Milwaukee bucks, literally

The iconic black power salute of American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics 200m awarding ceremony mutated half a century later, but against the same enemy – racial discrimination. Players now kneel during national anthem to support the reignited Black Lives Matter movement in honor of black American George Floyd who was neck pinned to death by a white officer.

The ensuing public outrage and even violence failed to temper police brutality. Last week the Milwaukee Bucks walked out of the NBA playoffs to buck racial injustice in honor of Jacob Blake, an unarmed black American shot by the police multiple times at the back in their home state of Wisconsin.

Emphasizing their focus cannot be on basketball alone, Sterling Brown, himself victimized by police cruelty before, forwarded a powerful statement demanding maximum effort from lawmakers and law enforcers to exact accountability, just as they play at the highest level for the fans and the game, and hold each other accountable to the team. Understandably, it frustrates basketball-starved fans, but continued inaction fans discrimination. Athletes cannot be too hungry for winning while others are senselessly dying.

Many others suffered and died before them, and there will be many more, despite public outrage against racial discrimination or injustice. Whichever way it is called, it boils down to one human tragedy, or cruelty – black people are easily discriminated, abused, assaulted and killed because of the color of their skin.

My father Wilfredo used to tell me blacks excel at what they do, be it in sports or the arts, and that one day, there will be a black American president. Unfortunately, he didn’t live long enough to see Barack Obama make history. At last, there could be no message strong enough to end racial discrimination than his presidency in the land of the free. Or so we thought. But now America is back to zero. But has it really gone beyond square one? It never learned its lessons just like some nations that ousted a dictator.

Muhammad Ali morphed into a humanitarian, philanthropist and anti-war social activist, showing us athletes should not only play sports to entertain the world, but should also make it a better place. Sport is a platform for social change, just as art is a medium for revolution, but not in the mold of a proposed government that replaces itself. Conversely, politicians should never attempt to entertain their constituency. That is not what they were voted for. But some of them unwittingly do, by sheer stupidity of their choices.

I trust Lebron James, arguably the greatest basketball player of his generation, levels up to civil rights involvement of the greatest heavyweight boxer or even Kareem-Abdul Jabar. Lebron has shown strong inclination to maximize his fame and position to advance equality, the kind spoken by civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. in his I Have A Dream tirade, one of the best speeches the world ever heard, but did not listen to.

Despite intense global campaign for equality, some lives are still considered less important than the others. Nowhere is this more evident than in the first predominantly Christian country in Asia where faith is left at the pulpit, especially during pandemic.