by James Blake
Just like anyone else in America, athletes should be able to have an opinion and to act on it. In so many ways, that is what being an American citizen and living in this country is about. These freedoms are what America was built on and what we as a country and a nation fought so hard for. When being a professional athlete brings with it stipulations about how we can voice our opinions, or if we can even have an opinion because of preconceived notions of what we can contribute to the social discourse, it is akin to having our First Amendment right to freedom of speech taken away, or at the very least, muffled.
Yet when we look at the contributions of so many athletes over the last several decades, whether in sports, through philanthropy, or through social change, it is clear that those contributions cannot be denied or downplayed. Over the last seventy years, athletes have changed social, political, and educational policy. We have started a social discourse on women’s rights, marriage equality, and LGBT rights, and have made strides in each of those areas. As seen throughout history, through some of the phenomenal athlete activists profiled in Ways of Grace, when we advocate to create change and use our global platform, network, and resources, the world notices, and things do change.
This ability to create change is one of the reasons why it is such a promising sign that Kaepernick’s protest has gotten so much media attention. Regardless of if it is positive or negative, the media is drawing attention to it. However, some of the most confounding criticisms I have heard about Kaepernick from pundits and the public is that police brutality is not the most detrimental thing happening in the African American community. Whether that is true or not, Black Lives Matter is a cause that is important to him. He should not have to concern himself with issues that people think are more important. His causes should be his own. I would not want to be told to focus on issues other than the ones I want to talk about, write about, research, or advocate about.
My sport, tennis, is an individual-player sport, in which you worry about your own career, and you don’t have to answer to a league, franchise, or a team. I don’t know personally the repercussions or ramifications of protesting as a team player. I can’t imagine how it must feel to kneel during the anthem while your teammates stand around you. I do not have to be in sync with the team, I am out there alone. Taking a stand as a team-sport player comes with many more considerations because you are also drawing attention to your team, your teammates, and your league. This makes what Kaepernick and his supporters in the NBA, the NFL, and the WNBA are doing all the more brave and admirable.
I have talked to a few football players who say that playing in a divided locker room is detrimental to the team’s success. No matter how much talent you have, not playing as a unified team will undercut the efficiency of the players, the morale, and their play as a team. It will show on the field. When you consider that Kaepernick had to know this going in, you have to commend his commitment. We, as athletes and as people, do not do something that can negatively affect us unless we strongly believe in what we are doing. But what I have heard from people closely associated with the 49ers is that they are not divided. Kaepernick’s team and the organization are behind him, and believe in what he is doing. Or, they have not spoken out against it.
Activism is never easy. Speaking up in any way about anything, especially when you are in the public eye, is even harder, because public figures are easy targets. To be told or made to feel that what we are passionate about is not what we should be passionate about stifles our expression and robs us of our freedoms and civil liberties.
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A Personal Choice
The Athlete as Activist
In generations past, for athletes to make a statement, to make audiences stand up and take notice, it took monumental firsts, like when Jackie Robinson integrated Major League Baseball in 1947, or when Arthur Ashe became the first African American man to win at Wimbledon and the US Open, and to be ranked number one in the world. Now any professional athlete with a Twitter account can let the world know how he or she feels. The issues we face in America now, at first glance, may not seem as important as those in the civil rights era, but to activists today, the realization is that we are still fighting the same battles—racism, inequality, discrimination, sexism, voting rights—and that fact is disheartening. It may be even more of an uphill battle, because so many people today want to deny that these issues still exist.
Athlete activists are actually speaking up more than they did in the past, even though the stakes are much higher financially. The instant access of social media and the amount of attention given to athletes makes it easier for us to have a voice. So many of us are able to turn a gesture into a statement. And as we have seen, even a small act can make big waves.
Right now, in our society, divisiveness is at an all-time high. The civil rights and civil liberties that activists fought for in the past seem so clear-cut today. I wonder if thirty years from now, this will be the case with the issues we are speaking up about, like voting rights, voter ID laws, marriage equality, equal access to bathrooms for transgender people, or the Black Lives Matter movement. There are not many people today who would openly suggest that Jackie Robinson’s integrating baseball was not the right thing to do, but there is a debate about the racial and equality issues we face today. It is important for the athlete to have these types of public discussions today. Our platform and unprecedented fan and media access allows this new generation of athlete activists to use their voices exponentially.
Though not everyone is an activist, everyone can lead. Everyone can make a difference or make a statement, but not everyone is an activist. Activism is isolating. Activism is polarizing. To any athlete considering becoming more involved in or aligning with a cause you are passionate about, I would say this: Truly consider what you are fighting for and why. Form your opinion and talk to people in your camp whom you trust, and to your family. Be informed about what you are advocating for. Then consider the best way to convey your message before you go public. Then consider carefully how to go public. It could be during a press conference, a social media protest, or in a statement on your uniform or wardrobe. However you choose to make your statement, be ready for the consequences of your actions, whatever they might be.
