Philadelphia Union players wear the names of Black people killed by police on their jerseys

Doug McIntyre
Updated ·1 min read
In their first game of the MLS is Back Tournament Thursday morning, the players from the Philadelphia Union replaced their own names on the back of their jerseys with the last names of Black people killed by police in recent years.
In their first game of the MLS is Back Tournament Thursday morning, the players from the Philadelphia Union replaced their own names on the back of their jerseys with the last names of Black people killed by police in recent years. (Screenshot via ESPN)

In the Philadelphia Union’s first match since MLS and the rest of the sports world shut down in March because of the global coronavirus pandemic — and their first match since the death of George Floyd while in the custody of police in Minnesota sparked worldwide outrage and protests against systemic racism and violence directed toward Black people — Union players made a powerful statement by replacing their own surnames on their jerseys with Floyd’s and others killed by police.

Many Americans already knew the names all too well: (Eric) Garner. (Tamir) Rice. (Philando) Castile. (Freddy) Gray. (Anton) Sterling. Many have learned them over the last six weeks or so.

Under their numbers, the athletes all sported a hand-written message: “One name, too many.” Starting goalkeeper Andre Blake wore Floyd’s name on his shirt.

This is a developing story. It will be updated.