Game On, Washington! Examining American Sport’s Response to the Uvalde Massacre

On May 24, 2022, a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. In the aftermath, stakeholders within and across sports came together to call for political action around gun control. These included individual athletes (e.g., Natasha Cloud of the Washington...

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Main Authors: M. Blair Thomas, Jamie Levine Daniel
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Midwest Public Affairs Conference 2022-11-01
Series:Journal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs
Subjects:
Online Access:http://jpna.org/index.php/jpna/article/view/806
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author M. Blair Thomas
Jamie Levine Daniel
author_facet M. Blair Thomas
Jamie Levine Daniel
author_sort M. Blair Thomas
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description On May 24, 2022, a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. In the aftermath, stakeholders within and across sports came together to call for political action around gun control. These included individual athletes (e.g., Natasha Cloud of the Washington Mystics and DeMarcus Lawrence of the Dallas Cowboys), as well as coaches (e.g., Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs and Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors). In addition, the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees coordinated their Twitter feeds to focus on gun violence statistics during a game, and the Miami Heat’s public address announcer, on behalf of the team, encouraged fans to call their state senators. In this essay, we examine the factors contributing to this coalescence. We build on relevant public administration scholarship that has examined the roles of athletes as social constructors and their impact on the administrative state. We contextualize this scholarship alongside the widespread public support for some measure of gun control. We also discuss future research avenues to examine the ongoing impacts of athlete protests.
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spelling doaj.art-50dcdbeaabdd4dd38b8bd4cb5a18a3b72022-12-22T02:52:16ZengMidwest Public Affairs ConferenceJournal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs2381-37172022-11-0110.20899/jpna.8.3.1-10Game On, Washington! Examining American Sport’s Response to the Uvalde MassacreM. Blair Thomas0Jamie Levine Daniel1University of OregonIUPUI On May 24, 2022, a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. In the aftermath, stakeholders within and across sports came together to call for political action around gun control. These included individual athletes (e.g., Natasha Cloud of the Washington Mystics and DeMarcus Lawrence of the Dallas Cowboys), as well as coaches (e.g., Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs and Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors). In addition, the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees coordinated their Twitter feeds to focus on gun violence statistics during a game, and the Miami Heat’s public address announcer, on behalf of the team, encouraged fans to call their state senators. In this essay, we examine the factors contributing to this coalescence. We build on relevant public administration scholarship that has examined the roles of athletes as social constructors and their impact on the administrative state. We contextualize this scholarship alongside the widespread public support for some measure of gun control. We also discuss future research avenues to examine the ongoing impacts of athlete protests. http://jpna.org/index.php/jpna/article/view/806ActivismAthletesGun ViolenceSocial ConstructionSocial Equity
spellingShingle M. Blair Thomas
Jamie Levine Daniel
Game On, Washington! Examining American Sport’s Response to the Uvalde Massacre
Journal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs
Activism
Athletes
Gun Violence
Social Construction
Social Equity
title Game On, Washington! Examining American Sport’s Response to the Uvalde Massacre
title_full Game On, Washington! Examining American Sport’s Response to the Uvalde Massacre
title_fullStr Game On, Washington! Examining American Sport’s Response to the Uvalde Massacre
title_full_unstemmed Game On, Washington! Examining American Sport’s Response to the Uvalde Massacre
title_short Game On, Washington! Examining American Sport’s Response to the Uvalde Massacre
title_sort game on washington examining american sport s response to the uvalde massacre
topic Activism
Athletes
Gun Violence
Social Construction
Social Equity
url http://jpna.org/index.php/jpna/article/view/806
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AT jamielevinedaniel gameonwashingtonexaminingamericansportsresponsetotheuvaldemassacre