In that regard, the Minnesota Lynx succeeded.
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Asked if he had any comment about the statements by Hodges and Harteau, Kroll said in a text message: “They are both entitled to their opinion”.
In a separate statement, Harteau said that although the officers were off-duty at the time, she expects “all officers to adhere to our core values and to honor their oath of office” when in uniform. “It kept maybe a conversation that may have gotten stunted going. And by talking about it, we have an opportunity to create change”. Then Wednesday night at the ESPYS, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade opened the show by calling for an end to racial profiling and retaliation – exactly the message Brunson and Maya Moore conveyed in their news conference before Saturday’s game with Dallas.
To hear from Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve and forward Rebekkah Brunson, click the video box above. But on Wednesday, players wore plain black Adidas shirts before a game against the Atlanta Dream, and said the decision was due to a compromise made by the players to wear the branded warmup shirts. “Everyone that wants to get angry about what we did, they continue to miss the point and there’s no way that either of those things are mutually exclusive”.
Minneapolis Police Federation President Bob Kroll told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (http://strib.mn/29zD4qo ) he commends the officers. The Lynx donned standard team warm-up tops Tuesday afternoon in San Antonio, and Brunson hinted the players have moved on. “Now we’re trying to figure out what’s next”. Thursday, the Liberty announced plans to switch to plain black warm-up tops. “We should be really proud of what we’re putting forward”. “You can’t have dialogue unless you listen”.
The page calls for fans to fill up Target Center despite Kroll’s remarks about fan attendance. The Lynx are now second in the WNBA’s Western Conference at 17-4 and have won three championships in the last five seasons.
Reeve and Brunson declined to criticize Kroll, though Reeve teetered around the edges.
Reeve said that news was exciting. “We are highlighting a longtime problem of racial profiling”, she said.
The Lynx shirts said, “Change starts with us”.
“The important thing is, we’re talking about it”.
This was the first time the Lynx players were wearing Black Lives Matter T-Shirts in response to the recent tragedy of police killing two Black Americans, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. The shield was particularly hard to identify in some photos circulating on social media.
Some critics of the Lynx accused them of siding with Black Lives Matter against the police, which Reeve said wasn’t the case at all.
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“We say what we do is more than sport and this is a great example of that”, she said. Black Lives Matter started an event on Facebook this week, encouraging members to attend next Friday’s game against Seattle to support the Lynx. Still, Reeve said, the issue is bigger than a basketball game. “So this is no different. Justice & Accountability” on the front and the names of the two black men fatally shot by police in Minnesota and Louisiana on the back.
