“We’re [Black people] literally hunted EVERYDAY/EVERYTIME”

Cheers to athletes responding to the murder of Ahmaud Aubrey

May 11, 2020 | revcom.us

 

From a reader:

The murder of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia by racist vigilantes has sparked outrage across the country. This is being called Trayvon2.0—after the 2012 murder of 17-year-old Black teenager Trayvon Martin by vigilante George Zimmerman. It seems like every day we’re reading about Black people being gunned down, beaten, and hounded by cops and these vigilantes. People who have watched the video of or heard about Ahmaud being attacked have had enough of this and are standing up to say, “No More!”

This includes many athletes, Black and white, who are speaking out against this outrageous lynching of Ahmaud Arbery. This is an important development, and it follows in the footsteps of famous athletes who have stood against the oppression of Black people—Muhammad Ali, Tommie Smith, John Carlos—and more recently, Colin Kaepernick, who led a movement of athletes to refuse to stand for the national anthem in protest of police murders and brutality, and who called the killings today of Blacks and Latinos “lawful lynchings.”

The first athlete to speak out was NBA All-Star LeBron James, who tweeted: “We’re literally hunted EVERYDAY/EVERYTIME we step foot outside the comfort of our homes! Can’t even go for a damn jog man! Like WTF man are you kidding me?!?!?!?!?!?...”

Tennis phenom Coco Gauff, who is 16 years old, tweeted, “The violence needs to stop. The profiling and racial injustice needs to stop. #AhmaudArbery”

NFL player Torrey Smith tweeted, “How do I explain what happened to #AhmaudArbery to my 6 year old son?”

“Happy birthday to Ahmaud Arbery,” the New Orleans Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins said in a video he recorded during his run on Friday. “Even though they arrested those two men, we’ve got to make sure they don’t forget his face and that he gets his justice in court.”

Dawn Staley of the WNBA tweeted, “More senselessness. Video is heartbreaking. How many more mothers will have to bury their sons and daughters?! Answers needed. #AhmaudArbery.”

Other athletes who sent out tweets of anguish and anger were: Geno Smith (NFL), Benjamin Watson (NFL), Swin Cash (WNBA), David West (NBA) who quoted from Dr. James Cone’s book The Cross and the Lynching Tree, Julius Peppers (NFL), Enes Kanter (NBA), Jared Dudley (NBA), Isaiah Thomas (NBA), Wilson Chandler (NBA), Chris Long (NFL), Cameron Jordan (NFL), plus others.

The Players Coalition, a group of NFL athletes dedicated to making an impact on social justice and racial equality, sent a letter to the U.S. Justice Department, stating, “Today, we are in mourning and we write to request a prompt investigation by the FBI and the Department of Justice’s Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division into the tragic death of Ahmaud Arbery.” The letter was signed by 60 athletes and coaches including Tom Brady (formerly of the NFL New England Patriots and now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers), Steve Kerr (NBA Golden State Warriors head coach), and Stan Van Gundy (former head coach of the NBA Detroit Pistons).

Cheers to these athletes, coaches, and all the others who, at this moment of crisis, are standing up against the murder of Black people by police and racist killers.

.#ahmaudarbery Sending blessing to his family and loved ones. We must continue to keep his name uplifted until he gets justice in the courts. We must use this tragedy to spring us into action. We want #justiceforahmaud and until then #irunwithmaud ✊🏾https://t.co/tqk5nP2yil pic.twitter.com/gIPeCqbn8U

— Malcolm Jenkins (@MalcolmJenkins) May 8, 2020