the social consciousness that has characterized the summer of 2020 in the united states has led to a confrontation between wnba players and kelly loeffler, a u.s. senator from the state of georgia and co-owner of the wnba franchise the atlanta dream (atlanta is the capital of georgia). in an article in the daily mail, alex raskin reports…
the republican loeffler stirred controversy when she appeared on fox news and termed black armed protesters in atlanta ‘mob rule.’ georgia is an open carry state, and on her website, loeffler boasted about her support for ‘legislation to protect the second amendment rights of all american citizens during increasingly turbulent times.
republican is the more conservative of the two principal political parties in the u.s. president trump is also a republican. stir means cause.
stirring a cup of tea (pond5.com)
term means define, describe. mob rule means large, loosely organized groups have political control through the use of violence and intimidation. open carry means it is legal for anyone (with a license) to openly carry a gun in the state of georgia. boast means say with pride/arrogance. the second amendment of the u.s. constitution protects the right to keep and bear arms. increasingly is the adverb equivalent of increase. it means more and more.
cool tesol 🏀 richyrocks english on youtube
a white guy from the american revolution bearing an arm (empire: total war wiki)
in other words, loeffler is supporting a double standard (different rules for different groups): supposedly protecting gun rights for everybody but changing her opinion when black people have the guns. several wnba players tweeted about this hypocrisy. atlanta dream guard renee montgomery observed….
The second amendment is a part of the Bill of Rights. The problem some may be having is who is bearing the arms. #MomentsEqualMomentum https://t.co/4jUryvql2l
— Renee Montgomery (@itsreneem_) June 26, 2020
bear means carry. a tweet from washington mystics guard natasha cloud called for the dream to oust (get rid of) loeffler…
Get her weak ass out of our league. https://t.co/wcWqJNIWtK
— Natasha Cloud (@T_Cloud4) July 4, 2020
ass is used for emphasis in referring to senator loeffler and her weakness. it’s a noun. jay-z uses it similarly in this lyric from his classic rap dead presidents.
i’ll forgive your weak ass; hustling just ain’t u
forgive means pardon. hustle means finding a way to make money on the streets. ain’t is an informal way to say isn’t. listen for the lyric at 2:30.
weak-ass is also frequently applied as an adjective. kevin costner used it like this in the baseball movie bull durham.
costner uses meat to insult the intelligence of the pitcher. shit is referring to a specific pitch.
loeffler fuelled the fire (made people more angry) by repeating a common white person response to black lives matter in a letter to wnba commissioner cathy engelbert. raskin says that ….
loeffler warned against allowing players to wear warmup jerseys reading ‘black lives matter’ and ‘say her name,’ instead calling on the league to mandate that an american flag be placed on all team apparel.
wear is the verb to use when talking about the clothes u have on, NOT use, even though use is a more obvious translation for the spanish usar. warmups are what players wear before the games. warmup can be a noun. it is used here as an adjective (describing the noun jersey). warm up is the phrasal verb equivalent. say her name is a social movement that recognizes black women who are killed by the police or anti-african-american violence. instead is used to offer an alternative. mandate is an order or approval. apparel is clothing.
breonna taylor was murdered by police in her apartment in march of this year (aapf.org)
the article explains that…
the decision to wear the BLM warmups comes in the wake of weeks of protests sparked by the death of george floyd, an unarmed black man who died under the knee of a white police officer in minneapolis [minnesota, u.s.]
in the wake of means as a result of. spark means provoke. unarmed means george floyd didn’t have a gun.
the murder of george floyd sparked protests around the world. (darnella frazier / associated press)
loeffler offered more white person rhetoric–that sports are entertainment and athletes should reject any political messages…
[adhering to a] particular political agenda undermines the potential of the sport and sends a message of exclusion. the truth is, we need less—not more politics in sports. in a time when polarizing politics is as divisive as ever, sports has the power to be a unifying antidote. and now more than ever, we should be united in our goal to remove politics from sports.
adhere to means follow. undermine means ruin. as divisive as ever uses the as adjective as structure with ever to communicate that divisive politics are at a high point. similarly now more than ever uses a comparative with ever to give the idea that now is the most important time–it is the title of this hopeful john mellencamp song .
the headline of the article summarizes the loeffler’s opinion like this…
US Senator and WNBA team co-owner Kelly Loeffler slams the league’s decision to honor the BLM movement as top players push for her removal
slam means criticize.
atlanta dream owner kelly loeffler slammed the wnba for supporting black lives matter.
commissioner engelbert wasn’t convinced by senator loeffler’s proposal. she released a statement that says…
we are incredibly proud of wnba players who continue to lead with their inspiring voices and effective actions in the league’s dedicated fight against systemic racism and violence. systemic change can’t happen overnight, but it is our shared responsibility to do everything we can to raise awareness and promote the justice we hope to see in society.
proud means satisfied, happy. overnight in this context means immediately, soon. aware means conscious, people know. adding the suffix -ness creates the noun equivalent: awareness. it is frequently used with the verb raise to mean increase.
natasha cloud is not playing in the wnba’s reduced 2020 season. she will instead dedicate her time to fighting for social justice and raising social awareness. (rich von biberstein/icon sportswire via getty images)
the english practice extra for this post has examples of:
- vocabulary analyzed above: wore (the irregular past tense of wear), and in the wake of.
- vocabulary analyzed in other posts on richyrocks.com: remind, encourage, slightly, quote, compromise, and rescind.
- new vocabulary: spotlight, herstory, outraged and ultimately.
should kelly loeffler sell her share of the atlanta dream and leave the wnba? share your thoughts under leave a reply
