained Marxists. We are super versed on ideological theories.” The Alicia she’s referring to is BLM co-founder Alicia Garza.
That same year, another BLM co-founder, Opal Tometi, praised Venezuela’s Marxist dictator Nicholas Maduro, saying that “in these last 17 years, we have witnessed the Bolivarian Revolution champion participatory democracy and construct a fair, transparent election system recognized as among the best in the world.”
Does your company support BLM’s call to defund the police?
In a recent BLM video, the group says that “We call for a national defunding of police. We’ve tried police reform over many, many years and still it stays the same. Defunding the police is the only way to stop pouring resources into a system that does not make us safe.”
The money, BLM says, should instead be spent on “education, health care, housing and opportunity.”
If the companies donating to BLM don’t support defunding the police, and believe that doing so would put innocent Americans, particularly black Americans, in greater danger, why are they supporting BLM?
Do you approve of the BLM’s overtly socialist goal of “collective ownership”?
That is the official position of this organization, after all. In 2016, the group issued “A Vision for Black Lives: Policy Demands for Black Power, Freedom and Justice.” It calls for “a reconstruction of the economy to ensure our communities have collective ownership, not merely access.”
What does “collective ownership” have to do with improving race relations? Nothing. The BLM leaders are using race as a cover to push policies right out of the “Communist Manifesto.”
Do you believe that the nuclear family should be abolished in favor of some sort of collectivist child-rearing scheme?
Like good Marxists and socialists, the BLM also wants to destroy the family. It says on its website it intends to “disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear-family-structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and ‘villages’ that collectively care for one another.”
This, too, has nothing to do with improving black lives. In fact, the disintegration of the “nuclear family structure” has already taken place in the black community, where 69% of children were born out of wedlock in 2016. The outcome of this disruption is clear. While only 5.4% of married-couple families are in poverty, more than 28% of single moms are, and 15% of single dads.
Do you believe in “retroactive decriminalization, (and) immediate release … of all drug-related offenses and prostitution,” and “reparations for the devastating impact of the ‘war on drugs’ and criminalization of prostitution”?
That’s another one of BLM’s top goals.  
Brad Polumbo, writing for the Foundation for Economic Education, had it right when he said that the BLM foundation “is Marxist, is anti-American in its values, and its views are rightfully alarming to anyone who believes in the Constitution, capitalism, and civil society as we know it.”
None of this is hard to find, by the way. It’s all right there on BlackLivesMatter.com, or easily turned up with a little online searching.
There are plenty of organizations working to help blacks and other minorities succeed in this country but aren’t bent on turning the U.S. into a socialist hellhole. Corporate executives should take the time to learn about them.
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board



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