Column: Extraordinary day hopefully leads US to better place

The day was extraordinary, unleashing a movement that played out in real time, stretching across racial and gender lines, sweeping up one sport after another until it seemed as though every professional athlete was screaming in unison.

ENOUGH!

Enough with the killing. Enough with racial injustice. Enough with being a most imperfect union.

No one knows exactly what impact these 24 hours will have in the weeks and months and decades to come, but one thing is certain.

American sports will forever be divided into two distinct eras.

What it was before the 26th of August in the year 2020.

And what it is now.

After yet another act of violence by police against an unarmed Black man, a crescendo of necessary outrage — “good trouble.," John Lewis would’ve called it — ignited across our arenas and stadiums on Wednesday.

The Milwaukee Bucks refused to take the court for their NBA playoff game against the Orlando Magic and were willing to forfeit if that's what it came to.

It was a staggering gesture by a team that has high hopes of winning its first championship in almost a half-century, demonstrating just how much fear and pain and marginalization so many are feeling.

Even if they happen to be star athletes.

The Magic refused to accept the forfeit, showing their solidarity with the Bucks. Left with no other alternative, the NBA postponed all three playoff games scheduled for Wednesday at its Disney World bubble, where everyone thought the biggest threat to finishing the season was the coronavirus pandemic.

Turns out, we should’ve been paying more attention to the plague of racial injustice, which has stained our nation for all of its 244 years.

“It’s such a terrible situation that we’re going through in this country still, after so many years of this,” said...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Column-Extraordinary-day-hopefully-leads-US-to-15520387.php