‘We can’t stop now’: Sparks’ Nneka Ogwumike on Juneteenth, WNBA activism

Before Juneteenth entered the public consciousness during last summer’s unrest, the day commemorating the end of slavery in the United States was a state holiday in Texas. “We’re a league of Black women, so everything that we experience is political or has social implications to our existence,” Ogwumike said in a room at the Los Angeles Convention Center before a game. Warnock’s campaign took off after WNBA players wore “Vote Warnock” shirts, and Ogwumike believes the effort epitomized how WNBA players can organize around their values to influence change. Ogwumike, league MVP A’ja Wilson, Atlanta Dream forward Elizabeth Williams and Minnesota Lynx guard Layshia Clarendon appeared in a vaccine-related public service announcement addressing Black women, a group in which about one in five say they “definitely will not” get a COVID-19 shot and 41% will take a “wait and see” approach, according to analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Each broadcast shows the WNBA’s dedication to social justice because even after many professional sports leagues have gone back to the status quo, WNBA courts still feature the message “Black Lives Matter.” “We don’t do it because it’s trendy,” Ogwumike said.