The Washington Mystics led the organization of boycotting WNBA games in protest following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
According to ESPN’s Holly Rowe, Washington were against playing tonight’s game against the Atlanta Dream. After talking to the other five teams scheduled on the WNBA’s three-game slate, the league unified in deciding not to play tonight.
The Mystics’ Ariel Atkins spoke a powerful message following the decision not to play.
The Mystics arrived ahead of Wednesday’s game wearing t-shirts, spelling out Jacob Blake’s name.
Initially, the WNBA had decided to have a stoppage in play every seven minutes to represent the amount of time Blake was shot by police.
But after discussion among the team, the Mystics didn’t feel comfortable playing tonight. The players took to the court and locked hands, as the Mystics lined up spelling out Jacob Blake’s name.
The Los Angeles Sparks were scheduled to play the Minnesota Lynx and the Connecticut Sun were to play the Phoenix Mercury.
The Mystics and the WNBA join the NBA in their boycott to play the three playoff games scheduled Wednesday. The Milwaukee Bucks were in the forefront. The Bucks home arena in located in Wisconsin where the shooting occurred.
The WNBA and NBA have been at the front of speaking out and keeping the Black Lives Matter movement to attention. But, they were joined by a number of Major League Baseball teams, including the Milwaukee Brewers in boycotting games on MLB’s slate Wednesday.
