An Open Letter to the WNBA
- Alicea Ulmer
- Jul 22, 2016
- 2 min read
Dear WNBA,
As a female athlete and fan of the game, I was saddened to hear about the fines issued to WNBA teams and players. While I understand the point of your fine was due to a lack of compliance with your uniform guidelines, I do not feel as if it justified the matter. The women’s game is much underappreciated, and in our best interest we should always stick together. What message are you sending to young girls aspiring to play in your game?
In the wake of the Orlando tragedies, shirts were made and given to every team to wear, there were pride games, players even went so far as to writing the victims’ names on their sneakers. Athletes are often called upon to use their platform to help fight social injustices, with so little recognition these WNBA teams were trying to do just that. Just because you are pro black, does not mean you can’t stand for anything else.
NBA players voice their opinions all the time, they wore shirts two years ago after the Eric Garner tragedy in support for the black lives matters cause. The Minnesota Lynx wore shirts supporting the African Americans killed due to police brutality in recent weeks, but they also honored the officers who were gunned down with a “Dallas 5” hashtag. Off duty cops who were supposed to work their game walked out the arena, while I understand their personal feelings, they were in a professional environment and that should be frowned upon. To combat that players stayed with the league sponsorship and purchased black t-shirts with the Adidas logo. This was their protest and now you’re trying to take that right from them.
You want them to voice their opinions and stand for what they believe, but on your terms is the message many young women like myself get from this. This issue directly affects a majority of your league having a large percentage of African American players. Having an African American female as president of our league, and many other women in high positions, I would expect everyone to be united. We already have overcame so much and still have so much to overcome gaining respect to play a sport that we love. Young women like myself, look up to these players who are showing us strength, courage and dedication to play this game, and open doors for the next generation. I admire their courage to speak out on issues that directly affect me and many others like me.
I’m not sure how far this letter will go, but as a former student-athlete and aspiring sports journalist, I felt the need to voice my opinion and show support for the players whom I admire that are trying to make a difference. Fans of the game and the players need to know they have the league’s support. Let’s not be a league divided. This is bigger than basketball!
Sincerely,
A disappointed fan.
Alicea Ulmer
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