OPINION: Bucks Boycott Historic, Necessary

            Last Tuesday night was a sleepless night for all the wrong reasons.

            While I was excited to be covering my first live high school sporting event in 167 days the following day, what kept me up into the wee hours of the morning were the events unfolding in Kenosha. 

            The police shooting of Jacob Blake, and the protests, riots and further bloodshed that followed hit me differently than even the incidents of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and the many others affected by police violence. Despite my inclination to see the best in the state I have called home for the last eight years, Wisconsin proved last week that we are no different than the countless other communities that have been enveloped in racial tension and a lack of empathy for our own.

            The Milwaukee Bucks probably felt the same heartache as they prepared for Game Five of their playoff series against the Orlando Magic. The NBA bubble was supposed to be far more than a way to continue basketball in the midst of pandemic. It was supposed to be a sign of hope, and provide an opportunity for players to use their platforms to fight social injustices like a Black man being shot in the back seven times in front of his three kids.

            We tried to “let sports be part of the healing,” as our country battles pandemic and persistent racial injustice and guess what? It failed. 

            The tipping point for many including the Milwaukee Bucks last week was yet another instance of a police officer serving as judge, jury and nearly executioner.

            Two nights later, a 17-year-old from across the Wisconsin-Illinois border allegedly came to Kenosha with a semi-automatic rifle in tow, looking for a fight and finding one. 

            While I personally do not condone those who seek to engage in destruction, looting and rioting to make their point, businesses can be rebuilt or replaced. Jacob Blake is paralyzed after narrowly escaping with his life. The alleged Illinois teen shooter’s Wisconsinite victims Anthony Huber, 26, and Joseph Roesnbaum, 36, are gone, and fellow victim Gaige Grosskreutz, 26, had his life forever changed after being shot in the arm.

            The Bucks boycott was at first a team, then the NBA as an organization taking a stand by saying “you did not hold up your end of the bargain.” The Bucks’ statement Wednesday read in part:

            “When we take the court and represent Milwaukee and Wisconsin, we are expected to play at a high level, give maximum effort and hold each other accountable. We hold ourselves to that standard, and in this moment, we are demanding the same from our lawmakers and law enforcement.”

            As many also rightfully pointed out, the Bucks have firsthand experience with the type of racial profiling and excessive use of force by police that they stood against. Current player Sterling Brown was tased, punched and held with a knee on his neck by Milwaukee Police for parking across two handicapped spots in an empty Walgreens parking lot in 2018. Former teammate of some current Bucks, John Henson, was racially profiled at a jewelry store in Whitefish Bay by store employees who locked their doors and police who called the ownership of Henson’s endorsement deal vehicle into question in 2015.

            Bucks players are not the aloof millionaires some would have you believe they are, but are in at least two cases zero to one degree removed from these types of incidents. Their decision not to play Wednesday, potentially forfeiting a game and pay check, was done as defiantly as Colin Kaepernick’s first kneeling protest during the National Anthem four years to the day earlier. It was a message to Wisconsin to take as much pride in promoting justice in their community as they take in playing for their fans.

            It may be a message you do not expect or want to come from athletes, but we collectively asked them to be part of the healing. It is well within their rights to bring their informed opinions into the conversation, and demand change when incident after incident proves it has not come.

            Shortly after Game Five was postponed, I received a text from a family member that simply read “bucks” with a facepalm emoji. My reply to that, and the protests across sports that included the Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds not playing their Wednesday night game in solidarity, was 10 words:

            “This is bigger than sports, never been a bigger fan.”