Supporters of WNBA players chant 'Black Lives Matter' at Minnesota Lynx game
A protest against the WNBA’s decision to fine its players for supporting Black Lives Matter now includes fans as well.
A Facebook page run by Lynx fans called for people to fill up Friday night’s game against the Seattle Storm in support of players taking a stand for Black Lives Matter.
In video from the game posted to Twitter, “Black Lives Matter” can be heard echoing through Minneapolis’s Target Center.
Earlier this week, the WNBA began handing out fines to players on three teams for violating uniform regulations by wearing shirts and patches protesting the recent deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, as well as the mass shooting of police officers in Dallas.
The Lynx had been the first team to do this, wearing T-shirts to practice last week that read “CHANGE STARTS WITH US; JUSTICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY” and had the names of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling alongside a Dallas PD emblem and Black Lives Matter logo on the back.
Unlike the other teams, the Lynx were not fined as they cleared their shirts with the league first and only wore them one time. But that didn’t stop local police officers working security at the game from walking out.
After the game, The Seattle Times reports the Storm joined a “media blackout” started by the New York Liberty and Indiana Fever after those teams were fined, where they refused to answer questions about the game and only spoke about issues pertaining to racial violence.
“We all have fathers, uncles, brothers, cousins, everybody who can be in this situation,” player Alysha Clark told the Times. “Race is a very uncomfortable topic to talk about in the United States. A lot of people don’t want to have it. But as the events have been unfolding here and in the last couple of years, there is a problem that needs to be addressed.”