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Professional Athletes Use Platform To Address Racial Justice

The Cleveland Indians, Cavs and Browns have announced an alliance to address racial justice issues. [Jtesla16 / Wikimedia Commons]
The Cleveland Indians, Cavs and Browns have announced an alliance to address racial justice issues. [Jtesla16 / Wikimedia Commons]

The latest shooting of a black man, Jacob Blake, by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin earlier this month prompted another round of protests in cities across the county, and it resulted in an unexpected large-scale response by the professional sports community. First the Milwaukee Bucks walked out of the Game 5 playoff game against the Orlando Magic, and later called for police accountability. Then several other teams walked out of their playoff games, including LeBron James and the LA Lakers. Many WNBA players sported white t-shirts with seven bullet holes on the back before they walked out, which is the number of times Blake was shot by police. Many pro-baseball teams walked out as well, including the Milwaukee Brewers and the Cincinnati Reds. And former top women's tennis player Naomi Osaka pulled out of the Western and Southern Open. 

This is all happening around the 4 year anniversary of Colin Kapernick's famous knee-protest during a pre-season NFL game to bring attention to police brutality. 

Last week, the Cleveland Cavs, Browns and Indians announced that they were creating a sports alliance to address social injustice in the region. They said in a news release that it will involve improving the relationship between law enforcement and residents, promoting voting and increasing opportunities for quality education.

This hour, we're going to start by discussing the intersection of sports and social justice with Andre Knott, the Cleveland Indians dugout reporter for Sportstime Ohio and a sports contributor for FOX 8 News. And we'll hear from Bill Livingston, a retired sports columnist who wrote for decades for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and is an author. 

Later in the show, we'll talk about why the NFL had so many false positives recently. We'll hear from a Cleveland Clinic pathologist on how that can happen. And, we'll discuss what fall sports will look like for many high schools in the ever-changing pandemic. 

-Andre Knott, Sports contributor for FOX 8 News & Cleveland Indians Reporter, SportsTime Ohio

-Bill Livingston, Retired Sports Columnist, Cleveland Plain Dealer & Author

-Dr. Gary Procop, MD, Director of Clinical Virology, Cleveland Clinic

-Dr. Donald Lewis, DDS, Commissioner, Chagrin Valley Conference & Oral Surgeon 

Rachel is the supervising producer for Ideastream Public Media’s morning public affairs show, the “Sound of Ideas.”