Earlier this week, the Milwaukee Bucks led a boycott of NBA playoff games, now members of the league office are following suit. Friday morning (Aug 28), an email inquiry returned a “virtual out of office message.”
The automatic reply from a league staff member opened with “I am virtually walking out of the office in opposition to systemic racism and police brutality in this country.”
The message also reads, “I will not be responding to any work emails. Instead, I will be taking the day to contact state and local officials to demand justice for Jacob Blake and for the police officers involved to be held accountable. See below for contact information if you feel inclined to do the same.”
The contact information included Kenosha’s District Attorney, Mayor and City Administrator, City Attorney, and the Wisconsin Department of Justice. In addition, two petitions were included that called for the officer who shot Blake and the officers involved in the shooting to be charged.
The email also suggests donations to the Milwaukee Freedom Fund, an organization that supports local protestors and will be extending its support to protestors in Kenosha, while highlighting a GoFundMe for Blake’s Family. The GoFundMe assists in “medical bills, legal representation, support for his children and therapy costs.”
Near the end of the reply, an email states an effort to reach out to local New York City representatives to defund the police and reallocate those funds to the community. The League office is based in New York City.
The boycott sparked by the Milwaukee Bucks led to all three NBA playoff Game 5s to be postponed. A source to ESPN states the NBA Players met Thursday morning in agreement to continue to playoffs.
The information included in the out of office reply is available below:
Kenosha District Attorney: 262-653-2400, Michael.Graveley@da.wi.gov
· Kenosha Mayor and City Administrator: 262-653-4000, mayor@kenosha.org, cityadministrator@kenosha.org
· Kenosha City Attorney:262-653-4170, webcityattorney@kenosha.org, Edward Antaramian at eantaramian@kenosha.org.
· Wisconsin DOJ: 608-266-1221
· Sign Color of Change’s petition calling for the firing and arrest of the officer who shot Blake
· Sign Change.org’s petition calling for the officers involved in the shooting to be charged
