Aug 26,2020
by Dray Breezy
We’re all past fed up and tired of this shit. I’m talking about Jacob Blake, the latest victim in an unbroken spree of unarmed black men shot or killed by police officers. There’s no need in repeating the injustice of it all. How Mr. Blake had his back turned when officer Shelton fired those cowardly 7 shots. How three of his children were in the car and witnessed the entire tragedy. How Mr.Blake is now paralyzed from the waist down. How the officer in question is still getting paid from Wisconsin’s taxpayer funds. It’s all so senseless and maddening but don’t worry the NBA has boycotted one game!
This is in reference to game 5 of the playoffs on Wednesday in which the teams Milwaukee Bucks, Orlando Magic,Washington Mystics refused to play. While I applaud their strike it turns out that one day later those players are back on the court.
I will try to express my concerns objectively. What in the everlasting fuck is a one day partial strike going to accomplish? Let me put some things in context for you.
History of Effective strikes
| Name | Year | Duration | # of workers |
| United mine workers | 1946 | 7 months | 400,000 |
| Steel strike | 1959 | 4 months | 500,000 |
| United Auto workers | 1945 | 3.5 months | 225,500 |
| SAG strike | 2000 | 5 months | 135,000 |
| Anthracite coal strike | 1902 | 5 months | 147,000 |
| Electrical,Radio,Machinist strike | 1946 | 2 months | 174,000 |
| Passaic textile strike | 1926 | 9 months | 15,000 |
| Paterson silk strike | 1913 | 5 months | 23,000 |
| UPS Strike | 1997 | 2 weeks | 187,000 |
As we can see from my chart, it seems to be that the effectiveness of strikes result from their longevity and solidarity within the workforce, the longer the workers strike the more that businesses is not able to function or profit and therefore it must negotiate with the workers. This is called collective bargaining and it’s how unions were created. What’s important to note is that none of these groups had their demands met after one day.
NBA players know money is all the league owners and media care about. A real strike lasts until demands are met. A real strike involves the entire NBA, 30 out of 450 just doesn’t cut it. These athletes have the resources and social capital to make it happen, I just don’t think they quite believe in or understand their power as influencers. It makes no sense to me that the players would continue to allow these already rich men to make money when they have done very little to address the issue of police brutality and racial inequality. In the fight for equality you can ALWAYS do more!
While I do support the players intention once again we see how athletes and celebrities only seem to be paying lip service to the ideas of freedom and equality. They fail to understand or care that activism takes a huge amount of work and never stops, you can’t take breaks for a check. Or apparently you can.
To think they could have just kneeled with Kaepernick years ago…