Jacob's case provokes an unprecedented boycott in the American sports world
Jacob Blake, an American citizen, was shot by white policemen, sparking a wave of protests, including sports.
The American sports world, led by players from the NBA, began an unprecedented boycott of competitions in response to the case of Jacob Blake, a black American who was seriously injured after being shot by a white policeman, reviving the anti-racism movement in the United States. The initiative was sparked by the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team, who boycotted a game and forced the NBA to postpone other matches on Wednesday, and the movement quickly spread widely. "We're demanding a change. We're fed up," Lakers star LeBron James tweeted. Several local media reported yesterday that two Los Angeles rivals, the Lakers and the Clippers, voted to quit the season.
For her part, Japanese woman Naomi Osaka, ranked 10th in the world, decided to withdraw from the semi-finals of the Cincinnati International Tennis Tournament, one of the compulsory Premier League tournaments for women, held at the Flushing Meadows in New York, before the event organizers in turn decided to postpone the matches scheduled for today until tomorrow. "As a sport, the tennis world takes a collective stand against racial inequality and social injustice that has once again come to the fore in the United States," the American Tennis Federation said in a statement. "The American Tennis Association and the professional and professional associations decided to boycott play Thursday and to resume Friday." Football and baseball matches have also been postponed due to a boycott.
"As a black woman, I feel that there are more important issues that need immediate attention, rather than watching me playing tennis," Osaka, who has spoken frequently in recent months to denounce racial injustice, wrote in a statement on her Twitter account. "I don't expect anything drastic to happen if I don't play," said Osaka, who is born of a Japanese mother and father from Haiti.
Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old father of three, was seriously injured after a policeman shot him seven times in the back Sunday in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in a context that remains unclear. According to a statement from the Wisconsin Department of Justice, police were called to the scene after a call from a young woman saying that her "boyfriend" was in her home and "was not supposed to be there." The statement added that the policemen attempted "unsuccessfully to arrest" Jacob Blake with an electric gun.
Local authorities say the man warned them that he “had a knife”. Investigators had already found a knife on the floor of the car, and there was no other weapon in it, according to the ministry, which revealed the name of the policeman who shot seven times: Rustin Chesky. He is currently suspended from working with one of his colleagues.
The scene, filmed by witnesses and broadcast on social media, sparked a wave of emotions in the country, and also sparked gatherings in Kenosha, in which rioters and civil groups participated. Three months after the death of George Floyd, a forty-year-old black American who suffocated under the knee of a white policeman in Minneapolis, anger is back in force in the United States in the face of racism and police violence.
Reflecting the growing anger, the peaceful marches turned into night violence in Kenosha, with clashes between protesters and the police, and many violations despite the curfew, 250 National Guard soldiers were deployed and the Jacob Blake family called for calm. The violence resulted in two people being shot dead and a third wounded in circumstances that remain somewhat mysterious.