In wake of the Philando Castile and Alton Sterling killings last week, there have been “Black Lives Matter” protests all across the country. Tensions between the black community and law enforcement are arguably at the highest they’ve been in a handful of years, especially considering the ambush-style shooting at a Dallas protest that left four cops dead following the Castile and Sterling incidents.
On Monday night, members of the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx addressed those tensions and called for an end to racial profiling. As a result, police officers assigned to work the team’s game quit on the spot.
Four off-duty Minneapolis police officers working the Minnesota Lynx game at Target Center on Saturday night walked off the job after the players held a news conference denouncing racial profiling, then wore Black Lives Matter pregame warm-up jerseys.
Lt. Bob Kroll, president of the Minneapolis Police Federation, the union that represents rank-and-file officers, praised them for quitting. “I commend them for it,” he said.
Prior to the game, Lynx players wore black T-shirts that read “Change starts with us, justice and accountability.” On the back, the shirts displayed Philando Castile’s and Alton Sterling’s names along with “Black Lives Matter” and a Dallas Police Department emblem.