Naomi Osaka has mentioned that she’s not going to play in the semifinals of the Southern & Western Open tennis tournament Thursday in protest of the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
“Before I am an athlete, I am a Black woman. And as a Black woman I feel as though there are much more important matters at hand that need immediate attention, rather than watching me play tennis,” the Japanese tennis star wrote in a long post on Twitter.
“I don’t expect anything drastic to happen with me not playing, but if I can get a conversation started in a majority white sport I consider that a step in the right direction.”
“Watching the continued genocide of Black people at the hand of police is honestly making me sick to my stomach. I’m exhausted of having a new hashtag pop up every few days and I’m extremely tired of having this same conversation over and over again,” Osaka continued. “When will it ever be enough? #JacobBlake, #BreonnaTaylor, #ElijahMcclain, #GeorgeFloyd.”
We need more of this energy. Enough is enough.
