I've totally changed my mind. In the last 24 hours I've done a back flip 180 that Tony Hawk would've been proud of.
Whatever these NBA teams and players want to do right now is entirely up to them. I, like the rest of the world, can think about it, comment about it, talk about it but without any actual or practical input, relevance or involvement in what is going on.
And what is going on is of such importance right now, it's something their country, the US of A, needs to sort itself, by itself and FOR itself. What I'm trying to say is that because it's over there it's also theirs to deal with however they feel fit.
I'm guilty I admit of looking at this situation entirely through MY eyes, from this far away and realise it's just not at all relevant. Whether I or anyone else thinks they should or shouldn't strike makes zero difference. What's important is that somehow it works. Or it helps. Or it helps to work. Because theirs is a desperately conflicted and complex situation.
Born of the bitterness of enslavement from centuries old endemic, systemic abuse. The publicity generated by the action of the NBA players and others, the positive publicity I mean, is priceless. They're presenting this injustice to the whole world on the grandest scale, at a level I've never seen a global protest reach. And here's me alive and old enough at the time to witness and participate in the '81 Springbok Tour among many others.
So protest all you like people. Makes as much damn noise as you need. My wish is that they all go back to work ASAP and continue the season. But that's just me. The fact these players are prepared to use their power and influence to try and affect change is, in my newly reopened eyes, worth every second of protest.
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