Four Minneapolis police officers walked off the job at the Target Center in Minneapolis in on Saturday in response to Minnesota Lynx players wearing Black Lives Matters shirts during warmups.
The WNBA players wore black shirts with the message “Change Starts with Us: Justice & Accountability” in white on the front. On the back, the shirt contained a Dallas police department emblem, the names of two African American men killed by police in Minnesota and Louisiana, and the words “Black Lives Matter.”
Five Dallas law enforcement officers lost their lives at a Black Lives Matter protest last week when a radical opened fire on the cops along the march’s route.
Like the Lynx, the WNBA and NBA attempted to link cops killing men in Baton Rouge and St. Paul with an extremist intentionally murdering police in Dallas.
“I commend them for it,” Lieutenant Bob Kroll, president of the Minneapolis Police Federation, told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune about the officers exiting Target Arena. He points out that the cops provide security at the arena as independent contractors rather than as part of their duties as city employees. They can walk off the job without consequence in their regular jobs.
The Lynx boast a 16-4 record, good for second best in the 12-team WNBA. The franchise currently plays as a dynasty of sorts, winning titles in 2011, 2013, and 2015. But the reigning WNBA champs hear boo birds from their city’s men and women in blue.
“Others said they heard about it and they were not going to work Lynx games,” Kroll told the newspaper. “If [the Lynx players] are going to keep their stance,” he continued, “all officers may refuse to work there.”