Members of the University men’s basketball team began posting a photo to social media Thursday night depicting 16 teammates dressed in black and kneeling on the John Paul Jones basketball court with arms linked. Captions attached to the social media posts read, “Kneel for Injustice. Kneel for Equality.”
The photo was taken in the wake of San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s decision to sit for the national anthem. Since Kaepernick first protested the national anthem, both professional and college athletes have begun following suit and adding their support in different ways.
Third-year forward Isaiah Wilkins took to Instagram and posted the picture with a caption that included a quote from civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as Wilkin’s personal thoughts about taking action with his teammates.
“It means so much that we could come together and do this as a team,” Wilkins’ post read. “Regardless of the attention that this gets and the positive and negative responses know that I’m with y’all.”
First-year shooting guard Kyle Guy posted the photo to Instagram as well and complemented it with a caption which spoke to his love for his brothers and also included a Tupac quote.
“I love my brothers. We are united. We are kneeling for equality because all lives matter. From police to our soldiers to the LGBT community to every race there is,” Guy’s post read. “God created us as equal beings.”
Some of the teammates used Twitter to publicize the picture.
Third-year guard Marial Shayok posted the image and tweeted he is “aiming to make the world a better place with my brothers.”
Fourth-year guard London Perrantes posted the picture on both Instagram and Twitter.
“Kneel for Injustice. Kneel for Equality,” Perrantes tweeted. “Using our platform to help [create] change. Together!”
Most of the other teammates who posted the black and white filtered photo on social media simply did so using a caption which read, “Kneel for Injustice. Kneel for Equality.”
Assistant athletics director for public relations Erich Bachner declined to comment on the picture, except to reference a tweet sent out by Virginia Head Coach of the basketball team Tony Bennett.
“Our guys realize there are a lot of issues going on in our country,” Bennett tweeted through Virginia Basketball’s twitter account. “I support their desire to promote peace and equality.”
University basketball players declined to individually comment at this time.
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