Role of Sports in Black Lives Matter and Social Injustice

I intended to publish a couple of articles this week analyzing Atlético Ottawa’s play. Instead, I have wrestled with myself to find the words I thought were appropriate for the events that are transpiring in the US. In doing these mental gymnastics, I found myself mostly struggling with the narrative being pushed by certain groups. Specifically, the idea that some people believe that certain lives matter more than others is troubling to me; that certain people’s stories are still not heard. To be honest, I had to remove myself from social media, because I was done with its toxicity.

For those who don’t know, my background is in epidemiology and public health. The only reason I preamble this article with that is to provide you some insight on how I think most things are public health issues. While we navigate the waters of the COVID-19 pandemic (and we will get through it), one pandemic that we haven’t ever been able to solve is racism, inequality, and social injustice. In fact, COVID-19 has only compounded the issues that marginalized communities have experienced. For example, it has been stated that the highest rates of COVID are in communities of colour and the highest rates of unemployment, as a result of the lockdown, are suffered by people of colour.

2020 has been the “perfect” storm. There is nothing new about social injustice in 2020. Police brutality has been a thing for a long time. In 2020, there was George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Just this week it was Jacob Blake. But there has been Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Philando Castile…….

There are many who we do not even know their names. Their voices are as quiet as George Floyd’s when he was calling out for his deceased mother.

That’s where we’re at. In 2020, black people are tired. People have lost their jobs or haven’t been working because of the pandemic – living in a country that has no reasonable idea of how to control the number of cases. People are less afraid of a deadly disease because they are simply tired of being oppressed.

Yet, the narrative is always hijacked – and I will not give light to the storylines that some try to perpetuate. They are conspiracists, willingly ignorant or blatantly racist.

Here’s the thing, police shootings are only the most extreme examples of the systematic antagonization that black communities face. They are more likely to deal with corruption of any kind from the police and justice system, possibly as a result of over-policing in their neighbourhoods. They are more likely to have poorer quality health and social services, in addition to a crippling education system. Whether that is truly a racial thing or not, it doesn’t matter. These conditions are commonplace in poorer communities, and black people and other communities of colour disproportionately fall victim to it.

It is simple. Defund the police – and this isn’t an abolishment of law enforcement. It is a redistribution of resources from police towards education, health, and social services. That doesn’t seem unreasonable to me. Tuition fees in America are tens of thousands of dollars, yet some cities have 50% of public money funding the police so that they can look like they’re fighting crime in a war zone. When the socioeconomic status of communities goes up, crime rates go down. Maybe I’m naïve. Maybe I am too narrow-minded by public health thinking and science.

This has all culminated to the players strike that took place this week in the NBA, WNBA, MLB, MLS, and belatedly, the NHL.

Many argued that a player strike would do nothing for the Black Lives Matter cause. But the players are under no disillusions that their protest would make a difference and I am sure they are fully aware that they are in a privileged position to be able to step away from work. But that distracts from the point. Some things are bigger than basketball or soccer or hockey. Awareness is necessary and the athletes need to use their platforms to give voice to the those that don’t enjoy their reach.

Others have argued that these players are hypocrites. For example, the NBA was in a scandal earlier in the season when they seemed largely silent about the ethnic cleansing happening to the Uyghur Muslim people in China. Or the sweatshops that have made shoes for the athletes. On a similar note, I often wonder, why does Syria get all the media coverage? What about Yemen? Do the conflicts and injustices in South Sudan, Somalia, Congo, or Myanmar make us protest? No athlete stopped playing for these injustices and countless others. How many people stood in solidarity with Enes Kanter in his stance against the Turkish president, Erdoğan? Surely, awareness should be given to these victims as well. But I do cede that we shouldn’t be burdened to take a stance on everything, especially things we don’t have the appropriate knowledge about. But injustice is injustice, and we should all speak out against it.

