Should Athletes Make Political Statements In Sports

Recently there has been a heated debate whether athletes should make political statements in sports. This started because of Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem to . While some people think that they should not be political, they have been for a long time now, with Muhammad Ali in the late 60s to a few years ago with Lebron James and the I can't breath incident. Athletes should be allowed to use their platform as a political stance, as their opinion could make a difference in society, and it has been for over 50 years now. Athletes should be allowed to do this because it can make a difference in our society. One of the most common examples is the incident with Muhammad Ali in the late 1960’s. During the height of his career he was drafted to the vietnam war, but refused. He did not want to be drafted because he did not want to fight against a group of people who have never discriminated against him. This lead to him being arrested and having a fine of $10,000. He specifically stated that, “I ain’t got no …show more content…
Derrick Rose, LeBron James, and Kobe Bryant were wearing shirts that said “I can’t breath” during the warmup of a game. The shirt was a reference to Eric Garner who was strangled to death by the police, and his last words were “I can't breath”. The players wanted to do this so they could make a statement about the lost lives of Eric, and to support the family for the lost of their son. A quote that LeBron said about the incident, “It's more of a shout out to the family, more than anything, because they're the ones that should be getting all the energy and effort." (Adande) According to the author, Carlos Boozer from the Lakers said, "We just, as a team, wanted to step up and show our support for the community… We're not 'promoting criminals.' That's not what it's about. We're promoting humanity. We can treat each other better, regardless of what the situation