*Before their playoff game Wednesday night in Indianapolis, every member of the WNBA’s Indiana Fever knelt and linked arms in protest during the playing of the national anthem.
Two players from the opposing Phoenix Mercury also took a knee, according to The New York Times.
The Fever’s coach, Stephanie White, remained standing during the song, but expressed support for her players, according to ESPN. After the anthem ended, she reportedly entered the team huddle and said, “I’m proud of y’all for doing that together, being in that together. That’s big. That’s big. It’s bigger than basketball, right? Bigger than basketball.”
Watch below:
The decision to kneel was the latest involving professional, college and high school athletes who have followed the lead of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who sat or knelt during preseason football games to protest police officers’ brutal treatment of African-Americans.
The Fever’s demonstration came on the same night that a state of emergency was declared in Charlotte, North Carolina, after protests over recent police killings of black men turned violent.
Wednesday’s win-or-go-home first-round playoff game featured two of the WNBA’s all-stars, Phoenix’s Diana Taurasi and Indiana’s Tamika Catchings, who wound up her career with the Fever’s 89-78 defeat. Catchings knelt in protest with her teammates, while Taurasi stood.
“Whether you kneel or stand, everyone is against injustice and people being discriminated against and being killed,” Taurasi said, per ESPN. “Those are things as a society we have to get better at.”
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