The New York Liberty played a game against the Indiana Fever this morning, the first game either team has played since being fined by the WNBA for wearing clothing that expressed support for Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Black Lives Matter, and the slain Dallas police officers. Based on events that took place after the game, it doesn’t look like the players have any intention of staying silent....

When media members entered the Liberty locker room, the team addressed reporters as a unit and informed them that they would not be answering any basketball questions, but would be happy to talk about the issues they’ve been protesting. Charles, Tanisha Wright, and Swin Cash spoke on behalf of the team, and presented a clear-eyed explanation of their actions. Their full statements, which can be seen here, are well worth your time.

“We feel like America has a problem with the police brutality that’s going on with black lives around here, and we just want to use our voices and use our platform to advocate for that,” said Wright. “Just because someone says ‘Black Lives Matter’ doesn’t mean that other lives don’t matter. People put out this imaginary ‘black lives only matter’ whenever people say, ‘Black lives matter.’ What we’re saying is, ‘Black lives matter, too.’ Period.”

“We really would appreciate if people stopped making our support of Black Lives Matter, an issue that is so critical in our society right now, as us not supporting the police,” added Cash. “There’s a lot of women in this room right now, in the WNBA, who have family members who are in law enforcement... People need to understand that it’s not mutually exclusive. You can support both things.”