NAACP urges pro athletes to avoid signing with Texas teams due to the state's 'dangerous attacks on freedoms'

NAACP Texas head Gary Bledsoe
(Image credit: Sergio Flores/Getty Images)

NAACP president Derrick Johnson urged all pro free agents, in a letter sent to all major players associations on Thursday, to avoid signing with any team in Texas.

"As we watch an incomprehensible assault on basic human rights unfold in Texas, we are simultaneously witnessing a threat to constitutional guarantees for women, children, and marginalized communities," Johnson and NAACP Texas president Gary Bledsoe wrote to the players associations for the NFL, WNBA, NBA, MLB, and NHL. "We must stand up for what is right and protect our loved ones from the dangerous attacks on freedoms taking place in Texas."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.