As sports leagues across the country have begun to return, they’ve also had to find ways to reconcile with the massive civil uprising happening in the country sparked by the death of George Floyd.
Some leagues are allowing their players to be part of that moment. The WNBA’s players will wear warm-up shirts that say “Black Lives Matter” and “Say her name” on them. The NBA’s players are wearing hand-picked “social justice” messages on the back of their jerseys.
But it’ll be hard to top what the Philadelphia Union did.
In their return tournament, the MLS is allowing teams to decide what they will allow their players to do with their jerseys. The Union took that and ran with it.
They put names of Black people killed by police on the back of each player’s jersey. The best part? No one knew about it. They didn’t say a word. They just did it.
The broadcast team was absolutely floored.
The Philadelphia Union's jerseys are honoring the names of members of the Black community who lost their lives to police brutality. pic.twitter.com/NWQZrlgvpq
— ESPN (@espn) July 9, 2020
On top of that, the team created custom captain armband with the names on them as well.
Our players joined together to create a custom armband for #MLSisBack that our Captain @AleBedoya17 will be wearing for the tournament.#SayTheirNames pic.twitter.com/ZZe4Ev2RCJ
— PhilaUnion (@PhilaUnion) July 9, 2020
That’s powerful. They’re making people to say these names. It’s a message they won’t allow viewers to forget.
Their jerseys actually say something. It’s not some half-baked message with something as simple as “equality” on it. It’s very specific and speaks directly to this moment.
Good on the Union for making such a powerful move in this moment. Good on the MLS for letting them rock with it.