September 3, 2020 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
©
Shelton Mason County Journal. All rights reserved. Upgrade to access Premium Tools
PAGE 37 (37 of 40 available) PREVIOUS NEXT Jumbo Image Save To Scrapbook Set Notifiers PDF JPG
September 3, 2020 |
|
Website © 2025. All content copyrighted. Copyright Information Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Request Content Removal | About / FAQ | Get Acrobat Reader ![]() |
FAR
(aw.
Whole new green
Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020 — Shelton-Mason County Journal- Page A-37
The renovation project at Shelton High Sohool’s Highclimber
Stadium, Sunday, is nearing completion. Crews
began installing the artificial turf on Jack Stark Field last
week. Courtesy photo
It’s time to shut up and listen to athletes
Shut up and dribble.”
Or throw, run,
hit, score...
In recent months, as con-
versations around race have
become prevalent among
athletes and teams across the
United States, a subset of the
population has expressed —
can and can’t say?
If you don’t like the prod-
uct, don’t watch it, but real- \
ity is that sports and politics
have been intertwined since
time immemorial.
Back in 532 A.D., ac—
cording to a 2019 story on
ESPN’s “The Undefeated,”
often heatedly —- that players By JUSTIN rival chariot drivers in Con-
and coaches should “stick to JOHNSON . stantinople asked Emperor
sports.” Justinian to pardon two of
I disagree. their fpllowers who had been
White people upset that Black
athletes won’t quietly dance for their
entertainment speaks volumes about
where we are in the conversation
about race and justice in America.
Buying a ticket to a sporting event
doesn’t give you ownership of the par-
ticipants.
Do you Walk into a movie theater
thinking you own a movie just because
you bought a ticket?
No.
So, why again do people think they
have the' right to dictate what athletes
condemned to die.
He refused,fleading to the Nika
Revolt, which saw six weeks of rioting
that resulted in the death of 30,000
people. , .
In 1967, Kathrine Switzer became
the first woman to run in the Boston
Marathon after signing in as K.V.
\ Switzer. A race official tried, unsuc-
cessfully, to pull her off the course and
she became the first to officially com-
plete the prestigious race.
The United States boycotted the
1980 Summer Olympics because of
Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan.
Those are just three of thousands
of examples, both here in the US. and
around the werld, of sports mingling
with politics.
While professional athletes earn
their living playing sports, they’re still
individual people and as such have
the right to speak their mind and give
their opinion.
According to several sources, about
75% of National Basketball Associa-
tion players are peopleof color. About
60% of National Football League play-
ers are Black. ,
For those players, the conversa-
tions aren’t abstract, far away discus-
sions — they are issues that directly
affect them. In recent weeks, many
players have shared their personal
experiences.
Last week, the Miami Herald re-
ported that an overzealous security
guard summoned the police on former
Miami Dolphins player Brandon Mar-
shall as he was moving into a new
home in Weston, Florida.
“The reality is, people fear our
skin,” Marshall told Florida’s WSVN-
Channel 7. “That’s the reality.”
How do you blame someone for
speaking up because they were ha-
rassed simply because they were mov-
ing into their own home?
It’s no secret we live in an increas—
ingly polarized society, but it’s far past
time to stop judging people simply be-
cause of the color of their skin.
If you really care about the players
on the team you support, instead of
telling them to “shut up and dribble,”
how about taking a minute to absorb
what they’re saying?
Real and lasting change takes con-
versation. It takes maturity. It takes
willingness to set aside your precon-
, ceived notions and engage'with the >
other side.
It’s timeto shut up and listen.
I Justin Johnson is the Sports
Outdoors Editor for the Shelton-Mason
County Journal. He can be reached by
email at justin@masoncounty.com.
H