I would caution you that becoming active during your career will take time and energy away from the sport you are committed to. I was so singularly focused on tennis during my twenties that it would have been much harder for me to take the time away for any advocacy. If I were constantly second-guessing myself for not doing enough, it would have negatively affected my career. This is a personal and individual choice. I am proud of the athletes who make the decision to be activists during their active careers. Your sacrifice is twofold: not only are you leaving yourself open to public criticism and rebuke, your activism can also take away from your professional career. Keep in mind that advocacy, if you are fully committed, will draw attention away from the sport and divide your attention, which could make your game suffer.
I also want to caution you to be prepared to lose people you may have considered your friends. You should expect that not everyone will want you to speak out about what you feel is unjust or about an area that could be strengthened in our society. Understand that it will make some people uncomfortable; change is always uncomfortable. That is something you will have to take into consideration before taking a stand—if you are willing and able to stand firm under pressure from the media, the public, your teammates, your league, and even your friends. It takes a certain mind-set and mentality to be able to handle that. Jackie Robinson may not have been the best player ever in the Negro Leagues, but he was widely regarded, because of his patience, focus, and drive, as the player who was best prepared to handle the inevitable backlash when he stepped on the baseball field with the Dodgers.
If you are not prepared, the media attention and potential backlash will overwhelm you. Your already public life will become even more public, and your private life will be put under
a microscope. This was the case with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers receiver Mike Evans. In November 2016 he protested the election of Donald Trump during a Salute to Service Day game against the Chicago Bears by not standing for the anthem. When he received substantial backlash, he backed off and issued an apology a few days later. A part of his apology read, “I know I’ve hurt a lot of people by doing what I did. I’m sorry to those who are truly affected by what I did, to those who are disappointed in what I did, and to my teammates.”
I assume Evans was not apologizing for his belief, but for the way he made his statement. If that is the case, although well intended, he seems not to have accomplished either. By not fully committing to his stand, he disappointed his supporters, who may have felt he did not fully represent them. At the same time, he also angered his fans with his gesture. His apology has gotten more media attention than his act, and that is the last impression his fans will have. Although he tried to further a good cause, he has gotten backlash from all sides for a gesture that could be seen as courageous.
Most important: Be prepared. Do your homework before you do anything publicly. Consider all the repercussions of your actions, to your family, your teammates, and your franchise. Read and research what is happening in the media with other athlete activists, especially those who are supporting the same cause. Talk to your coach, your agent, your teammates, your family, or other athlete activists. Get their feedback to make an informed decision. This preparedness is not to decide if you should take a stand—you have a right to back any cause you feel passionate about—but how you should go about it. Only when you have taken all this into consideration, then, and only then, should you go public with your protest or opinion.
Keep in mind though, an action is not activism. If advocacy is not ongoing, it may not have the momentum it needs to, as Billie Jean King said, change hearts and minds. For activism and advocacy to create change, you must continue to make a statement, to ask hard questions, and to draw attention to important societal issues, regardless of how unpopular it might make you, or how uncomfortable it might make your fans or the media.
It is important that we use the full extent of our resources and network to further our message, in big and small ways. When we look at Billie Jean King’s forty-year career, we see that her activism spans almost the length of it. She has been a tireless activist since she started playing tennis in the sixties. King founded the Women’s Tennis Association and advocated for the passage of Title IX, which allowed female athletes access to sports scholarships. King has fought for women’s rights and representation in sports, for gay rights, and for marriage equality for decades. With her Leadership Initiative, she is now fighting to promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace. And King does not always advocate in a very public way. Her work is often in the background, but it has been ongoing for the last four decades.
It is also just as important to believe in what you choose to advocate for. That might seem like odd advice, but you will not be able to face opposition without an unwavering conviction and belief in what you stand for. I truly believe that we need changes in how some police officers conduct themselves on the job. I want to speak up for anyone who has faced misconduct, but does not have the media access or resources to make his or her voice heard. I will always be passionate about this cause. But I accept that many people have a different view. It is hard to understand how someone else feels unless you have walked a mile in his or her shoes. But I would never wish what I went through on anyone else. This is the reason why I will continue fighting to make sure there are procedures, protocols, and oversight, and any necessary training, to stop what happened to me from happening to anyone ever again. And if it does happen, that there is accountability.
“We Don’t Choose to Be Role Models, We Are Chosen”
Athletes have a voice and a platform that so many others do not have, because we have fans. Our fans love and support us. They appreciate the dedication it took for us to have risen up through the ranks. Our fans look up to us for the hard work we put in to get to the highest level of accomplishment in a sport. They appreciate that we give back to them when we play hard, that we entertain them and make them proud to cheer us on.
