WNBA withdraws fines for player protests

Recently, members of the WNBA have been sporting warmup shirts to show support for the countless lives lost at the hands of police violence, and police officers who were murdered in retaliation.

On Saturday, the WNBA announced that it would withdraw its fines against teams and players, according to The Associated Press.

Earlier this month, the WNBA issued fines of $5,000 to each team and $500 to each player who didn’t comply with “league uniform guidelines”.

With the WNBA season now suspended due to the Olympics, Borders plans to use this time work with the players “to make their views known to their fans and the public and we have informed the players that we are rescinding the recently-imposed fines”.

“We are proud of WNBA players’ engagement and passionate advocacy for non-violent solutions to hard social issues but expect them to comply with the league’s uniform guidelines”, WNBA President Lisa Borders said in a statement provided to The Associated Press on Wednesday night.

One of the most active players in support of Black Lives Matter is Tina Charles, who was one of the only players who continued to break uniform code after the fines were given.

WNBA President Lisa Borders said in a statement Saturday the league was rescinding penalties given to the Indiana Fever, New York Liberty, Phoenix Mercury and their players for wearing the shirts during pregame protests, which began after shootings in Minnesota and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

“We’re sick and exhausted of waking up every morning and seeing something like this (shootings) happen”, Mystics player Ivory Latta said after her team played its final game before the Olympic break. “We have a social responsibility as well”. Meanwhile, each player received a $500 fine.

Some teams even held media blackouts (no pun) until they got support.

This was a smart move as, earlier in the week, sports talk show host Anita Marks called on the National Basketball Association stars to pay the fines brought about by their stance- since, after all, the WNBA and National Basketball Association are part and parcel to one another as an entity.

‘We were making every effort to engage our players, ‘ she said.

‘Our players are important to us. “We are united with police officers”, she said. We want them to be the people they are and we’re proud of them.

Several other teams also joined in on wearing the shirts after the fines were levied.

Charles was happy that the league rescinded the fines.