Biden praises WNBA champs for social justice activism

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden honored the 2020 WNBA champions Seattle Storm connected Monday, celebrating their occurrence connected the tribunal and hailing the four-time rubric holders for changing lives with their activism.

The sojourn marked the archetypal clip that an NBA oregon WNBA squad has visited the White House since the Cleveland Cavaliers were feted by Barack Obama successful 2016.

Presidents typically big assemblage and large league sports champions for a White House ceremony. But the 2 large hoops leagues skipped specified celebrations during Donald Trump's medication arsenic respective salient players and coaches were outspoken astir their absorption to Trump's rhetoric and policies.

Biden marveled astatine the squad and its feats connected the court. The squad includes 3 players who won golden medals arsenic portion of Team USA’s women’s hoops team astatine this summer’s Olympic games—Sue Bird, Jewell Lloyd and Breanna Stewart. The 3 presented Biden with a souvenir Storm jersey.

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Biden besides took a infinitesimal to enactment squad members' efforts to spotlight the contented of constabulary brutality successful Black communities, beforehand elector registration, talk retired astir unit against transgendered radical and promote Americans to get vaccinated.

“What makes this squad singular is they don’t conscionable triumph games, they alteration lives,” Biden said. “That’s what winners do. They radiance the airy and assistance radical up. They’re a unit for change. That’s the Seattle Storm, that’s the WNBA.”

Storm co-owner Ginny Gilder besides praised the team's activism and noted WNBA players' efforts past twelvemonth connected behalf of Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff successful their winning Senate campaigns successful Georgia.

Warnock defeated Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, co-owner of the Atlanta Dream. Loeffler, an state of Trump, came nether disapproval from WNBA players for attacks connected the Black Lives Matter movement. Loeffler and her chap owners sold the squad this year.

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“It feels bully to beryllium backmost successful this spot and person our achievements celebrated successful this way,” Stewart said successful little remarks astatine the ceremony.

Before the visit, Bird said that with Trump retired of office, she was blessed to sojourn the White House “now that it’s backmost successful a spot wherever it’s considered an honor.”

Many WNBA players, including Bird, person been outspoken successful their clasp of societal justness movements specified arsenic Black Lives Matter, which Trump characterized arsenic a violent, extremist ideology. Trump was besides captious of Bird’s fiancée, U.S. shot prima Megan Rapinoe.

“I deliberation for a precise agelong time, up until 2016, going to the White House was an grant — it wasn’t needfully political," Bird said earlier the visit. “It was to conscionable the president of the United States. The idiosyncratic who holds that bureau acknowledging your team’s success.”

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During his campaigns and presidency, Trump got successful respective nationalist spats with salient athletes and coaches who person sought to usage their personage to spotlight societal justness and different issues.

Trump lashed retired astatine Stephen Curry and his Golden State Warrior teammates successful 2017 aft they declined the customary White House invitation. The Republican besides has repeatedly feuded with Lakers’ prima LeBron James, who was an outspoken professional of Trump and endorsed Hillary Clinton and Biden's White House runs.

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