You may be thinking that those who argue these positions are being disingenuous and engaging in whataboutisms – but I think they are valid. Of course, we aren’t going to stop any wars by bringing awareness to the plight of people caught in those wars. And a lot of these issues are well beyond most of our capacities. Plus, there are always bad people, and they will always do bad things, especially when they are in power. But the obvious point is, injustice isn’t only experienced by one group of people; it doesn’t discriminate, and frankly, I am kind of tired of awareness because it is impossible to be aware of everyone’s problems. How are we supposed to weigh one person’s struggle versus another’s? But also, I don’t think it is the responsibility of anyone, including athletes, to speak about every injustice. For one, it is impossible to be aware of everything, no matter how woke we think we are. But two, people should be free to speak about the injustices they have experienced, have been exposed to, and feel like they can make an actual difference towards – which is often in the communities they are part of.

Yes, reality is corrupt, but the solutions are actually simple, but we need to get out of this awareness phase. Yes, it is our responsibility to listen when we don’t know the cultural and historical nuances of a particular group of people. But we need to be organized, identify, and mobilize at both micro and macro levels. We need to get out of first gear, because inequality, crumbling institutions, globalization and more are all manifesting themselves in different forms around the world. In Lebanon, it was symbolized by an explosion that left at least 180 dead, 6,000 injured, and 300,000 homeless. In Belarus, it’s evident in the protests against their country’s dictator. In Canada, we need to look no further than the treatment, including from police brutality, against the Indigenous people.

Bring awareness. Say their names. But I want to see teams and players outline how they are going to take action rather than just make another statement. Are we for performative justice or real action? What the Baltimore Ravens posted is a great start.

Local leaders and activists have been working tirelessly and are desperate for the breadth of reach these athletes and teams have. Just because the media took a break on reporting it, doesn’t mean the protestors and activists stopped working before the events of this week. These local individuals understand the lay of the land and the stakeholders of interest. They have proposals for solutions but would kill for a seat at the table to get their voice heard.

So, I call for all organizations and their players to connect with their local communities and identify the issues and how to make sustainable and participatory action.

I am happy to hear that Valour FC reached out to a local Winnipeg Indigenous leader to better understand the issues they face. Excellent first step.

In Ottawa, we may feel lucky that social injustices of this magnitude are not as prevalent, though they still exist. I call for Atlético Ottawa to reach out to local leaders to identify the issues that afflict Ottawa’s people the most. Perhaps it’s youth programs to tackle drug use. Perhaps it’s outreach to the growing immigrant and refugee community. Maybe this can be a shared initiative between Ottawa and Madrid as many refugees from the Middle East and Africa have tried to make the dangerous trip across the Mediterranean onto safer Spanish shores. Maybe they can connect with the heartbroken local Lebanese diaspora, one of the largest communities in Ottawa, about how they can help rebuild Beirut. These kinds of initiatives can go a long way in not only making a difference in the lives of the citizens, but fostering long lasting, meaningful connections between the team (a new one I might add) and the city.

Maybe I should shut up and write about soccer, just like the NBA and CPL players should just shut up and dribble. I won’t shut up and neither should they. Nobody ever should.

I don’t pretend to have all the answers to solve global injustice. But I do know that we need to do more than spread awareness, we need action to improve the socio-economic conditions marginalized people are afflicted by. Certain races suffer more from these injustices than others. I look around the world and I see deep racism, but I also see a class war pitting people against one another. That needs to change.

Bob Marley once said: “Until the philosophy which holds one race superior, and another inferior, is finally, and permanently, discredited, and abandoned, everywhere is war”. But I would add that we need to take better care of the poor – we can do so much to uplift our populations.

Yes, all lives matter. Ideally. But they don’t, do they? Because all lives don’t matter unless black lives also matter. Unless Indigenous lives also matter. Unless Arab lives also matter. Unless Rohingya lives also matter. Unless Belarusian lives also matter. Unless the lives of the poor also matter.

So yes, say their names. All their names. Say them loud. George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. Sahar Faris. Rawan Misto. Jessy Dauod. Rodney Levi. Alyaksandr Taraykouski ………

But honour them by taking action.