The Marquette basketball team wore black uniforms for Tuesday night's home game against UConn in a show of support for Jacob Blake, the Black man who was shot by a police officer over the summer in Kenosha, Wisconsin. It was announced earlier Tuesday that no charges will be filed against the police officer who shot Blake.
Marquette's campus in Milwaukee is about 40 miles north of Kenosha, and the team also knelt in unison before the game while wearing warmups emblazoned with the words "Black Lives Matter" over their black uniforms.
"Our program has decided to wear Black uniforms for tonight's game in support of Jacob Blake, his family and the Kenosha community in reaction to the announcement earlier today," read a statement from the program. "We are extremely disappointed in the decision involving Jacob's shooting and we will continue to use our platform to advocate and fight for racial justice. This is another reminder that just because racial and social injustice hasn't received as much attention recently, doesn't mean the need to fight against it has gone away."
The move drew the support of Marquette's most famous former player as legendary former Golden Eagles guard Dwyane Wade tweeted his approval of the move. "We Are Marquette," Wade wrote along with a fist emoji.
We Are Marquette✊🏾 @MarquetteMBB https://t.co/BxlKiv80am
— DWade (@DwyaneWade) January 6, 2021
Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey allegedly fired his weapon seven times as Blake attempted to get inside an SUV on August 23 with his three young children were in the back seat, CBS News reported. A knife was found inside the vehicle, according to investigators, though Blake's family has denied that he was armed. Blake was left paralyzed from the waist down after the incident.
