The message was free from embellishment.
WashingtonThe message was free from embellishment. Ahead of a nationally televised game between the Atlanta Dream and the Phoenix Mercury on Tuesday, images of WNBA players in T-shirts that read “Vote Warnock” began to show up on social media. The players’ purpose: to endorse Raphael G. Warnock, a Democrat and the senior pastor of Atlanta’s famed Ebenezer Baptist Church who’s challenging Georgia GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler in an intense race for her seat. And the players’ inspiration, at least in part: the late John Lewis, the civil rights icon and longtime Georgia congressman who, on top of so much else, played a vital role in securing the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Indeed, despite President Donald Trump’s predictable soft-pedaling of Lewis’ legacy — “I can’t say one way or the other,” Trump told Axios on HBO when asked if he thought Lewis was impressive — these women are living proof of the congressman’s footprint. Read More “We are @wnba players, but like the late, great John Lewis said, we are also ordinary people with extraordinary vision,” Elizabeth Williams, a center on the Atlanta Dream, tweeted on Tuesday above an image of herself wearing the black T-shirt with bold white text across the chest. “@ReverendWarnock has spent his life fighting for the people and we need him in Washington. Join the movement for a better Georgia at http://warnockforgeorgia.com.” Read more from Brandon Tensley: Welcome to our reality, White AmericaAhmaud Arbery and the resilience of Black protestInequality is a stain everywhere, even in sportsReckoning with the specter of lynching in Trump’s AmericaThe racial politics of gun controlHow Trump speaks to Black Americans says a lot about his vision for the country Loeffler, co-owner of the Dream, is known for scorning the struggle for racial equality that members of the WNBA want to elevate.
