Voting rights and access has been one of the biggest areas NBA players focused their efforts in securing the NBA’s and team owners’ help as a condition of ending Wednesday’s work stoppage sparked by the Milwaukee Bucks’ protest.
Asked about why it was so important to players, Boston Celtics All-Star swingman Jayson Tatum gave a very straightforward reply.
“Voting is at the top, just understand and look at the numbers,” he explained. “How many people didn’t vote that would qualify to vote in the last election?”
“The percent of NBA players that didn’t vote or aren’t even registered to vote — that’s a big problem. Voter suppression is something that’s real; us trying to open up the arenas for voting booths is a big thing. Because, you understand, that a lot of times in Black and brown communities, people have to wait 30 [minutes] to an hour, hour and a half to vote, which is extremely inconvenient, [and]where in other communities that’s just not the case.”
“So, just using our resources to get more access,” he added, “just to raise awareness for some people.”
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— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) August 27, 2020
Tatum isn’t just making up figures here; they are backed up by science, with most Black and brown communities tending to take longer — sometimes egregiously so — than majority white communities.
And while he didn’t mention it, with an ongoing pandemic, the large, open spaces of arenas may also make a safer place to vote.
In the end, the Bucks’ unplanned decision to protest Game 5 ended up securing increased voting access — and while it may have ruffled some feathers in the process, the outcome is more than worth the confusion it caused.
