Azura Stevens on WNBA players’ activism: 'We took a stand not for recognition, but because it was the right thing to do'

In a year as bleak as 2020 for sport, one of the few redeeming factors has been the dawn of the athlete empowerment era. If a handful of athletes spoke their mind and weighed in on political issues earlier, the past year saw athletes the world over take a stance against racism, by symbolically taking the knee. One of the strongest indicators of this perhaps came when WNBA players spoke out against Senator Kelley Loeffler—who co-owned Atlanta Dream—over her stance about the Black Lives Matter movement. This eventually led to Loeffler having to sell the team. WNBA players had earlier also actively campaigned for Senator Loeffler’s Democratic opponent, Reverend Raphael Warnock, in her 2020 Georgia senate runoff in January, leading the Republican incumbent to lose. Their activism earned them a lot of plaudits and recognition the world over. WNBA star Azura Stevens, however, insisted that their stance was not about the recognition. “What we saw happen in Georgia with the senator, we got a lot of recognition for that. But we didn’t do any of the things that we did for recognition. We did it because it was the right thing to do. That’s what a lot of the players and this whole league stands for,” Azura told Indian journalists on Saturday from her home in the US. “Innocent Black lives shouldn’t be taken, that’s continuing to happen. We’re going to keep taking a stand, no matter how long it takes, and no matter what we have to do for that. We’re definitely getting recognition, and it’s nice. But we’re doing it because it is the right thing to do. “We’re just in a day and age where athletes are realising their power like never before. The thing with the senator definitely showed the power that we have as athletes. But I think we’re still tapping into the bare minimum. It’s only going to go up from here,” said the Chicago Sky power forward, who hosted a session via video conferencing with promising kids from the Reliance Foundation Junior NBA on Saturday. She pointed at the recent controversy at the NCAA collegiate level in USA in the past week where the disparity between the facilities offered to male and female athletes became very obvious. “I think athlete activism is starting to seep down to the collegiate level now. Earlier it was like you never really said anything if you were younger,” said Azura, who admitted to seeing the disparity at the collegiate level when she was growing up too. She said she wished she too had spoken out back when she was in college. “It’s the unknown… When you don’t know how something is going to pan out you’re more hesitant to do something. But now we’re in a day and age where there is no more holding back on any level,” said Azura, who played for the Connecticut Huskies at the collegiate level. While this is the era of athlete activism, the 25-year-old believes that athletes who don’t want to speak out publicly on political or social issues should also be given their space. “Taking a stand or not really depends on each athlete. Some athletes do want to dedicate their time to their craft. When I watched the Michael Jordan documentary (The Last Dance) he talked about that, how he just wanted to focus on basketball. There’s nothing wrong with that. If that’s your decision and that’s what you want to do, that’s your choice. It doesn’t mean MJ wasn’t fighting for stuff behind the scenes. People just didn’t see (what he was doing). We’re in a weird day and age now with social media where people are getting recognition for things. But it doesn’t mean that people are actually doing it. “It doesn’t matter if it’s online, just as long as you’re doing it. There’s a time and place to stand up for things… My approach is just doing things in my community and things behind the scenes. I’m not a person to do a bunch of stuff for recognition. Just do the right thing, and do it whether someone’s watching or not.”