Professional tennis player Naomi Osaka won her second U.S Open last week. Not only were her matches iconic, but her activism on the court was as well. She walked into Ashe Stadium two Mondays ago for her first-round match wearing a black face mask. The mask bore the name Breonna Taylor, who was murdered in her own home by the Louisville Police on March 31st. Naomi eventually brought seven different face masks with the names of Black people who had been killed in recent years. Breonna Taylor’s name was followed by Elijah McClain, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, George Floyd, Philando Castile and Tamir Rice.
When asked what message she wanted to send, Osaka responded with, “well, what was the message that you got was more the question. I feel like the point is to make people start talking.” She has stated several times that she has hopes that bringing awareness, even on social media platforms, will lead to more people discussing these tragedies and educating themselves. Touched by her act of activism, the mother of Trayvon Martin and the father of Ahmaud Arbery sent her heartfelt messages that thanked her for raising awareness. In an interview with Time, Osaka has said that she considers herself a “vessel at this point, in order to spread awareness”.
On May 5th, in a CNN interview, Osaka said that, “I have a lot of regrets before I go to sleep, and most of the regrets are due to, like, I don’t speak out about what I’m thinking”. A couple weeks later following Floyd’s death, she and her boyfriend, rapper Cordae, went to Minneapolis to join in a peaceful protest. Her activism even goes way back when she decided not to play the Western & Southern Open semifinal: “Before I am an athlete, I am a black woman”.
It is important to use your platform to spread awareness and help educate others. Some people are unaware of how these unjust murders are affecting Black people, especially Black youth. Spreading awareness is not just a simple retweet or repost. It is joining peaceful protests, reading about racism, educating others, etc. We are in a time where it seems like America does not care about African American lives. Every murder, every arrest, every beating, every stereotype, and every microaggression makes it harder for people to recognize the that all lives cannot matter until black lives matter too.
I hope that other athletes take note of Osaka’s activism and follow her example. Seeing NBA players such as Chris Paul paying homage to HBCUs by putting one school on his sneakers per game is another form of awareness that I love. No matter what you hear or what is going on in the country, please know that your black life matters and it always will.