(DailyFix.org) – For decades, athletes have used their platform to speak out on causes important to them. Among the most recent, NFL and NBA players spoke out regularly to support social justice causes and Black Lives Matter. The leagues even supported the players. On Thursday, February 2, the Winter Olympic Games kicked off in Beijing. […]

(DailyFix.org) – For decades, athletes have used their platform to speak out on causes important to them. Among the most recent, NFL and NBA players spoke out regularly to support social justice causes and Black Lives Matter. The leagues even supported the players. On Thursday, February 2, the Winter Olympic Games kicked off in Beijing. It’s not without a tremendous amount of controversy. China allegedly enslaves Uyghur and other Muslim minority groups as cheap labor, and many want to shed light on China’s human rights violations.

In January, the US government and several Western allies instituted a diplomatic boycott. China has warned countries and athletes not to speak out against the Communist Chinese government and denies it violates human rights. On Monday, January 31, lawmakers encouraged US Olympic officials to defend US athletes who choose to use their international platform to speak out against China’s abhorrent behavior. However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) had a different take on the matter. She encouraged athletes to stay quiet while in China and wait until they were home to talk openly about Chinese abuses.

Pelosi stated the United States has a moral obligation to speak out against China during the games. If the US says nothing, the Speaker declared America would lose its moral authority to speak against human rights violations anywhere in the world. Nonetheless, she said due to the Chinese government’s ruthless brutality, she felt athletes shouldn’t talk about China’s abuses during the games.

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