Angel McCoughtry Wants WNBA to Allow Names of Police Brutality Victims on Jersey

Las Vegas Aces star Angel McCoughtry is petitioning the WNBA to allow players to put the names of victims of police brutality on their jerseys.  

In a post on Instagram, McCoughtry wrote she set up a petition that would allow players to have the "FIRST & LAST NAME of HUMAN BEINGS that who have been injured or KILLED in incidents involving POLICE BRUTALITY!" She added that she's working with the WNBA and Aces "to use our voices, our uniforms, and our sport to continue to impact and create real change."

McCoughtry is entering her first year with the Aces after spending the first nine years of her career in Atlanta. 

As the WNBA prepares to start the 2020 season in July, the league and players have been exploring ways to use their platform to protest police brutality and help in the fight for racial equality. 

Los Angeles Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike recently told USA Today's Mark Medina that "there are no plans I can tell you as of now" about potential protests from players, but "we are very much on the calls navigating and coordinating how we want to express ourselves collectively and individually.”

WNBA players have been frequently involved in social justice activism over the past four years. The league fined the Indiana Fever, Phoenix Mercury and New York Liberty organizations and their players in 2016 for wearing black warmup shirts to protest shootings at an Orlando gay nightclub and by and against police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge. 

Those fines were later rescinded by then-WNBA president Lisa Borders: "Appreciate our players expressing themselves on matters important to them. Rescinding imposed fines to show them even more support."

Maya Moore wrote an article for The Players' Tribune in Feb. 2019 announcing she was going to focus "on the people in my family, as well as on investing my time in some ministry dreams that have been stirring in my heart for many years."

Moore is continuing her fight for criminal justice reform and has given no indication if or when she will return to professional basketball. 

Atlanta Dream guard Renee Montgomery announced on June 18 she will sit out this year to continue fighting for social justice reform. 

An official start date for the 2020 WNBA season is still to be determined, but the league announced last week it's finalizing a deal with IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida to host a 22-game regular season and traditional postseason.