I’m not sure who needs to see this on my timeline, but please realize sports have ALWAYS been intertwined with issues beyond the field of play, one way or another.

A thread: (1/x)

During the Vietnam War, Muhammad Ali went to the Supreme Court to appeal the U.S. 5th Circuit’s rejection of his conscientious objector status.

The greatest boxer ever, during his prime, was stripped of his titles and boxing license for refusing to fight in Vietnam. (2/n)

At the 1968 México City Olympics, Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists during the Star-Spangled Banner. Australian Peter Norman has an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge to show solidarity with Carlos and Smith.

All three were ostracized upon returning home. (3/n)

Smith and Carlos were called words like “ignoble,” “juvenile,” and “unimaginative” by Brent Musberger.

After facing similar amounts of criticism, Norman didn’t receive a formal apology from Australia’s government until 2012, six years after his death. (4/n)

Speaking of Mexico City, students across the city protested their hosting, coming from Mexico’s government spending massive amounts on funding facilities.

Ten days before the opening ceremony, Mexico’s armed forces fired upon student protesters, killing hundreds. (5/n)

Ninety-six Liverpool fans died due to police negligence at Hillsborough in 1989.

However, it wasn’t until 2016 that justice would be brought, as South Yorkshire Police tried to cover the disaster up, blaming L’pool fans for supposedly reckless behavior that wasn’t the case (6/n)

Sticking with soccer, we can look at Qatar, where migrant workers have gone unpaid for their labor in building the country’s 2022 World Cup stadia, on top of living in what Yahoo! Sports call “quasi-slavery” conditions. (7/n)

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/06/qatar-migrant-workers-unpaid-for-months-fifa-world-cup-stadium/

https://sports.yahoo.com/qatar-world-cup-unpaid-workers-slavery-fifa-amnesty-international-193121993.html

Let’s not forget Jesse Owens, who upon having one of the greatest solo athlete performances at the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany, was forced to use the freight elevator to attend his own reception.

President Roosevelt never invited him to White House to honor his triumphs. (8/n)

Eleven members of Israel’s 1972 Olympic delegation were killed by Black September; one part of the greater conflict between Israel and Palestine.

Then-IOC President Avery Bundage let the games go on in a now-criticized decision. The IOC didn’t honor victims until 2016. (9/n)

Babe Didrikson Zaharias, one of the GREATEST athletes, was ridiculed for being a woman in sports, and was told she should’ve “prettied up and waited for the phone to ring” by Joe Williams of the N.Y. World-Telegram.

Tell that to her two Olympic golds and 10 LPGA titles. (10/n)

This thread will NEVER end. There is a limitless amount of moments where sports intersect with race, politics, human rights, sexism, worker’s rights, religion, and so much more.

Which is why sports will never be removed from politics. Sports is inherently political. (11/11)