It is a combination of fear and anger that some of the coaches, athletes and professional sports teams in this country care more about the safety and well-being of their peers than the elected leaders who are apparently paid to work out a policy that protects and promotes welfare of the citizens who voted for them in office.
Since the devastating Tuesday afternoon massacre in Uvalde, Texas, numerous sports figures and even teams have used their respective platforms and considerable scope to do their best to try to affect change.
The United States Senate, the most irresponsible body in America, went on vacation.
On Tuesday night, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr sat in front of the media in Dallas ahead of the fourth game of the Western Conference Finals. He had no interest in talking about the Mavericks or the pains of any of their players.
Instead, he hit the table and called on his name Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, as well as others who have chosen to cover their pockets with money from the gun lobby about the lives of seniors. our most vulnerable.
Because there are so many mass shootings to follow up, in this case Kerr was referring to Uvalde schoolchildren, black elders in Buffalo, and religious people in Southern California.
“When are we going to do something?!?” Kerr roared, his anger and helplessness pleasing, understandable, and shared by so many.
Steve Kerr, like other sports figures, is exasperated by armed violence in the United States. (Photo by AP / Tony Gutierrez)
Kerr often shares his thoughts on civil and human rights, but armed violence is a close issue. Kerr’s father, Malcolm, was killed outside his office at the American University of Beirut in 1984, when Steve was 18 years old.
Washington Mystics guard Natasha Cloud has spoken several times this week, both on Twitter and with reporters, about the outbreak of armed violence affecting the country only among her peers around the world.
Cloud, like so many WNBA players, is not afraid to be an activist and do what he can to try to create change. WNBA players have been leaders on this front for years, dating back to when Minneapolis police killed Philando Castile and Baton Rouge police killed Alton Sterling.
The story goes on
But if you know anything about history, you know, the kind of history that some lawmakers don’t want you to learn, you know that black women have always been at the forefront of the civil rights struggle in this country and have always put their lives on the line for the advancement of their communities, for the betterment of their people.
If we waited for someone else to do it, nothing would happen.
While Kerr and Cloud are among those we look forward to hearing from when another mass casualty incident occurs, what happened Thursday night was surprising.
Before the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays played in Florida, the teams posted a statement on their respective Twitter accounts announcing that instead of the usual game updates that fans would see, both teams would post facts about the violence. with weapons from the nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety. .
“The latest mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde have shaken us to the core,” the Rays statement read. “That can’t become normal. We can’t fall asleep. We can’t look the other way. We all know that if nothing changes, nothing changes.”
The decision, of course, was ridiculed by some users of the platform, but it was powerful to see fact-based information, with citations provided, as well as resources such as National Hotline phone numbers. of Domestic Violence (because 4.5 million). American women annually report being threatened with a firearm by an intimate partner) and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (because access to a gun triples the risk of death by suicide), which illustrated up to to what extent is the problem widespread.
Mystic guard Natasha Cloud (9 years old) said she plans to enter politics once her career is over. (Photo by Rich von Biberstein / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
It’s not the job of Steve Kerr, or Natasha Cloud, or the Yankees and Rays to do what they did.
It is the job of senators and congressmen elected by the citizens of their respective states and districts to do so. Polls show that most voters support background checks on all firearm sales, a ban on weapons such as the AR-15 and AK-47, and “red flag” laws. “, who temporarily confiscate weapons from those who consider themselves a danger to others or to themselves.
However, here we are, with several states in recent years essentially removing all restrictions on obtaining weapons, including in Texas, where you don’t even need to have a permit and where federal law allows anyone under the age of 21 years old buy a gun but state law. allows 18-year-olds, like Uvalde’s killer, to buy AR-15.
The House of Representatives has long passed HR 8 twice! – a measure that would extend background checks and is the least that could be done. But it has still languished in the Senate unchanged, where many members’ tweets about “thoughts and prayers”, only with a quick edit to replace the name of the city where a new mass casualty event has just taken place, are the most that we never receive.
They are equivalent to a digital shrug, a gesture so meaningless that they have become a parody.
This is the country where we live. And as long as sports coaches, players, and teams strive to change that more than many of our elected officials, it will continue to do so.