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† Criminal InJustice is a weekly series devoted to taking action against inequities in the U.S. criminal justice system. Nancy A. Heitzeg, Professor of Sociology and Race/Ethnicity, is the Editor of CI. Kay Whitlock, co-author of Queer (In)Justice, is contributing editor of CI. Criminal Injustice is published every Wednesday at 6 pm.

CI: The Power of Symbolic Protest in Sports
complied by nancy a heitzeg and Kay Whitlock

A Brief History Of Racial Protest In Sports, npr codeswitch

“On Sunday, five St. Louis Rams players jogged onto the field with their arms raised by their heads, a stream of fog behind them: hands up, don’t shoot.

The players — Tavon Austin, Kenny Britt, Jared Cook, Chris Givens and Stedman Bailey — were invoking the gesture that’s been widely used in protesting the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson…

“No matter what happened on that day, no matter how the whole situation went down, there has to be a change,” said Cook, a tight end for the Rams.”

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“Sports recapitulates the most serious and deeply-rooted cultural social values in every society,” Edwards said…

“These are not tragedies. Mike Brown was not a tragedy. It was part of a pattern. Since Michael Brown was shot, there have been 14 young unarmed African-American men shot across this country,” Edwards said. “And this is what these athletes are saying, and I’m so proud of them I don’t know what to do.”

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