Professional Athletes acting as Advocates: Can Athletes raise awareness for current issues in the Media?

Two recent interactions between African American citizens and police officers have raised eyebrows, to say the least, in recent months. Mike Brown and Eric Garner were both victims of police brutality recently that subsequently costed both of them their lives. Outrage in these men's communities have led to a review of conduct of law enforcement, as well as some public support from local professional athletes.

In the aftermath of Ferguson, MO multiple members of the St. Louis Rams paid tribute to Mike Brown when they were introduced into the game. The players walked out of the tunnel with their hands up, trying to raise awareness to the situation that costed Brown his life. The "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" raised questions to conduct of the police officer involved in Brown's death and also raised questions about if these athletes should be fined for their actions.

Professional basketball players like LeBron James and Derrick Rose recently dawned t-shirts that read "I can't breathe" during warm-ups in their NBA games. The idea behind the shirts is about raising awareness about Eric Garner who died in July after he was put in a headlock by a police officer. A video of the event show Garner in the headlock and you can clearly hear him saying to the officer, "I can't breath" to the officer.

The question is how well do these displays of activism effect the community and the viewers of these events? The answer will be determined in the future I suppose.