On Monday, Liverpool FC’s official social media posted a photo of their entire squad taking a knee together around the center circle at their home stadium of Anfield. The gesture, a nod to former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick was done during today’s training session, as a show of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
The LFC twitter account posted the photo, with the caption Unity is Strength and #BlackLivesMatter.
Unity is strength. #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/sSu2sarAXa
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) June 1, 2020
All across America, rioting and looting has erupted in almost all the major cities, and in some cases, surrounding suburbs. The chaos stems from America’s long, painful history of racial inequity, with last week’s murder of African-American George Floyd, by a Caucasian police officer in Minneapolis, Derek Chauvin, being the final straw for many.
This is about issues and topics that go way deeper than football, so for more on what’s happening and why go here.
Liverpool joined several other European footballers in expressing support for the movement over the past few days. On the weekend we saw four Bundesliga players show solidarity with the cause. Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho and Achraf Hakimi wrote “Justice for George” on their undershirts while USMNT and FC Schalke midfielder Weston McKennie wore an armband with the same message.
Borussia Monchengladbach’s Marcus Thuram took a knee after scoring a goal.
Paris Saint-Germain and France superstar Kylian Mbappe posted an image on social media and captioned it: “police with us, not against us.” Also, Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford wrote a very powerful message on Twitter, seeking justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery.
It is expected that more riots and looting will break out again tonight, so it’s very important right now for anyone with a large public platform to speak up.
Kudos to these star athletes for standing up and speaking out.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
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