WNBA players join Jacob Blake strikes, wear shirts with bullet holes in back
The WNBA on Wednesday postponed games in solidarity with with protests across the country and strikes in other sports leagues, including the NBA, in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Sunday.
At first, reports indicated the WNBA was planning a unique form of protest, in which games would go on, but play would stop every seven minutes. Ultimately, the games were called off.
Players from six of the league's teams — the Washington Mystics, Atlanta Dream, Minnesota Lynx, Connecticut Sun, Phoenix Mercury, and Los Angeles Sparks — joined together at the league's bubble site in Bradenton, Florida, and took a knee while wearing shirts that spelled out "Jacob Blake."
WNBA players from the Mystics, Dream, Lynx, Sun, Mercury and Sparks take a knee and lock arms while wearing shirts that spell out Jacob Blake
No WNBA games will be played tonight. pic.twitter.com/MkdApV31Bu
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 26, 2020
The back of the shirts were also designed to appear as if they were riddled with bullet holes, a reference to the fact that Blake was shot multiple times in the back.
The Washington Mystics wear T-shirts spelling out Jacob Blake's name on the front.
On the back, seven bullet holes. pic.twitter.com/bNSzdQ779N
— The Undefeated (@TheUndefeated) August 26, 2020
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