The Olympics began with an occasionally somber opening ceremony acknowledging the ravages of COVID-19 that forced this global sports event to be postponed for a year.
The 25-year-old English teacher said he questions whether Hachimura’s popularity and symbolism will be enough to stifle the discrimination he faces on a daily basis change the minds of landlords who refuse to rent to him because of his skin color, children who ask if it will wash off or police who stop and search him without a warrant, saying people with dreadlocks like him “tend to carry drugs.”
“The country is only on our side when it wants to be,” he said.
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Japan Failed to Improve LGBTQ Rights Ahead of the Olympics. Japanese Athletes Are Coming Out Anyway Time 13 hrs ago © Shiho Fukada The New York Times/Redux Shiho Shimoyamada, a soccer player and one of a tiny handful of professional athletes in Japan who have publicly come out as gay, in Tokyo, May 31, 2021.
Shiho Shimoyamada had just moved from Japan to Germany to play soccer professionally in 2017 when German lawmakers voted to legalize same-sex marriage. She and her teammates were on the bus home from a match, and the news brought animated conversations from LGBTQ players about how the decision would improve their lives.
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