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St. Louis Rams Stedman Bailey, Tavon Austin, Jared Cook, Chris Givens and Kenny Britt put their hands up to show support for Michael Brown before a game against the Oakland Raiders at the Edward Jones Dome.
Tavon Austin #11, Jared Cook #89, Chris Givens #13 of the St. Louis Rams pay homage to Mike Brown
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Professional sport, as we know, is generally an amoral cesspit (eg see Ray Rices reinstatement) jammed with self-absorbed, overpaid twats who couldnt give a crap about anything outside their own ludicrous worlds or anything that doesnt feed their egos.
But then, occasionally, we get gestures like todays from those Rams players, and from the Miami Heat back in 2012. And theyre powerful, not least to the kids for whom these guys are idols.
And their idols honored Michael Brown and protested against what was done to him. That matters. Thats good.
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In this image posted to Miami Heat basketball player LeBron James Twitter page, Miami Heat players wear team hoodies. Heat stars Dwyane Wade and James decided, March 22, 2012, to make their reactions about the Trayvon Martin situation public, and James felt the best way to do that was the team photo with everyone wearing hoodies.
1968: American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raise their fists and give the Black Power Salute at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City.
The move was a symbolic protest against racism in the United States.
Smith, the gold medal winner, and Carlos, the bronze medal winner, were subsequently suspended from their team for their actions.
The move was a symbolic protest against racism in the United States ..
The more things change, the more they stay the same?
http://theobamadiary.com/2014/11/30/solidarity-3/
jwirr
(39,215 posts)brer cat
(24,544 posts)and I wept when I saw it. Smith and Carlos had the courage of lions.
It is good to see professional athletes take a stand on moral issues.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)RiverLover
(7,830 posts)Thanks. I got chills.
I hope people wake up.
LynneSin
(95,337 posts)Because it is more than that. The right wing wants to narrow it down to just one person and the make it out that the one person in question was really nothing more than a petty street thug. What is happening in Ferguson and across the country isn't about Michael Brown but it way more than that. It is about police brutality, race inequality and a degradation of our constitution rights. To say it's just about a person makes it so narrow of a scope it almost makes it selfish and has people questioning why we even bother.
justiceischeap
(14,040 posts)all the issues you stated. Like it or not, Michael Brown in now the face of police brutality, race inequality and the degradation of our Constitutional rights.
LynneSin
(95,337 posts)Faux News and the right would like for him to be the sole issue. Because their arguement is that Michael Brown was a thug who robbed a convienient store and assaulted a police officer. By making this protest about just a person it helps the right to sway the argument in their favor - why would we want to right over this one person who was nothing more than a street thug.
That's why when I do discuss this issue with anyone I try to move the arguement away from Michael Brown and to the issue of Police Brutality and racial inequality. We are ceding too much of our constitutional rights away every single day and it's heartbreaking to see that people just don't care that this is happening!
justiceischeap
(14,040 posts)Sometimes all it takes to turn the tide is a story, an injustice and an image that stays in the mind. Michael Brown has all those.
Till's body was returned to Chicago. His mother, who had raised him mostly by herself, insisted on a public funeral service with an open casket to show the world the brutality of the killing. "The open-coffin funeral held by Mamie Till Bradley exposed the world to more than her son Emmett Till's bloated, mutilated body. Her decision focused attention not only on American racism and the barbarism of lynching but also on the limitations and vulnerabilities of American democracy".[2] Tens of thousands attended his funeral or viewed his casket and images of his mutilated body were published in black-oriented magazines and newspapers, rallying popular black support and white sympathy across the U.S. Intense scrutiny was brought to bear on the condition of black civil rights in Mississippi, with newspapers around the country critical of the state. Although initially local newspapers and law enforcement officials decried the violence against Till and called for justice, they soon began responding to national criticism by defending Mississippians, which eventually transformed into support for the killers.
The trial attracted a vast amount of press attention. In September 1955, Bryant and Milam were acquitted of Till's kidnapping and murder. Protected against double jeopardy, Bryant and Milam publicly admitted in an interview with Look magazine that they killed Till. Till's murder is noted as a pivotal event motivating the African-American Civil Rights Movement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till
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