NEW YORK (Reuters) – Former champion Naomi Osaka is wearing a different facemask for each of her matches at the U.S. Open this year. They each carry the name of a Black American and aim to highlight racial injustice in the United States to a wider audience:
ROUND ONE – BREONNA TAYLOR
Taylor, 26, was shot dead by police in her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky on March 13.
One police officer involved was fired by the city’s police department in June. Two other officers have been placed on administrative reassignment. No criminal charges have been filed against any of the three.
ROUND TWO – ELIJAH MCCLAIN
McClain, 23, died after a violent encounter with police officers in Aurora, Colorado in August last year.
His family filed a lawsuit against the city and its police last month, alleging murder and routine use of excessive force against Black people.
ROUND THREE – AHMAUD ARBERY
Arbery, 25, was fatally shot after being pursued by armed white men as he jogged through a suburban neighborhood in Georgia in February.
Three white men have been charged with the murder of Arbery in a case that spurred a national outcry after cellphone video of the shooting was leaked on the internet.
ROUND FOUR – TRAYVON MARTIN
Martin was an unarmed Black teenager whose killing by civilian George Zimmerman in Florida in 2012 helped spark the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement.
(Compiled by Hardik Vyas, Frank Pingue and Arvind Sriram; Editing by Ken Ferris/Peter Rutherford)
