just a quick recap: on top of playing in a month-long tournament in a pandemic that disproportionately affects Black communities, Black women in the #NWSL had to debate their white teammates about their lived experiences. this, after taking on the burden of education. (1/5)

not to mention the several Black players who expressed in various interviews (PRIOR to the challenge cup) that they were carrying the weight of Black death and Black unrest with them into training, and were admittedly struggling in a way their white teammates were not. (2/5)

then, their pain was visibly exploited by the media in a way that truly crossed into voyeurism and were gaslit to the point of building their own Black players’ coalition in order to find desperately-needed communal support. meanwhile, white players who stood were protected (3/5)

by their teams from questions from the media, and the anthem continued to be played. despite all this being clearly exhausting, these women still delivered for their clubs on and off the field and played some of the best soccer of their careers. (4/5)

we need to talk about how massively the NWSL failed the Black women of its league. if anything, this exposes clear structural issues in the league’s front office. while i doubt intentional, this was abusive and violent exploitation and absolutely needs to be addressed. (5/5)

i’m trying not to victimize these women or be overly dramatic, but as a Black fan it’s beyond upsetting. it’s frustrating to see another “we <3 diversity” campaign exploit Black women for optics. i’m just hoping there was more support behind the scenes that we didn’t see.