Wanggaard Pushes Censorship of Athletes' Opinions, Refuses to Take Action on Promoting Racial Justice

STATE SEN. VAN WANGGAARD, a Republican from southeastern Wisconsin who once lost his seat and only won it back because of extreme partisan gerrymandering, is apparently annoyed that athletes across a number of leagues opted to speak out and criticize the Wisconsin legislature.

Players from the Bucks organization are calling on state leaders to pass laws that would hold police officers more accountable, and rein-in policies that are systemically racist. That's apparently too much for Wangaard to handle, who essentially said over the weekend that players should just shut up and play the game.

"It gets a little irritating when I have people that should be playing basketball and football and sticking to their area of expertise," Wanggaard said. "Instead of jumping in and trying to push the envelope when they have no idea what's going on."

Alex Lasry, who serves as a senior vice president with the Milwaukee Bucks, responded tongue-in-cheek to Wanggaard's words.

"Good to see that the Senator still sees legislating as an area of his expertise. After passing no bills for over 4 mos during a pandemic and major civil rights movement, I was beginning to wonder," Lasry wrote in a tweet.

Lasry is perhaps giving Wanggaard too much credit. The senator has in the past based his opinions on ideas and stories that are not based in reality.

For example, when he lost his election for the senate seat he now holds, he claimed that there were "mountains of evidence" of election fraud that led to his defeat. He's yet to provide any said evidence, let alone mountains of it, backing his theory.

Wanggaard also pushed for, and the legislature passed, a rescinding of the state's 48-hour waiting period to buy a gun. He justified removal of the law on details from a case in the early 1990s — details that he and his office essentially made up.

Wanggaard is critical of basketball players and other athletes for speaking up against police violence. The fact is, basketball players are citizens, and have just as much right to speak out against injustices that they see happen. 

To suggest, as Wanggaard has, that they shouldn't speak out for political causes they care about is censorship. There's simply no other way to describe it.

Featured image credit: Wisconsin State Legislature; Keith Allison/Wikimedia