A. Sherrod Blakely shares his thoughts on the decision by the Bucks, and other NBA teams to boycott Wednesday night’s games as a way of protesting and working to bring about change after the shooting of Jacob Blake.
In the wake of the shooting of Jacob Blake by a Wisconsin police officer, teams have decided sports can wait while they protest the racial injustices in America.
A number of teams opted to postpone their games, including the Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins. The Red Sox decided against playing their Thursday night game vs. the Toronto Blue Jays, and the Bruins chose to push back Friday's Game 4 matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Red Sox and Blue Jays released a joint statement, which you can read below:
With our All Access Daily newsletter, stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Boston sports teams!
SIGN UP HERE "The continued police brutality and social inequity demand immediate attention and focus from all of us – not only Black Americans and Canadians,” the Red Sox’s statement said. “We fully respect the decision of our players to bring further awareness to the systemic racism that contributes to police violence against Black, Indigenous and people of color in our communities. We look forward to getting back on the field, and using our strongest platform, our game, to amplify our message demanding meaningful change."
The Bruins also released a statement after the NHL's announcement that all of Thursday and Friday's games would be postponed:
The Milwaukee Bucks sparked the protests in the sports world by boycotting their Game 5 matchup vs. the Orlando Magic on Wednesday. Since then, all NBA games including Boston Celtics-Toronto Raptors Game 1 were postponed and teams across MLB, NHL, MLS, and WNBA have taken action as well.
The dates and times for the Red Sox and Bruins' rescheduled games have not yet been announced.