U.S.
WNBA Players Walk Out During Anthem While MLB Players Weigh in on the Kneeling Debate
Published
2 years agoon

- Several MLB players from teams like the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers have knelt during the national anthem.
- Even more players have chosen to kneel before the anthem plays for a moment of unity, where a recorded message calling for equality plays while athletes hold a black ribbon together.
- Some, like San Francisco Giants player Sam Coonrod, have been vocal against kneeling. Coonrod was the only Giants player to not kneel during the moment of unity, saying he “can’t kneel before anything but God, Jesus Christ.“
- Meanwhile, the WNBA has dedicated their entire season to Breonna Taylor and the Say Her Name campaign. In a unified move, all the players on the New York Liberty and Seattle Storm walked off the court during the anthem.
Standing Vs. Kneeling in the MLB
Showing support for social movements on court or field during the national anthem has become a contentious subject in sports. During their opening games, many Major League Baseball players weighed in on the kneeling debate, while players for the Women’s National Basketball Associate chose to walk off the court entirely as the anthem played.
Since the MLB kicked its season off on Thursday, several players have opted to kneel during the national anthem, the same form of protest that got Colin Kaepernick booted from the NFL in 2016. Even more have knelt before the anthem during a moment of unity. That moment kicks off with a recorded message from Morgan Freeman about the importance of togetherness and equality. While it plays, the athletes join together by holding a long black ribbon.
Unity pic.twitter.com/AjMeAPsRGf
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) July 24, 2020
When the message ends, the stadium observes a brief moment of silence. During this moment, many teams have taken a knee, including the entirety of the Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, Washington Nationals, and Los Angeles Dodgers. A handful of players on the Boston Red Sox did as well. Once the anthem begins, most rise. However, players from the Yankees, Los Angeles Angels, Chicago White Sox, Dodgers, and San Francisco Giants have knelt for the duration of the song, along with coaches from the Tampa Bay Rays. Other players on the Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics raised their fists during the song.
United for change. #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/EcXeiINmlC
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) July 25, 2020
“We have to keep the movement moving forward,” Yankees star Giancarlo Stanton told reporters. “For basic human rights in America. For equality. For all of us to have a fair shake.”
He was joined by teammate Aaron Hicks who said he knelt “because I’m a Black man living in America. I should be judged by my character not by my skin tone.”
“And growing up, that’s kinda what’s happened. It felt right to do,” Hicks added. “It’s kind of a hard thing to talk about especially when it’s my life.”
Still, some baseball players have been vocal about their opposition to kneeling. When the Giants faced off against the Dodgers, every single player took a knee during the moment of unity except for Giants pitcher Sam Coonrod.
“I meant no ill will by it. I don’t think I’m better than anybody,” he told reporters. “I’m just a Christian. I believe I can’t kneel before anything but God, Jesus Christ. I chose not to kneel. I feel if I did kneel I’d be a hypocrite. I don’t want to be a hypocrite.”
"I'm a Christian, like I said, and I just can't get on board with a couple of things that I have read about Black Lives Matter."
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) July 24, 2020
Sam Coonrod explains why he didn’t kneel during the Giants-Dodgers pregame moment of unity (via @PavlovicNBCS) https://t.co/7QI9fgjvvn pic.twitter.com/EZQgd8ZBho
In addition to citing his religion, Coonrod also said he “can’t get on board” with a few things he has read about Black Lives Matter. The message played before the moment of sielnce, however, does not mention the Black Lives Matter movement specifically. It plays to a pretty down the middle call for equality and unity.
WNBA Teams Walk Off Court
Meanwhile, in the WNBA, the players stand on a more unified front when it comes to taking a stand against injustice. In addition to dedicating their season to Breonna Taylor and the Say Her Name Campaign, the New York Liberty and Seattle Storm walked off the court during the national anthem.
Liberty player Layshia Clarendon told ESPN that many in the league found kneeling to be performative at this point. Several players in the WNBA knelt back in 2016 in solidarity with Kaepernick. The league has been known for standing for social justice.
“Kneeling doesn’t even feel like enough to protest,” she said. “I don’t want to hear the anthem, I don’t want to stand out there. I don’t want to be anywhere near it, because it’s ridiculous that justice and freedom are just not offered to everybody equally.”
The WNBA has worked with Breonna Taylor’s mother, politician Stacey Abrams, as well as other activists and organizers, to make sure their season is focused on fighting for social justice in a meaningful way. Before their Saturday game, the Liberty and Storm observed a 26 second moment of silence in honor of the age Taylor was when she was shot and killed by police officers in Louisville. None have been arrested yet.
