Every week in the past tonight I sat right here and wrote about why I didn’t wish to contact on the Memphis Grizzlies getting right into a verbal altercation with Shannon Sharpe throughout a recreation towards the Los Angeles Lakers. The purpose of that article was as an example why it’s necessary to remain present on points that truly matter. Case and level, that very same Grizzlies crew spent this Friday evening not preventing with FS1 personalities, however battling to seek out the motivation to play Minnesota amid every little thing occurring in Memphis with Tyre Nichols.
Ja Morant and Co. misplaced once more, going 0-for on their five-game highway journey, and anyone looking for solace in sports activities after one other mindless killing of a Black man by the hands of police discovered no quarter. Seeking to athletes and popular culture icons for steering was groundbreaking and culture-shifting within the ’60s and ’70s. You realize, earlier than the novelty wore off.
Now, gamers and organizations talking out is as regular as police brutality and public slaughter. California noticed three mass shootings in 44 hours this week that left 19 individuals useless, together with one in Oakland, the place the Golden State Warriors used to play.
It’s unclear whether or not they held a second of silence earlier than the sport, but when they did, was the pause honoring Nichols or the victims of the shootings? The crew’s Twitter account retweeted the NBA’s assertion on Nichols, and actually, I’m past uninterested in monitoring down bereavement responses.
Warriors talk gun reform
Steve Kerr and the Dubs visited the White House recently, and the coach, who has been a level above outspoken about gun violence, and the team used the chance to push President Joe Biden on gun reform. We’ve reached a degree the place athletes have over delivered on activism.
I’m not saying they need to keep silent and shut up and dribble. What I’m making an attempt to get throughout is it’s getting actually fucking onerous to not be desensitized to every little thing. The discourse on social media is so contentious that by the point we end arguing about who reacted appropriately, we’re onto the subsequent tragedy.
The outpouring of assist for the households and communities is equal elements heartbreaking and transferring. But what number of instances are you able to contact these nerves earlier than you turn out to be numb?
Taylor Jenkins’ response
And that brings me again to Memphis, and coach Taylor Jenkins, who did and stated every little thing proper in his pregame media session.
He wasn’t the one coach, and Memphis wasn’t the one group, with a candid response.
You’ll be able to scroll by numerous considerate phrases that may elicit each emotion on Plutchik’s wheel, and regardless of how pointless, irritating, or nerve-wrenching it turns into, that shouldn’t cease you from making an attempt to assist.
Most tweets, posts, and Insta tales are despatched off into the ether, by no means to be remembered or spoken of once more. However, you by no means know. Your phrases may come throughout the suitable feed. Whilst you may not at all times encourage the Arab Spring or a March on Washington, it may assist somebody. Not everyone is as jaded as a blogger who skims throughout the floor of the web, hoping not for one more skip, however to plunge to the underside and conceal from all of the bullshit.
And despite the fact that I’m closing in on that time, when it got here to writing about Nichols, or anything tonight, there was no hesitation. Don’t, not for a second, lose your voice. It’s more and more the one supply of hope now we have left.