Our fans may relate to us because a game got them through a tough time, or created more of a bond with a friend, spouse, or family member as they sat and watched their favorite athlete or team week after week. The type of bond between the athlete and their fans is powerful and unique to the sports world. Because of this, we have the ability to speak to and influence millions of people, with a gesture before a game, in a tweet, a post, or a picture on Instagram, or in a comment during a press conference. This type of platform is not something to be taken lightly, and when it is, we have seen the consequences. But when we first consider the ramifications of our actions, when we arm ourselves with knowledge and foresight, and if we are passionate about and committed to our cause, we can change policy. We can do good, we can incite change, and we can change lives. I know this because athlete activists like Billie Jean King, Arthur Ashe, Tommie Smith, John Carlos, Colin Kaepernick, Brendon Ayanbadejo, Chris Kluwe, Amir Hadad, Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, Venus and Serena Williams, and so many others have already done it.
Charles Barkley said in his controversial 1993 Nike commercial, “I am not a role model.” He was arguing that being a professional athlete does not make him a de facto role model. But when more teenagers aspire to be professional athletes than to be the president, we can’t deny that what athletes do affects the next generation. I agree with the response of the basketball superstar Karl Malone to Barkley in a Sports Illustrated column: “Charles . . . I don’t think it’s your decision to make. We don’t choose to be role models, we are chosen. Our only choice is whether to be a good role model or a bad one.”
As professional athletes, we can’t control whether or not we are role models. What we can control is if we want to use our influence and platform in a positive or negative way. We are role models whether we want to be or not. Young people pay attention to what we do. If they see us doing positive things outside our sport, like trying to create positive change through advocacy or activism, they will take notice and they may be inspired to do the same. But making a statement is not something we can ever take lightly. We have a fundamental right as Americans to voice our opinion, but as professional athletes constantly in the public eye, we must remember that it is up to us to make the right choices about how we deliver our message, because it affects not only this generation, but the next. Up-and-coming athlete activists like Nigel Hayes, Jordan Hill, and Bronson Koenig of the University of Wisconsin basketball team are watching us. Young men who aspire to be the best in their sport and play professionally are watching us. Our fans are watching us. Our teammates, our league, the media, are definitely watching us. Let’s use our visibility, media access, and voice to make the world a more positive, inclusive place for everyone.
Change Makes People Uncomfortable
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” Arthur Ashe’s words inspired me to use my situation to help those who don’t have the platform or the access to the media that I have. My impetus to speak out was based on a very personal incident, but such a catalyst does not always have to be something that is so personal or personally connected to you. It seems like today there is not as much outrage over what is happening in the world. When someone like Donald Trump, our newly elected president, calls for a ban on Muslims and their religion or says something inflammatory or outright xenophobic, people who don’t know Muslims or aren’t friends with Muslims do not react because it does not affect them personally. But when Trump made derogatory comments about women there was justifiable outrage, because every man has a woman in his life: his wife, mother, sister, friend, or a girlfriend. This is the source of the outrage, not because what he is saying or doing is intrinsically wrong.
We do not need a personal connection to feel outrage, but often that is the case. There are many exam
ples of public servants who have changed their stance on policy after it affected a member of their family. For instance, Dick Cheney changed his stance on LGBT rights after his daughter came out. It can be difficult to realize the full impact that some policies have until they affect a loved one. I do not believe many people feel outraged to see so many videotaped deaths of innocent unarmed black men, because it may not hit close to home. Many of these incidents also die down quickly, as the media continuously replenishes itself. Keeping them prominent in the media is part of the greater purpose of activist athletes.
We should feel outrage any time someone is being persecuted or treated unfairly. Even if you come from a community where you do not see police misconduct or discrimination because there are not a lot of African Americans or Latinos in your neighborhood it does not mean that it is not happening, or that you should not feel outrage or want to do something about it. Investigate the incidents. Do some research. Dig a little deeper to see why Colin Kaepernick is supporting Black Lives Matter, or why Chris Kluwe, Brendon Ayanbadejo, and Scott Fujita are advocating for marriage equality. Look up Athlete Ally and see how Hudson Taylor and the athletes who are members are fighting for LGBT rights.
Change is never easy and does not happen without discomfort. Talking about my incident in the media is not comfortable. Writing about it is not comfortable. It was embarrassing to see myself on the ground in the video with Officer Frascatore’s knee in my back. It was frustrating to feel helpless as I pleaded with the officers to uncuff me and to look at my ID to prove my identity. It was incredibly humbling to have absolutely no control over a situation that I was completely innocent of. It was and still is hard to think about and to recount it over and over again. But it is precisely that feeling of discomfort that made me certain that I had to do something about it.
