Add the WNBA to the growing list of professional sports leagues who are protesting during the National Anthem.
On Saturday, ahead of the WNBA season opener, members of the Seattle Storm and New York Liberty walked of the court during the National Anthem.
Players say they are dedicating this season to victims of social injustice, and specifically, black women like Breonna Taylor.
CBS News has more:
The WNBA season kicked off Saturday with a statement against racial injustice. As the national anthem played before tip-off, Seattle Storm and New York Liberty players dropped their basketballs, walked off the court and back to their respective locker rooms.
Earlier this month, the league announced that the 2020 season will be dedicated to raising awareness about social justice issues. The effort includes warm-up uniforms with the messages "Say her name" and "Black Lives Matter" and the creation of a player-led Social Justice Council.
Before the season opener began, Liberty guard Layshia Clarendon and Storm forward Breanna Stewart addressed the Black Lives Matter movement and dedicated the season to Breonna Taylor, a Black emergency technician who was killed by police in her home in March.
"Breonna Taylor was dedicated and committed to uplifting everyone around her," Clarendon said. "We're also dedicating this season to Say Her Name campaign, a campaign committed to saying the names and fighting for justice for Black women, Black women who are so often forgotten in this fight for justice, who do not have people marching in the streets for them."
"We will say her name: Sandra Bland, Atatiana Jefferson, Dominique Remy Fells, and Breonna Taylor," Clarendon said. "We will be a voice for the voiceless."
For a league that has struggled to garner fans and be taken seriously for years, these ladies really missed an opportunity to gain any ground by choosing this route.
Fans everywhere are already boycotting the NFL, MLB, and NBA over kneeling for social justice related protests during the National Anthem.
The good news is, the WNBA will probably be least effected by these actions as nobody really watches anyway.
At this rate, professional sports may be completely dead by 2021.
Maybe that's not a bad thing though.
Kids need real role models in their lives.
For too long, they've looked up to poor excuses for role models in the form of spoiled professional athletes.
It's due time for kids to look up to the true heroes in this country like our military men and women, police officers, firefighters, doctors, and nurses.
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