If men can drop to one knee to propose to a woman, white male athletes that claim to care about women’s rights shouldn’t have a problem doing it again for abortion rights.
According to Politico, for the first time in which anyone can remember, a draft decision from the Supreme Court has been leaked, as the court that Trump and his hateful followers packed while he was in office (one seat stolen I might add) is reportedly set to overturn Roe v. Wade, sending a woman’s right to choose back to the states. Despite the Orgasm Gap, men in this country love trying to control and govern women’s bodies, as if the statistics haven’t already proven that so many of them don’t know what to do with a woman’s body.
Every time something bad happens to women in this country, the most powerful group of individuals — who it seems like never have to face the consequences of their actions — go to their canned responses in situations like this.
“I have a wife.”
“I have daughters.”
“I have a mother.”
The problem with those same responses is so do the men that harm women through physical, mental, and sexual abuse, or through evil legislation and judicial decisions.
But, in a country in which sports have been intertwined with politics and culture for decades, the white male athlete is a member of society that can reach levels of success that are often above reproach — making them unfireable. There’s a reason why top-flight white quarterbacks, hockey, baseball, and college basketball players can reach a certain level of celebrity and fame that’s only allowed for them. This is why we should be challenging them to kneel for abortion rights. Because, as they love to tell us, they have mothers, wives, and daughters, too.
I’m asking white athletes to grab the baton when it comes to kneeling for abortion rights because we’ve already seen what happens when Black athletes do it. Besides, the men of color that claim to be “voices for the voiceless” are usually silent on matters of this magnitude.
That last line was directed at Kyrie Irving and Enes Kanter Freedom.
“America is NOT pro life. They’re pro birth. We still pay women less than men. Not every woman has access to health care. We don’t focus on fixing and building our education system. Price of housing….disgusting,” tweeted WNBA star Natasha Cloud. “America is forcing women to birth children they won’t help care for. So again. Y’all not pro life; that would entail y’all giving a fuck about our countries continued short comings.”
The ladies are fed up, and rightfully so. They’ve been fighting against men legislating against their bodies… forever. Hillary Clinton even predicted that the Supreme Court would overturn Roe v. Wade if Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed in some old tweets from 2018.
Sadly enough, this battle isn’t just one to protect women. It’s a battle that will affect all of us. Roe v. Wade is just the first box that Republicans are trying to check off their hateful wish list. Up next will be interracial marrige, gay rights, and Brown v. Board of Education. This is what the whitewashing of America looks like. Because in case you haven’t noticed yet, The Handmaid’s Tale isn’t fiction, it isn’t a drama, it’s a documentary.
That means we need all hands on deck, which includes the white athletes who are some of the most revered and respected people in this country. And if they love women as much as they claim, kneeling to support them shouldn’t be too big of an ask.