NFL
By: Zachary Draves
Even though the season has long passed, the WNBA is still in the headlines. This week alone they have again demonstrated themselves to be an effective force when it comes to athlete activism. The obvious culmination was Thursday with the release of Brittney Griner after she spent ten months in a Russian prison over alleged drug smuggling. An official end to a painstaking saga that has consumed the league and its supporters.
That was Thursday, but what proceeded on Tuesday in Georgia didn’t mention the league by name, but if anyone has been truly paying attention over the last two years it was crystal clear.
Democratic Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock was re-elected in that state’s runoff election defeating Republican challenger and former football player Herschel Walker. As a result, the Democrats will hold onto to a majority in the U.S. Senate 51-49 and Warnock will serve out his first full six year term as Senator.
(Courtesy: Scott L. Hall, USA TODAY)
It wasn’t mentioned during almost any of the post election analysis, but it cannot be stated enough that if it wasn’t for the WNBA and its players, Senator Warnock would not be Senator Warnock.
During the hot, sweltering, and traumatizing Summer of 2020, Warnock, the lead pastor at the famed Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta that was once led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, was among a handful of candidates in the Democratic primary looking to oust then appointed Georgia Republican Senator and Atlanta Dream co-owner Kelly Loeffler. Early on Warnock was polling in the single digits and was largely written off, until Loeffler opened her mouth.
She made disparaging comments about the Black Lives Matter movement that the league openly supported after the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. She claimed that the organization itself supported “the defunding of police, called for the removal of Jesus from churches and the disruption of the nuclear family structure, harbored anti-Semitic views, and promoted violence and destruction across the country.”
Furthermore, she called out the league for aligning itself with the movement by saying that it “undermines the potential of the sport and sends a message of exclusion.”
A league composed of majority black players didn’t take this lying down one bit.
While playing in the “wubble” in Orlando, Florida, the league centered its COVID shortened season on racial justice, voting, and taking the unprecedented step of publicly supporting Warnock’s campaign. Most notably it was the Dream, Loeffler’s own team, that led the charge.
Players came into the arena wearing those now iconic shirts that read “Vote Warnock”. Breonna Stewart of the Seattle Storm in conjunction with Lebron James’ company Uninterrupted hosted a virtual campaign event with then candidate Warnock.
(Courtesy: @S10Bird)
Other players used their social media platforms to encourage their followers to vote and if they were in Georgia to vote for Warnock. Renne Montgomery of the Dream and Natasha Cloud of the Washington Mystics took the season off to involve themselves entirely in activism and that included getting the word out about the Georgia race.
Eventually, Warnock would come all the way back, secure the Democratic nomination, and in November 2020 headed into ironcially a runoff election against Loeffler when neither was able to cross the 50% threshold to win. On January 5, 2021, he was elected Georgia’s first black Senator after he defeated Loeffler. Afterwards, Loeffler would go on to give up her entire share of the Dream and in a case of pure poetic justice, Montgomery joined a new ownership group that bought the team in March 2021.
So at this point in time, Senator Warnock has established himself as a unique political figure who has overcome two grueling runoffs in a state that has a unique history of racism and resistance to racism. And because of that he and his supporters should thank the collective leadership and organization of the WNBA.
(Courtesy: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire/AP)
The WNBPA reminded everyone of that with the following tweet after Tuesday’s results.
(no caption needed) pic.twitter.com/45zIpeNZIV
— WNBPA (@TheWNBPA) December 7, 2022
It goes to show that when it comes to meeting the current political and social sensibilities, the WNBA, more than any other professional sports league, does it better.
