LeBron James was told to “shut up and dribble” by a Fox News anchor in 2018 in response to the three-time NBA champion’s comments on racism and being Black in the United States.
Colin Kaepernick was driven out of the NFL after the 2016 season and blasted by Donald Trump for taking a knee during the national anthem – protesting racism, police brutality and racial inequality.
In 1968, Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos, two Black medal-winning athletes, were booed before being expelled from the Olympics for their podium protest against racism.
Earlier this year, tennis star Noami Osaka was trolled online and faced a backlash after joining the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests on social media and in Minneapolis and Los Angeles.
Osaka said what she felt because she believed “being silent is never the answer”.
“Everyone should have a voice in the matter and use it,” Osaka said before rubbishing calls that forbid athletes from speaking out on politics, human rights and social issues.
“I hate when random people say athletes shouldn’t get involved with politics and just entertain. What gives you more right to speak than me?”
I hate when random people say athletes shouldn’t get involved with politics and just entertain. Firstly, this is a human rights issue. Secondly, what gives you more right to speak than me? By that logic if you work at IKEA you are only allowed to talk about the “GRÖNLID” ????????♀️?
Osaka is not the only athlete who spoke out following the death of George Floyd in May.
The United Kingdom’s Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton attended a BLM protest in London and said he was “extremely positive that change will come”.
Coco Gauff, 16-year-old tennis sensation, addressed a protest in Florida, saying: “I was eight when Trayvon Martin was killed. So why am I here at 16 still demanding change?”
But what happens when athletes, with their enormous following, take a stance and are told to “shut up” as they are “not qualified enough” to be discussing matters off the field?
“It’s infuriating. We need the world to know that we’re not just players, we’re individuals with families, rights and feelings,” Hafsa Kamara, a Black American track athlete, told Al Jazeera.
“We are a voice of someone who lives in the same world as others. We need to be heard. People make us feel like we’re only paid to dribble balls and run fast. That’s taking away our rights,” added Kamara, who represented Sierra Leone at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf refused to stand for the national anthem before basketball games in 1996.
US footballer Megan Rapinoe has campaigned for equal pay for women footballers.
Former Afghanistan captain Khalida Popal chose football as a tool to “stand for my rights, and to help other women stand for their rights”.
Marcus Rashford used the coronavirus-enforced break in the English Premier League (EPL) to force the British government to continue providing free school meals for vulnerable children outside term time.
Former Pakistan cricket captain Shahid Afridi regularly spoke about the human rights violations in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
Arsenal and Germany footballer Mesut Ozil spoke out against the persecution of the Uighurs in China.
Rob Koehler, director-general of Global Athlete, a pressure group, said, “Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right”.
“To say an athlete can’t use their platform when they’re unpaid workers coming to the games, bringing all the revenues in, and they can’t use their voice to express about a cause that is important to them, is outdated and out of touch,” Koehler told the AFP news agency.
In 2016, San Francisco 49ers’ Colin Kaepernick, centre, Eli Harold, left, and Eric Reid took a knee during the US national anthem before an NFL game. [John G Mabanglo/EPA]
While athletes using sport and the field as a platform to highlight societal issues is not new, the backlash and the hostility, even from fervent followers, continues to be loud and dismissive.
Some have even opted to stay clear, most notably when Michael Jordan refused to endorse African American Democrat Harvey Gantt against Republican Jesse Helms, a notorious racist, in the 1990 Senate race.
But the recent global anti-racism protests have made it clear: Sport cannot stay out of politics.
“Athletes are humans like the rest of us, and they have a right to speak out like the rest of us,” Douglas Hartmann, professor and chair of sociology at the University of Minnesota, told Al Jazeera.
“What makes that difficult is the social construction we have of sport being separate from politics. This separation, in many ways, is a constructed and fictitious one,” added Hartmann, who is also author of Midnight Basketball: Race, Sports, and Neoliberal Social Policy.
The convergence of sports and celebrity can have a powerful influence on everyday politics, according to a research paper published last year.
But the courage and the act of speaking out does not come without fear of being reprimanded, rebuked and punished.
Smith and Carlos had their careers ended by the podium protests in 1968.
Gwen Berry and Race Imboden were reprimanded for protesting on the medal stand at the 2019 Pan-Am Games.
In 2018, Manchester City football club’s manager Pep Guardiola was fined for wearing a yellow ribbon in solidarity with the independence movement in Catalonia.
Earlier this year, the International Olympic Committee handed out guidelines banning participants in the now-postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics from kneeling, fist-raising or “any political messaging”.
People make us feel like we’re paid only to dribble balls and run fast. That’s taking away our rights
Hafsa Kamara
But following the recent surge in voices calling for equality and inclusiveness – and their reach, influence and intensity – sport bodies and organisations have taken unprecedented steps.
The West Indies cricket team was given the all-clear to wear a BLM emblem on their collar during their upcoming Test series in England.
Footballers playing in the EPL had “Black Lives Matter” displayed on their jerseys and were allowed to kneel at the start of the games.
For the league, it seems that all of a sudden, Black lives did matter. But it was quick to clarify the move was “not endorsement of political movement”, and there is a worry among many that it will be temporary – and what happens when players take on the next issue.
