Oklahoma’s Lady Tigers are taking the fight against racism to the court and their community
They aren’t pro athletes aglow on a field surrounded by cameras. They aren’t NCAA champions or national stars shipping off to an international tournament. They are just 14 high school women’s basketball players who took a knee during the national anthem.
They are a model for the future of racial and social justice in sports.
On March 11, Norman High School’s women’s basketball team, the defending state champions, were about to play against Midwest City in the quarterfinals of the Oklahoma state tournament. As the opening notes of the national anthem played over the speaker, the team began to kneel in unison, as they had all season. Later, players would tell local outlets the team decided together to follow Colin Kaepernick’s lead to bring a call for racial justice to athletics and spend the duration of the Star Spangled Banner with one knee on the floor. Those watch
Ben Crump Law, PLLC
Two prominent civil rights attorneys appeared on a virtual press conference Monday alongside the Norman High School girls basketball team to discuss the possibility of litigation against a broadcaster who swore at and used the n-word about them. Possible causes of actions would be the torts known as the negligent infliction of emotional distress and/or the intentional infliction of emotional distress, said Little Rock- and Chicago-based attorney Mike Laux, discussing potential legal action against announcer Matt Rowan and his Tahlequah-based company. Not at this time, but we are still looking at every aspect, said Florida-based civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who has represented the families of prominent slain Black Americans such as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, in response to a question about whether a lawsuit was currently being pursued.