NBA The League and the WNBA, very involved in the electoral process of their country
EFE
The WNBA and the NBA were decided a month ago with the Seattle Storm and Los Angeles Lakers as champion teams. At that time, the ball stopped rolling in the two organized bubbles in Florida and Orlando, but the franchises and the athletes have had another fight which, as some players have indicated in the US media, is much more relevant.
This fight has consisted of the promotion of the vote under the slogans “Vota” (“Vote” in English “) and” Use your voice “(” Use your voice “in English”) with which the 12 teams of the women’s competition and most of the 30 that make up the men’s competition have flooded social networks on election day.
Internet has been the main channel of transmission of these messages through which the clubs They have provided service information on how to vote, where the nearest polling stations are located, or how presidential candidates’ programs can be accessed.
Likewise, the NBA (a company that includes the leagues, NBA, WNBA and G-League) announced through a statement the transfer of 28 equipment facilities from its three leagues for all kinds of activities related to the elections such as training for electoral volunteers or storage of ballot boxes and also ensured that all employees of the organization would have this November 3 free to go to vote.
The official pages of the three competitions hhave replaced your usual profile picture to put an image with the word “vote”, like the rest of the teams, which has also taken the opportunity to publish content related to the elections.
This Tuesday, you can see from publications with an official tone to some other meme like that of player Skylar Diggins Smith (Phoenix Mercury) shaking hands with Diana Taurasi under the heading “state of mind after voting.”
And not only the official profiles of the franchises have participated, but also the athletes themselves from their personal accounts, This is the case of Lebron James (@kingjmaes) who with a photo of the Democratic candidate Joe Biden and vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris has written: “One more day, please vote. We need everything to change and it all starts tomorrow“.
James is one of those who has created a platform known as “More than a vote” (more than a vote) in which characters from the public sphere such as Alexandria Ocasio Cortez participate (Democratic politics), but also other athletes such as the American football player Patrick Mahomes or the Olympic champion Allison Flix.
To this initiative, which consists of providing information about the elections, WNBA players Brittney Griner (Phoenix Mercury) or A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas Aces) have joined, both with several publications in the last days on the elections directed more to the black population of the country.
To these are added other proposals such as Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade y Chris Paul, Social Change Fund, in which information similar to the above is shared.
“It’s the first time the NBA and the WNBA share so much“, said Paul in an interview with an American radio station, and so it is, since after the signing of the women’s league agreement, the players have participated in the demands that they had led until now.
Breanna Stewart told last week that before traveling to Russia, where she will be employed for Yekaterinburg in the winter season, had made sure to get her vote by mail, while her partner Jewell Loyd uploaded a photo this morning sleeping in a sweatshirt that says “Vote him out” (“Vote to get him out” -from the White House).
Although many franchise owners, as is the case of the owner of the Atlanta Dreams, Kelly Loeffler, are openly Republicans, all the messages go against the candidacy of President Donald Trump.
In fact, Trump posted on his Twitter account that “People are tired of the politicization of the NBA, the audience is going down, I hope football (NFL) and baseball learn because the same thing can happen to them. ”
With the murder of George Floyd, the players wore shirts with the name of the deceased and knelt downa on the ground in protest before the start of several matches.
Meanwhile, by the death of Breonna Taylor, the WNBA franchises named the emergency technician Killed in a shooting in all official equipment jerseys and all matches were played with her name under the players’ number, something similar to what happened with the murder of Jacob Blake, also at the hands of the police.
All this happens in two competitions in which more than 80% of athletes are black and therefore, all the claims against Donald Trump and the American system revolve around this.
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