NBA Teams Lead Other Pro Sports In Protesting Racial Injustice

The NBA Playoffs ground to a screeching halt Wednesday after the Milwaukee Bucks refused to take the floor, and boycotted the game.   

The team was protesting the latest police shooting of an African American man . . . this time in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where a White officer shot a Black man named Jacob Blake seven times in the back while his kids watched. Blake survived, but he is now paralyzed.  

The Bucks were scheduled to play Game Five against the Orlando Magic, but the game has been postponed indefinitely. 

This is the video of the Bucks making their public statement on Wednesday: 

 The video is from the Twitter page of ESPN reporter, Malika Andrews 

Later in the day Wednesday, the other two NBA playoff games were shut down . . . the L.A. Lakers vs. the Portland Trail Blazers and the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. the Houston Rockets. Laker’s star, LeBron James made it clear that the games are being boycotted in protest, not merely "postponed."  

The protest made its way into Major League Baseball as well Wednesday. Since the shooting happened in Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Brewers stood in solidarity with the Bucks and the city and decided to not play their game against the Cincinnati Reds. Two other MLB games were also postponed. The L.A. Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants cancelled their game, while the Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres cancelled their game.  

The protest further expanded into Major League Soccer, where five matches were called off. The WNBA joined the strike as well.  

Wednesday was also coincidentally the fourth anniversary of Colin Kaepernick's first peaceful protest during the National Anthem. 

Pro sports teams striking in response to racial injustice is historically unprecedented, and no one knows what to expect in the days ahead.