Athletes’ protests do matter: just ask the victims they stand up for

For Black History Month, I conducted a panel discussion with Athletes For Hope and sponsored by Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Push Coalition.

The panel consisted of family members of victims of police violence, whom I had spoken with for my recent book, Police Brutality And White Supremacy: The Fight Against American Tradition. They included Emerald Garner, whose father Eric was choked to death by NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo; Michelle Monterrosa, whose brother Sean was killed in Vallejo, California by Detective Jarrett Tonn, who fired shots from an unmarked vehicle; and Ashley Carr, sister of Atatiana Jefferson who was shot dead by officer Aaron Dene in her home in Texas as she looked after her nephew. Also on the panel was hammer thrower Gwen Berry, who created a stir last year when she turned away from the flag during the anthem at the US Olympic trials.

Berry listened to the painful stories of the panelists, their continued fight for justice for their loved ones and their gratitude to athletes like Berry, LeBron James and Colin Kaepernick, who use their platforms to bring awareness to police brutality in the US.

Berry’s stand at the Olympic trials caused a predictable backlash from the right. Republican congressman Dan Crenshaw called for Berry to be “removed from the [US Olympic] team.” Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who was US ambassador to the UN in the Trump administration, said that the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee “should make sure that no one should go to the Olympics that does not want to represent America.” Fox News brought in Jack Brewer, a former NFL player, to condemn Berry. Brewer, who is Black, compared her unfavorably to Jesse Owens and said that there are Black people who