Last night, ESPN hosted the very first virtual edition of the ESPYs. With the Coronavirus, it wouldn't be responsible for ESPN to have a normal ceremony, so they went for something more lowkey. Throughout the broadcast, the various hosts wore Black Lives Matter shirts, and there was a big push towards social justice.
Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks was a large part of this and even got to deliver a moving speech that certainly had an impact. Wilson goes on to talk about George Floyd, as well as his children and the world they are going to have to live in when they are older.
“What if we didn’t know their names? What if they were never a part of the conversation?” Wilson said. “And there’s also this conversation: ‘I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.’ Those were George Floyd’s last words…Our country’s work is not anywhere close to done. We need justice. “I look at my children and I pray for a better future. A world where the color of their brown skin doesn’t stop them from their calling, from their purpose and from their destiny. I pray for a world where I don’t have to fear for my children from systemic racism due to hundreds of years of oppression. The only thing that must die is racism. Black Lives Matter.”
There is still a lot of progress to be made in this country but if there is one thing these recent protests prove, it's that we are on the right track.