“We are also dedicating this season to Say Her Name Campaign, a campaign committed to saying the names and fighting for justice for Black women,” Clarendon said before the game. “Black women who are so often forgotten in this fight for justice, who do not have people marching in the streets for them.”
.@Layshiac and @breannastewart address the 2020 #WNBA season being dedicated to Breonna Taylor and the Black Lives Matter Movement. pic.twitter.com/BNWrErjeWP
— WNBA (@WNBA) July 25, 2020
“Black Lives Matter” was written on the floor of the court. Both the Liberty and Storm had Taylor’s name inscribed on the backs of their shirts.
“Black women are so often forgotten in this world and in a league where we have 70% and plus black women, this is our reality,” Los Angeles Sparks star Nneka Ogwumike told reporters.
See what others are saying: (ESPN) (Sports Illustrated) (Seattle Times)
U.S.
Lincoln College to Close for Good After COVID and Ransomware Attack Ruin Finances
Published
2 weeks agoon
May 10, 2022By
Chris Tolve
Last year, 1,043 schools in the U.S. were the victim of ransomware attacks, including 26 colleges or universities, according to an analysis by Emsisoft.
One of the Only Historically Black Colleges in the Midwest Goes Down
After 157 years of educating mostly Black students in Illinois, Lincoln College will close its doors for good on Friday.
The college made the announcement last month, citing financial troubles caused by the coronavirus pandemic and a ransomware attack in December.
Enrollment dropped during the pandemic and the administration had to make costly investments in technology and campus safety measures, according to a statement from the school.
A shrinking endowment put additional pressure on the college’s budget.
The ransomware attack, which the college has said originated from Iran, thwarted admissions activities and hindered access to all institutional data. Systems for recruitment, retention, and fundraising were completely inoperable at a time when the administration needed them most.
In March, the college paid the ransom, which it has said amounted to less than $100,000. But according to Lincoln’s statement, subsequent projections showed enrollment shortfalls so significant the college would need a transformational donation or partnership to make it beyond the present semester.
The college put out a request for $50 million in a last-ditch effort to save itself, but no one came forward to provide it.
A GoFundMe aiming to raise $20 million for the college only collected $2,452 as of Tuesday.
Students and Employees Give a Bittersweet Goodbye
“The loss of history, careers, and a community of students and alumni is immense,” David Gerlach, the college’s president, said in a statement.
Lincoln counts nearly 1,000 enrolled students, and those who did not graduate this spring will leave the institution without degrees.
Gerlach has said that 22 colleges have worked with Lincoln to accept the remaining students, including their credits, tuition prices, and residency requirements.
“I was shocked and saddened by that news because of me being a freshman, so now I have to find someplace for me to go,” one student told WMBD News after the closure was announced.
When a group of students confronted Gerlach at his office about the closure, he responded with an emotional speech.
“I have been fighting hard to save this place,” he said. “But resources are resources. We’ve done everything we possibly could.”
On April 30, alumni were invited back to the campus to revisit the highlights of their college years before the institution closed.
On Saturday, the college held its final graduation ceremony, where over 200 students accepted their diplomas and Quentin Brackenridge performed the Lincoln Alma Mater.
Last year, 1,043 schools in the U.S. were the victim of ransomware attacks, including 26 colleges or universities, according to an analysis by Emsisoft.
See what others are saying: (The New York Times) (Herald Review) (CNN)
U.S.
U.S. Tops One Million Coronavirus Deaths, WHO Estimates 15 Million Worldwide
Published
3 weeks agoon
May 5, 2022By
Chris Tolve
India’s real COVID death toll stands at about 4.7 million, ten times higher than official data, the WHO estimated.
One Million Dead
The United States officially surpassed one million coronavirus deaths Wednesday, 26 months after the first death was reported in late February of 2020.
Experts believe that figure is likely an undercount, since there are around 200,000 excess deaths, though some of those may not be COVID-related.
The figure is the equivalent of the population of San Jose, the tenth-largest city in the U.S., vanishing in just over two years. To put the magnitude in visual perspective, NECN published a graphic illustrating what one million deaths looks like.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the White House predicted between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans would die from the coronavirus in a best-case scenario.
By February 2021, over half a million Americans had died of COVID.
The coronavirus has become the third leading cause of death in the U.S. behind heart disease and cancer.
