The WNBA is standing up to hate.
Players from four WNBA teams — the Los Angeles Sparks, Washington Mystics, Seattle Storm and Minnesota Lynx — locked arms Wednesday night prior to their respective games as a demonstration of both unity and protest, which came four days after a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., turned deadly.
#Mystics and Sparks players stand side-by-side during the National Anthem after a moment of silence for victims in Charlottesville. #wnba pic.twitter.com/kHjh00oakd
— Ava Wallace (@avarwallace) August 16, 2017
We stand TOGETHER. pic.twitter.com/AEogE9K1TT
— Seattle Storm (@seattlestorm) August 17, 2017
“It is not a surprise that racism and bigotry exist in this country, but it is not something we stand for in any way,” Mystics and Sparks players said in a statement, per The Associated Press. “We feel great shock, sickness, and sadness with the degree of acceptance and normalization of this hatred, culminating in ways in the events in Charlottesville this past weekend.
“We feel pain and disbelief following the blatant hate displayed and the President’s response to it. There is no way to innocently protest alongside a hate-based group and to take pause on condemning the acts that took place is inexcusable.”
WNBA president Lisa Borders commended the players’ stance.
https://twitter.com/WNBAPrez/status/897978002499403776
Terri Jackson, WNBA players’ union director of operations, also backed the locked-arms demonstration.
#ICYMI: Director of Ops Terri Jackson's statement on #UNITY of @WashMystics & @LA_Sparks players before last night's game. #CHARLOTTESVILLE pic.twitter.com/srbxfVsdmM
— WNBPA (@TheWNBPA) August 17, 2017
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/avarwallace
