New York (AFP)
Several teams from the Professional North American Football League (NFL) decided to cancel their training sessions Thursday in solidarity with Jacob Blake, the young African American seriously injured by gunshot by a police officer on Sunday during control in the state of Wisconsin.
The Green Bay Packers, the Indianapolis Colts, the New York Jets and the Washington Footballl Team, the Redskins' new name, have followed in the footsteps of the Milwaukee Bucks basketball franchise, which decided Wednesday night to boycott a play-off game. , forcing the NBA to postpone several other meetings that day.
"The Colts will not be training today," the Indianapolis club said in a statement. "Instead, the team will use this day to discuss and see how we can make a lasting social impact and inspire change in our communities."
“Players, coaches and staff will come together as a football family, and we will continue our dialogue on issues of racism and social injustice in our country,” said Ron Rivera, head coach of the Washington team in a statement released Wednesday night.
The 2020 NFL season is scheduled to begin September 20.
The Jacob Blake affair, which is reviving the anti-racist movement in the United States, has since Wednesday provoked an unprecedented boycott movement in the American sports world.
In a few hours, the movement initiated by the Milwaukee Bucks won other NBA teams, then MLS (football) and MLB (baseball), before touching the NFL.
However, the NBA players decided Thursday the resumption of matches, after a meeting in the morning according to ESPN.
As for the Japanese tennis champion Naomi Osaka, born of a Japanese mother and a Haitian father, who had announced her withdrawal from the Cincinnati tournament, she said she was finally ready to play her semi-final on Friday.
A police officer fired seven bullets in the back of Jacob Blake, in the state of Wisconsin, on Sunday, as the 29-year-old African-American resisted his arrest. The father of the family is seriously injured.
© 2020 AFP