Chicago Sky players Elizabeth Williams, Brianna Turner and Michaela Onyenwere embraced hope Tuesday as they attended the second day of the Democratic National Convention.
Sky owner Michael Alter coordinated passes for the players to attend the convention, which is taking place at the United Center from Aug. 19-22. Tuesday’s programming included the ceremonial roll call, which formalized Kamala Harris’ nomination as the party’s candidate for president.
Appearances by Barack and Michelle Obama were a surprise highlight for Onyenwere and her teammates. Turner also caught up with U.S. transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, who she previously knew from his tenure as the mayor of South Bend, Ind., while she played at Notre Dame.
For all three players, the most meaningful experience of the night was the Democratic party’s movement to confirm a Black woman as their presidential nominee.
“It meant everything,” Onyenwere said. “I’m not an emotional person — like, at all. But just to see the emotions from different people, from people who look like me, it’s just so important. Seeing somebody who is in that light do what you can do as well — I can’t even put it into words. It’s so powerful, so inspiring. It’s just everything for young Black girls and boys.”
The intersection of sports and politics is often fraught with debate over whether athletes should use their platform to advocate for their personal beliefs. But in the WNBA, that’s never been a question.
WNBA players began kneeling for the national anthem in opposition to police brutality in July 2016, a month before quarterback Colin Kaepernick started his anthem protest that sparked athlete activism throughout the country. Williams was an integral part of the Atlanta Dream roster that collectively organized to oust former team owner Kelly Loeffler from the U.S. Senate in 2020 — a campaign that resulted in flipping a Republican seat for Democrat Raphael Warnock, who spoke on the opening day of the convention.
“A lot of people see sports as an escape,” Turner said. “They get to clock out of their job and watch a sport to kind of take their mind off of things. But at the end of the day, like yes, we’re athletes, but at the same time we’re humans, we’re voters. We live in the same world. So I know a lot of people might see it as, like, ‘Well, why can’t they just shoot and dribble and do all these other things?’ But we’re humans first, athletes second. And we have a voice. So why can’t we use it?”
Williams and Turner are actively involved in the WNBA Players Association — Williams is the secretary of the union and Turner is the treasurer. Although she is sidelined for the rest of the season with a knee injury, Williams has been active off the court for the WNBA and in local organizing, which included speaking at a reception for Planned Parenthood Illinois Action on Monday.
All three players embrace the league’s long-standing legacy of advocacy and activism — which they believe has been reflected throughout the convention.
“Hope is a great thing to cling onto as a nation, especially in the position that we’re in,” Onyenwere said. “We’ve been in this weird political tension era for the last few years, so giving that sense of hope to people — that things can be different, things can change — is super inspiring.”