Several WNBA stars are calling for the removal of Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler as co-owner of Georgia’s Atlanta Dream after her comments on local protests following the murder of Rayshard Brooks.
Appointed to her political seat last December, Sen. Loeffler referred to protestors carrying firearms, in Georgia, an open-carry state, as “unacceptable” and used the phrase “mob rule” according to NY Daily News. Her comments were made during an interview on Fox News and affirmed through a video upload on her official Twitter account.
“We must not allow mob rule. We must not defund the police,” Sen. Loeffler Tweeted out, sharing video footage of her appearance on Fox News.
Shalise Manza Young at Yahoo! Sports makes some great points about Loeffler:
What Loeffler has said publicly is at least as bad, if not worse, than what Donald Sterling said in a recorded conversation with his mistress — and Sterling was forced to sell the Los Angeles Clippers.
It’s time for the WNBA to do the same with Loeffler.
Black Americans do not have the same Constitutional rights as non-Black Americans, posted a video supporting the anti-LGBTQ Family Policy Alliance, and called the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Louisiana’s highly restrictive abortion law “an activist agenda.”" data-reactid="20" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Yahoo Sans"; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">In the past week alone, she was on Fox News implying that Black Americans do not have the same Constitutional rights as non-Black Americans, posted a video supporting the anti-LGBTQ Family Policy Alliance, and called the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Louisiana’s highly restrictive abortion law “an activist agenda.”
In case you’ve forgotten, the WNBA is a women’s league. A league where roughly two-thirds of the players are Black and a fair number are out as gay.
For a league that has so many women unafraid to take bold stances, to speak out for civil rights and justice, to trade seasons of their already-brief careers to be of service to others, how does the WNBA justify Loeffler’s continued ownership?
And the calls from major WNBA players are coming in hard:
The quote in the headline is from NBA legend Alex English, who has been on the WNBA’s board of advocates since the players’ union created it in 2019.
On Friday, Seattle Storm forward Alysha Clark tweeted the column; on Saturday, Phoenix Mercury point guard Skylar Diggins-Smith replied to Clark and said “Kelly Loeffler’s gotta GO! Period!”
Washington Mystics guard Natasha Cloud said basically the same thing: “Get her weak ass out of our league.”
Sue Bird, Clark’s teammate in Seattle and one of the best women’s basketball players ever, quote-tweeted the headline with “Asking myself the same question.”
The WNBA should remove Loeffler as an owner but the voters in Georgia need to remover her as a Senator and send Rev. Raphael Warnock (D. GA) and Jon Ossoff (D. GA) to the U.S. Senate and Joe Biden to the White House. Let’s push hard to flip Georgia Blue. Click below to donate and get involved with Warnock, Ossoff, Biden and their fellow Georgia Democrats campaigns:
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