The pandemic’s effects go beyond its death toll. Around a quarter of a million children have lost a caregiver to the virus, including about 200,000 who lost one or both parents. Every COVID-related death leaves an estimated nine people grieving.
The virus has hit certain industries harder than others, with food and agriculture, warehouse operations and manufacturing, and transportation and construction seeing especially high death rates.
People’s mental health has also been affected, with a study in January of five Western countries including the U.S. finding that 13% of people reported symptoms of PTSD attributable to actual or potential contact with the virus.
Fifteen Million Dead
On Thursday, the World Health Organization estimated that nearly 15 million people have died from the pandemic worldwide, a dramatic revision from the 5.4 million previously reported in official statistics.
Between January 2020 and the end of last year, the WHO estimated that between 13.3 million and 16.6 million people died either due to the coronavirus directly or because of factors somehow attributed to the pandemic’s impact on health systems, such as cancer patients who were unable to seek treatment when hospitals were full of COVID patients.
Based on that range, scientists arrived at an approximate total of 14.9 million.
The new estimate shows a 13% increase in deaths than is usually expected for a two-year period.
“This may seem like just a bean-counting exercise, but having these WHO numbers is so critical to understanding how we should combat future pandemics and continue to respond to this one,” Dr. Albert Ko, an infectious diseases specialist at the Yale School of Public Health who was not linked to the WHO research, told the Associated Press.
Most of the deaths occurred in Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
According to the WHO, India counts the most deaths by far with 4.7 million, ten times its official number.
See what others are saying: (NBC) (U.S. News and World Report) (Scientific American)
U.S.
Official Says Missing Alabama Convict and Corrections Officer Had a “Special Relationship”
Published
3 weeks agoon
May 4, 2022By
Lili Stenn
Authorities have also said they now believe the officer willfully helped the inmate escape.
New Information on Missing Inmate & Officer
Authorities in Alabama revealed Tuesday that Assistant Director of Corrections for Lauderdale County Vicky White, who is accused of helping a murder suspect Casey Cole White escape from jail, had a “special relationship” with the inmate.
“Investigators received information from inmates at the Lauderdale County Detention Center over the weekend that there was a special relationship between Director White and inmate Casey White,” Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said in a statement. “That relationship has now been confirmed through our investigation by independent sources and means.”
Officials have previously said that the two are not related, despite their shared surname.
Singleton elaborated on the nature of the relationship while speaking to CNN later on Tuesday. He said it took place “outside of her normal work hours” and added that although it did not include “physical contact,” he still characterized it as “a relationship of a different nature.”
“We were told Casey White got special privileges and was treated differently while in the facility than the other inmates,” Singleton said.
Also on Tuesday, the Marshals Service issued a statement confirming that authorities believe Officer White had helped Mr. White escape. The authorities described her as a “wanted fugitive” and offered a $5,000 reward for any information on her whereabouts. Earlier this week, the Marshals Service also offered a $10,000 reward for any information that could lead to Mr. White’s capture.
Singleton echoed the belief that Officer White’s actions were intentional while speaking to Good Morning America Wednesday.
“I think all of our employees and myself included were really hoping that she did not participate in this willingly. But all indications are that she absolutely did,” he said. “We’re very disappointed in that because we had the utmost trust in her as an employee and as an assistant director of corrections.”
Mysterious Escape
Vicky White and Casey White were last seen leaving the Lauderdale County jail just after 9:30 a.m. Friday. The officer told other employees that she was taking the inmate to a mental health evaluation at a courthouse just down the road, and that she would be going to a medical appointment after because she was not feeling well.
Officials later said her actions violated an official policy that required two sworn deputies to transport people with murder charges. In 2020, Mr. White was charged with two counts of capital murder in connection to a fatal stabbing he confessed to and was awaiting his trial in Lauderdale County.
Mr. White was also serving time for what officials said was a “crime spree” in 2015 which included home invasion, carjacking, and a police chase. He had also previously tried to escape from jail, police said.
It wasn’t until 3:30 p.m. on Friday that a jail employee reported to higher-ups that he was not able to reach Officer White on her phone and that Mr. White had never been returned to his cell.
During a press conference that same night, Singleton told reporters that there had never even been a scheduled mental health evaluation. At another briefing Monday, he announced that an arrest warrant had been issued for Vicky on a charge of “permitting or facilitating an escape in the first degree.”
At the time, Singleton said it was unclear “whether she did that willingly or was coerced or threatened” but added, “we know for sure she did participate.”
See what others are saying: (CNN) (ABC News) (NPR)

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