The NBA season is officially underway with the start of the preseason, and we have our first notable protest. The Toronto Raptors hosted the Golden State Warriors on Saturday, and the Raptors all linked arms during the playing of the US and Canadian National Anthems.
Raptors linking arms during the anthems pic.twitter.com/ruEOcnfMQD
— Omar A (@omarcanuck) October 1, 2016
The Raptors linking arms follows along with what we’ve seen the Seattle Seahawks and some other NFL teams do thus far this season. There have been debates over the power of this vs. taking a knee vs. raising a fist, but reaction to Doug Baldwin’s decision to help organize the Seahawks linking arms has proven that is plenty powerful. Baldwin made an appearance on 60 Minutes Sports recently, and he said he has received various threats for his actions and statements.
In the interview, Baldwin followed Kaepernick’s lead in saying that if something were to happen to him because of this, it would only go to prove their point that these issues do exist. He also said that he is focused on the police training aspect of things. Last week, Baldwin asked for all state attorney generals to conduct a review of police training procedures. The Washington state attorney general has already reached out to speak with Baldwin.