WNBA: Chicago Sky’s Brianna Turner talks DNC, voting and activism

If anybody greatest embodies the mantra “greater than an athlete,” it might be Chicago Sky ahead Brianna Turner.

The outspoken five-year WNBA veteran has been lending her voice to social and political causes from the second she got here into the league in 2019 with the Phoenix Mercury. She slot in fairly properly. One yr later, throughout the top of COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter motion, the league was main the cost on the pertinent problems with police violence, racism and voting rights. WNBA gamers additionally have been instrumental within the election of Rev. Raphael Warnock to the US Senate, serving to him defeat then-Atlanta Dream proprietor and Georgia incumbent Senator Kelly Loeffler in a vital runoff election after she made incendiary remarks concerning the Black Lives Matter motion.

From there, Turner has harnessed her activism in varied methods.

She has recurrently used her social media platform to name consideration to social points. Turner is outspoken on every thing from reproductive rights to LGBTQ+ rights. She additionally advocates for trans inclusion in sports activities, which has been weaponized as a wedge problem in some conservative segments of American society. In 2022, she was on the frontlines in calling for the discharge of her Mercury teammate Brittney Griner from a Russia penal colony. She additionally earned her grasp’s diploma in social justice and human rights from Arizona State College.

Turner beforehand served as a Vice President on the WNBPA Govt Committee, which is concerned in every thing from the collective bargaining settlement to the league’s social justice efforts. This yr, she is Treasurer, whereas her Sky teammate Elizabeth Williams is the Secretary.

Photograph by Barry Gossage/NBAE by way of Getty Photographs

“It’s actually thrilling to be part of it and see the behind the scenes stuff,” she stated of her WNBPA work in an interview with Swish Attraction.

Now because the nation heads right into a vital election season, the gamers of the WNBA are as soon as once more seeking to do their half. Nneka Ogwumike is heading LeBron James’ “Extra Than A Vote” group, which can concentrate on getting out the vote by amplifying the difficulty of reproductive rights. Gamers within the league are already rallying behind the Democratic ticket of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

Turner was current on the current Democratic Nationwide Conference in Chicago, watching Vice President Harris settle for the nomination alongside teammates Williams and Michaela Onyenwere.

Turner, adopting the activist spirit that WNBA gamers have lengthy embraced, understands the duty at hand.

“I believe it’s actually necessary,” she stated. “We’ve been very vocal about completely different social justice measures and we’re at all times very vocal round election time. Make sure that folks vote, register to vote, whether or not they’re voting by mail, voting in individual, voting early. So ensuring all of the followers have all of the assets they should make an knowledgeable determination.”

Turner says her enterprise into activism merely comes from being an knowledgeable citizen. In a society which tends to discourage athletes from turning into concerned in exterior ventures resembling politics, she has taken the alternative route.

“I believe simply the surface world, lived experiences, studying about stuff, seeing stuff, product of my setting, I assume,” she stated. Given nearly all of gamers within the WNBA are girls of shade and/or determine as LGBTQ+, it isn’t arduous to grasp the political, social and cultural dynamics that compel gamers to talk out.

Because the election season, identical to the WNBA season, heats up, there’s certain to be loads of depth to go round. Within the thick of it, Brianna Turner seems to the ability of the vote to calm any nerves, quell any uncertainty and dispel any skepticism concerning the potential of on a regular basis residents to make a distinction.

“I’d undoubtedly say each vote issues,” she stated. “I believe some folks don’t assume so due to the Electoral Faculty, however I believe if you’ll be able to vote, you’ve a chance to vote and also you’re allowed to vote, you need to take that chance and probability and vote. Take a buddy to vote, dad and mom, household and make a bunch effort to get out and vote.”