America is witnessing the effects of its horrible history of treatment towards African Americans: People are no longer staying quiet. Racism has been a prominent issue for many centuries. Yet the Civil Rights Act of 1965 was passed only fifty-five years ago. This act made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, sex, color, religion, and national origin. This was a turning point in history because this signified the legal end of discrimination for African-Americans; however, racism did not end entirely. We need people to stand up, take charge, and change America. Athletes play key roles since they influence the world everyday because of their voice in today’s society and all of their social media platforms with thousands of followers. Colin Kaepernick, a quarterback in the NFL, is a civil rights activist and has been a catalyst in the NFL in speaking up about the treatment of minorities. But what have NBA players been doing so far? 

Basketball players from multiple teams are debating on boycotting the rest of the season because of the violence towards people in America due to their race. This was seen in the Milwaukee Bucks game against the Magic. The Milwaukee Bucks did not show up to the game. On the other hand, the Magic did show up, but once they saw that the Bucks were not there, the Magic went to their lockers and left. NBC Sports states “The game was to protest police brutality following the shooting of Jacob Blake. The Milwaukee Bucks have decided to boycott Game 5.” After this boycott other games such as the Rockets vs. the Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers vs. Portland Trail Blazers were also canceled. They were canceled the same way as the Bucks game was in the fashion that neither of the teams showed up to the game.

The boycotting of these games was a response to the violence and unjust treatment towards African Americans across the country such as Jacob Blake and Breonna Taylor, who were both victims of police violence. NBA Players will be a key part of solving the racial problems of our past. They are an important part of the solution because they are able to speak up and use their voice to be a part of the solution and not be a part of the problem: silence. 

Lebron James talked about his view on the Black Lives Matter protests when he stated the following: “When you’re Black, it’s not a movement. It’s a lifestyle. We sit here and say it’s a movement, and, OK, how long is this movement going to last? Don’t stop the movement. No, this is a walk of life.”