The WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx Found Their Voice

ESPN Daily

ESPN

Sports

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 25 May 2021

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

One year ago, May 25, 2020, George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin. The event spurred protest, activism and action around the world. In sports, perhaps no entity was as prepared to deal with the resulting racial reckoning as the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx. Katie Barnes joins the show to share stories from the women of the Lynx. From personal experiences that inform their views on criminal justice, to how the team first took a stand against disproportionate police violence many years ago, the Lynx have been central to sports’ evolving relationship with athlete activism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Katie Barnes, it is May 25th, the date which exactly one year ago shook up the entire world,
0:12.7	starting in the streets and rattling the highest levels of corporate America.
0:17.5	Because it is the day that George Floyd was killed by police officer Derek
0:22.9	Chauvin in Minneapolis and so many organizations, so many leaders.
0:28.1	They found themselves wringing their figurative hands about what to say and whether to say
0:34.8	it.
0:35.3	But one WNBA team, the Minnesota Lynx, they were better prepared for that moment than any entity in America, really.
0:46.3	Yeah, I don't think you're wrong.
0:50.3	And a lot of that is because they've been here before.
0:53.3	Katie Barnes is a feature writer for ESPN and a proud graduate of St. Olaf College,
0:59.8	who claims Minnesota as their second home.
1:03.1	Philando Castile was killed in the Twin Cities area in the summer of 2016.
1:09.0	And the Minnesota links spoke out against that killing
1:14.0	in real time led by their players.
1:16.9	We have decided it is important to take a stand
1:18.9	and raise our voices.
1:20.8	Racial profiling is a problem.
1:23.1	Senseless violence is a problem.
1:26.0	And so when George Floyd was killed in the same area, there was absolutely no question that
1:30.3	the links were going to say something, that they were going to do something.
1:35.3	And it was going to be an organization-wide effort.
1:39.3	They just needed to make a decision about what it was that they were going to do and what message they wanted to convey.
	...

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