“Premier League clubs might have BLM on their shirts, but there are still hardly any Black coaches, for example,” Danyel Reiche, associate professor for Comparative Politics at American University of Beirut, told Al Jazeera.
“It remains to be seen how sports associations react if athletes raise their voices on other issues which are considered as more sensitive, such as the discrimination of Palestinian football players by Israel.
“This also violates the inclusive nature of sport, and I believe such protest should be also accepted,” added Reiche, whose research interests include sport policy and politics.
Went down to Hyde Park today for the peaceful protest and I was so proud to see in person so many people of all races and backgrounds supporting this movement. It was really moving. I’m feeling extremely positive that change will come, but we cannot stop now. #blacklivesmatter ✊???? pic.twitter.com/koOTEPOXAh
The EPL also admitted that the display by Rashford and other footballers could set “uncomfortable precedents”.
As a result, Olympian Kamara is not entirely convinced by the genuineness of the associations’ involvement in the protests.
“I feel right now there is the branding and marketing; it’s an opportunity to get into the trends and be part of the hashtags,” Kamara said.
Hartmann also does not feel that the NFL owners “had a big change of heart”.
“They realised who their workers are. It’s far more about where the consumer base is, how dependent the industry is on the celebrity athletes and their voices. They (the owners) have to acknowledge them and allow them the power to do that.”
But in addition to what some athletes term “temporary” gestures by the authorities, there is also still concern about the longevity and lastingness of the movement that has recently seemed to gain momentum.
While Hartmann believes the recent movement has “opened a door” and led to a “significant shift in public perception”, Kamara has reminded her fellow athletes the onus was on them to not “let up” and be a greater and longer part of the conversation despite the criticism.
“If we continue to keep at it, wear the armbands, take a knee and speak up, we’ll let people know it wasn’t a one-off, but it’s our lives we’re talking about – on and off the court.
“We understand that we live a very privileged life. We have a following, and we need to use it to its extreme. We have to keep our word and stand our ground.”
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MONTREAL – NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will not be taking advice from Pierre Poilievre after the Conservative leader challenged him to bring down government.
“I say directly to Pierre Poilievre: I’m not going to listen to you,” said Singh on Wednesday, accusing Poilievre of wanting to take away dental-care coverage from Canadians, among other things.
“I’m not going to listen to your advice. You want to destroy people’s lives, I want to build up a brighter future.”
Earlier in the day, Poilievre challenged Singh to commit to voting non-confidence in the government, saying his party will force a vote in the House of Commons “at the earliest possibly opportunity.”
“I’m asking Jagmeet Singh and the NDP to commit unequivocally before Monday’s byelections: will they vote non-confidence to bring down the costly coalition and trigger a carbon tax election, or will Jagmeet Singh sell out Canadians again?” Poilievre said.
“It’s put up or shut up time for the NDP.”
While Singh rejected the idea he would ever listen to Poilievre, he did not say how the NDP would vote on a non-confidence motion.
“I’ve said on any vote, we’re going to look at the vote and we’ll make our decision. I’m not going to say our decision ahead of time,” he said.
Singh’s top adviser said on Tuesday the NDP leader is not particularly eager to trigger an election, even as the Conservatives challenge him to do just that.
Anne McGrath, Singh’s principal secretary, says there will be more volatility in Parliament and the odds of an early election have risen.
“I don’t think he is anxious to launch one, or chomping at the bit to have one, but it can happen,” she said in an interview.
New Democrat MPs are in a second day of meetings in Montreal as they nail down a plan for how to navigate the minority Parliament this fall.
The caucus retreat comes one week after Singh announced the party has left the supply-and-confidence agreement with the governing Liberals.
It’s also taking place in the very city where New Democrats are hoping to pick up a seat on Monday, when voters go to the polls in Montreal’s LaSalle—Émard—Verdun. A second byelection is being held that day in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood—Transcona, where the NDP is hoping to hold onto a seat the Conservatives are also vying for.
While New Democrats are seeking to distance themselves from the Liberals, they don’t appear ready to trigger a general election.
Singh signalled on Tuesday that he will have more to say Wednesday about the party’s strategy for the upcoming sitting.
He is hoping to convince Canadians that his party can defeat the federal Conservatives, who have been riding high in the polls over the last year.
Singh has attacked Poilievre as someone who would bring back Harper-style cuts to programs that Canadians rely on, including the national dental-care program that was part of the supply-and-confidence agreement.
The Canadian Press has asked Poilievre’s office whether the Conservative leader intends to keep the program in place, if he forms government after the next election.
With the return of Parliament just days away, the NDP is also keeping in mind how other parties will look to capitalize on the new makeup of the House of Commons.
The Bloc Québécois has already indicated that it’s written up a list of demands for the Liberals in exchange for support on votes.
The next federal election must take place by October 2025 at the latest.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is defending her decision to turn off comments on her social media accounts — with an announcement on social media.
She posted screenshots to X this morning of vulgar names she’s been called on the platform, and says comments on her posts for months have been dominated by insults, to the point that she decided to block them.
Montreal’s Opposition leader and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association have criticized Plante for limiting freedom of expression by restricting comments on her X and Instagram accounts.
They say elected officials who use social media should be willing to hear from constituents on those platforms.
However, Plante says some people may believe there is a fundamental right to call someone offensive names and to normalize violence online, but she disagrees.
Her statement on X is closed to comments.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
