Florida high school suspends game after players wear Black Lives Matter shirts
Several WNBA players offered their support to the two young women.
A Florida high school suspended a scheduled basketball game because two of the team’s Black players wore Black Lives Matter T-shirts.
Jordana Codio and Khadee Hession, who both attend American Heritage School, decided to wear the shirts during their warm up on Thursday (Dec. 10) after a student posted a racial slur during virtual class. No disciplinary action was reportedly taken against that student.
As a consequence for wearing the shirt, the school suspended the game that was scheduled against their sister school. After news of the suspension went viral, several WNBA players offered words of encouragement to the girls and slammed the school for mistreating their Black athletes.
Natasha Cloud of the Washington Mystics took to Instagram to share her thoughts about the incident. “The administration [who] tried to silence these athletes by canceling games because of a BLM T-shirt should be dismissed,” she wrote, according to Girls Talk Sports TV. She added, “Institutional racism is alive and thriving still in our education system.”
Erica Wheeler of the Indiana Fever took to Instagram to give the girls an uplifting message. “Keep standing for what you believe in,” she captioned the post. “@americanheritagebocadelray this how you treat Black athletes? So, take away the one thing they love because of what they believe in? Wow, says a lot about your school!”
“And you can BLOCK ME I don’t care!” she continued. “As role models to these young athletes, we’re going to stand up with our young future stars. I ask all my followers if you LOVE ME I ask you to REPOST and @ @americanheritagebocadelray. This [is] not fair!”
Breanna Stewart of the Seattle Storm said the shirts were “not a political statement. It’s real life.” American Heritage School has not released a statement regarding the incident. The school has made their Instagram comments limited after receiving backlash.