When the Milwaukee Bucks refused to come out of their locker room for a playoff game, every other pro basketball player in the NBA and the WNBA joined their strike. Even a national sportscaster joined them in an impressive display of unity and leadership.
Jacob Blake getting shot seven times in the back by Kenosha, Wisconsin, police was the catalyst. The athletes responded in yet another strong example of people using their national stature to demand concrete changes to end systemic racism.
Big-money owners feared losing their cash cow if the games didn’t start up again, so they jumped on board with concessions. The day after the walkout, the Houston Rockets announced their arena would be used as an early in-person voting center, a move other venues had already made. Collective pressure moved the bar higher!
What this effort proved, short though it was, is that the workers, when united, were stronger than the league. Trump can call the strike “silly” but we know better. The power of the players is stronger than the vitriol of the president of the United States.
