The Philadelphia 76ers Need to Make a Stand

The Philadelphia 76ers players need to take a stand for social activism following some recent events inside the organization.

The Philadelphia 76ers players have been talking about the possibility of making a stand for social activism, and that is something fans should 100 percent be behind.

“We want to take steps about (anthem situation) but we aren’t sure what,” Robert Covington told Tom Moore on Thursday afternoon.

The anthem situation Covington was referencing happened in the lead-up to the Sixers home opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night. In the midst of all of the madness and hype of the first Sixers nationally televised game in quite some time, we almost missed what happened in regards to the anthem situation, which is actually pretty big.

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For most fans in attendance, it might have seemed like nothing. What people in the arena saw was a Sixers cheerleader grabbing the microphone and singing the national anthem. Pretty typical, so it seemed. But scheduled to sing the anthem that night was Sevyn Streeter, a singer and a songwriter, not that Sixers cheerleader.

Streeter was pulled from singing the anthem because of a “We Matter” shirt Streeter was wearing. The “We Matter” slogan is a reference to the Black Lives Matter movement, a movement that cries for equality between races.

Ironically, the “We Matter,” shirt removes the word “Black” which is often the part of the slogan that people take issue with, saying that it promotes racism by picking out just one group to lift up. Let me put it this way, in a popular analogy used to explain BLM. If you went to the doctor and your foot was clearly broken, you would expect the doctor to turn their attention to the broken bone, not to say, “well, all lives matter.” But I digress.

The national anthem has become a hot topic in the sports world over the past several months. Colin Kaepernick, a quarterback for the San Fransisco 49ers, refused to stand for the national anthem, and then later kneeled for the anthem in an effort to draw attention to issues relating to race that the country has been facing.

Streeter holds a lot of the same core beliefs as Kaepernick in this area, saying, “Yes, we live in the greatest country in the world, but there are issues that we cannot ignore. This can’t be ignored.”

The Sixers players are also not ignoring the issue. According to media reports at practice on Thursday, a member of the Sixers organization addressed the team for 40 minutes at practice regarding the national anthem situation that took place on Wednesday night.

In all reality, the team likely pulled Streeter in an effort to remain unbiased and not stir up any controversy regarding the anthem situation. There is a lot of negative light being shed on Kaepernick from people who believe he is disrespecting the flag as well as people who protect our country by taking a stand during the anthem. Avoiding that seems smart, but in the end, the Sixers really just looked even worse by not letting her go out.

It truly was a lack of communication, and the Sixers never gave Streeter any sort of dress code, which was the main issue, it seems.

With this all behind the Sixers, however, it’s time for players to take a stand for social movement. With the upcoming presidential election, it’s clear that the country is in an interesting position, and it’s clear that people are very opinionated about their stances. With a vast majority of the Sixers organization being black, it seems logical to assume that the Black Lives Matter movement would be relevant and important to the Sixers locker room.

Additionally, the Sixers have six players that come from international countries. This gives the Sixers a chance to not only use their voice to talk about social issues within the country, but also social issues all around the world. Not every sports team has that opportunity.

With the recent negative talk that has come from demonstrating during the national anthem, perhaps the Sixers don’t want to take risks at looking negative to some people and do something during the anthem. That’s perfectly fine, but they should still use their voices to talk about things that are important to them.

If change is important to the Sixers, they need to voice that. So many young kids look up to these athletes, and so many people pay attention to them. If they have things to say that can provoke positive change within society, then it would be foolish of them to stay quiet.

Outside of the anthem, there’s lots of room for demonstration. We’ve seen teams wear shirts during warm-ups that talk about social issues. The Sixers could do something similar. Additionally, the Sixers players are available to the media before and after almost every game, and also after every practice. That’s a lot of screen time, microphone time, and overall press time that the players have to convey a message.

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It’s clear that there are still issues out there with racism, sexism, domestic violence, and so much more. While we can look at that negatively and say that we have so many problems in society, we could also see it as a great chance to improve as a society. We are becoming more aware of problems, and we need to use that to our advantage. Hopefully, Sixers players see that and can make some change in society of their own.

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The national anthem issue with Streeter should only make it more clear that intolerance might be closer to home than it may seem.