Orlando (United States) (AFP)

The NBA play-offs will resume on Saturday, three days after the historic player boycott in reaction to the Jacob Blake affair, who imposed an action plan, involving the league and team owners, to intensify the fight against racial injustice.

"All parties have agreed to resume play-off games on Saturday, August 29," wrote Adam Silver and Michelle Roberts, bosses of the NBA and the Players Union (NBPA), claiming to have had "a frank, passionate and productive Thursday between players, coaches and team owners on the next steps to deepen our collective efforts and our actions in favor of social justice and racial equality ”.

That hours-long phone meeting on Thursday, also involving Michael Jordan in a mediating role with franchise owners - himself the only black to be with the Charlotte Hornets - was decisive, even though the players had voted the same morning for the recovery.

The result was an action plan with three main axes, detailed in the press release from the NBA and the NBPA players' union.

"1. The immediate creation of a coalition for social justice, composed of representatives of players, coaches and owners, which will focus on a wide spectrum of issues, including access to the vote, promotion of civic duties , and advocating meaningful reform of the police and criminal justice system. "

- Citizen engagement -

"2. The franchise owners, who also own the room, will work with local elected officials to turn it into polling stations for the 2020 presidential election, so that communities exposed to Covid can go there to vote safely. deadline for doing so has passed, owners will work to make it another use for elections, which includes and is not limited to voter registration and vote counting. "

"3. The League will work with players and broadcasters to create and include commercials during each play-off match, dedicated to promoting greater civic engagement for national and local elections, and raising awareness of voters' rights. "

On Wednesday, affected by the fate of Blake who was shot several times in the back during his arrest in Kenosha, not far from Milwaukee, their city of residence, the Bucks players boycotted the game against the Magic of Orlando.

This forced the NBA to postpone it, as well as Houston-Oklahoma City, Lakers-Portland, also scheduled for that day, and Clippers-Dallas, Denver-Utah and Toronto-Boston scheduled for Thursday. It is in this order a priori that the matches will resume, the three of Wednesday Saturday, and those of Thursday, Sunday.

- Unprecedented movement -

Following in the footsteps of the NBA, teams from other sports leagues, baseball (MLB), ice hockey (NHL), football (MLS), women's basketball (WNBA), have also stopped playing for the past two days and again. this Friday. The Cincinnati tennis tournament did the same with a break, proof of the unprecedented movement.

George Floyd's ordeal at the end of May had upset NBA basketball players, some like Kyrie Irving, star of the Brooklyn Nets, believing that the championship should not be resumed in the Disney World bubble, in order to act better against this scourge.

The overwhelming majority of players, albeit with great hesitation, ultimately chose to go to Florida, and the NBA made sure to allow them to be proactive in their fight, allowing them to drop the knee to the ground during the match. national anthem, by posting "Black Lives Matter" on the floors, giving them the floor to demand justice.

But the Jacob Blake case convinced them that more needed to be done.

“Change doesn't happen just by talking !! It happens through action and must happen NOW! (...) It's up to the United States to make a difference. Together. That's why your vote is + More than a vote +. Black Lives Matter, "LeBron James tweeted Thursday morning.

An "action" initiated this Friday and which promises to intensify, the very day of the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington, led by Martin Luther King to defend the civil rights of African Americans.

"I have a dream," he had said.

© 2020 AFP