’Generation Kaepernick’: Activist-athletes uplift voices for justice

The athletes responding to injustice across the country today are echoing a centuries-long tradition of athlete-activists standing in solidarity with movements for justice, a panel of athletes, educators and poets said during an online event Thursday. "Rise Up for Justice: Activist-Athletes Elect Justice," organized by UC Berkeley's Othering & Belonging Institute, in partnership with Athletes for Impact, Elect Justice, Revolve Impact and Vote.org, examined how sports can shine a spotlight on social movements. The latest wave of athlete protests erupted Wednesday when the Milwaukee Bucks NBA team refused to participate in its match on Wednesday night, calling for justice after the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Blake was shot in the back seven times, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down, according to his father. The Bucks catalyzed a national strike wave that is spreading across sports, leaping from the NBA to the national soccer, baseball and women's basketball leagues. "These athletes know the power they have," one of the panelists, Michael Bennett, former NFL player and member of Athletes for Impact, said. "Athletes are the voice for a lot of different things.