Players raise fists, take a knee prior to MLS return match
VIDEO SHOWS: PLAYERS TAKING THE KNEE AND RAISING FISTS BEFORE START OF MLS MATCH
SHOWS: ORLANDO, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES (JULY 8, 2020) (MLS - FOR NEWS USE ONLY. MUST COURTESY MLS)
1. VARIOUS OF PLAYERS RAISING FISTS AND TAKING A KNEE BEFORE MLS MATCH KICK OFF
STORY: Players raised gloved right fists and took a knee before Major League Soccer's first match in four months on Wednesday (July 8) in a show of solidarity with the 'Black Lives Matter' social justice movement.
Some players wore t-shirts over their jerseys with the words "Black and Proud" and "Silence is Violence" before the match, and the Orlando City and Inter Miami starting line-ups took a knee just before the 'MLS is Back' tournament kicked off.
The demonstration lasted eight minutes and 46 seconds, the amount of time Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on the neck of George Floyd, the 46-year-old Black man whose death in late May sparked nationwide protests.
The kneeling protest was popularized by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick in 2016 while the raised fists mirrors the protest against racial inequality by Americans John Carlos and Tommie Smith at the 1968 Mexico Olympics.
Kaepernick's protest came during the playing of the national anthem, which will not be played during the tournament because the games are being staged in empty stadiums, a measure to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Wednesday's MLS match, held inside a bio-secure "bubble" at the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex, marked the first North American professional men's league to return to action since the pandemic upended the sports calendar in mid-March.
(Production: Andy Ragg)
