How Sacramento Kings Management Condones Violence Against Women

How Sacramento Kings Management Condones Violence Against Women

February 1, 2017

To the Sacramento Kings Management & Ownership:

Your continuous excusing of violence against women perpetrated by your players is outrageous and must end immediately.

The fact is, the Sacramento Kings represent Sacramento and its fans. When you travel, you carry the name of our city. And if the Kings players, management, and ownership condone acts of violence committed against women (and any other community), your actions reverberate throughout our community and the nation. Not only are you telling the thousands of kids who worship the team that hitting women is okay, but you are showing the rest of the world that professional sports players can get away with anything.

Here is a refresher on the Kings’ track record.

Matt Barnes: 
Matt Barnes turned himself in to New York City police for choking and knocking out a woman in a New York nightclub in early December. Since the incident, we still haven’t heard any statement issued by the Kings, nor of any consequences for his act of violence. Barnes was hired by the Kings in 2016 while being famous for having a history riddled by domestic violence and anger issues (for more info, click here). He has been repeatedly arrested for such issues and once drove 95 miles to beat up his estranged wife’s boyfriend.

Barnes was hired by the Kings in 2016 while being famous for having a history riddled by domestic violence and anger issues. He has been repeatedly arrested on domestic violence issues (read more on this here), and once drove 95 miles to beat up his estranged wife’s boyfriend (article here).

Darren Collison:
Collison was arrested and charged for domestic violence in 2016 (read article here and here). What was the consequence? Oh right, an 8 game suspension. Professional basketball players get a 5 game suspension for getting caught smoking marijuana for the third time.

LET THAT SINK IN FOR A MINUTE.

Ty Lawson:
On one incident in 2013, he was arrested and faced charges for harassment against his then-pregnant girlfriend (read more here).

On another incident, again in 2013, Lawson was charged with physical assault during a domestic violence dispute. A restraining order was issued against him on behalf of his girlfriend (details here). He had been playing for the Denver Nuggets at the time. What was his teammate’s response? 

‘Wilson Chandler, Lawson’s teammate with the Nuggets, said Monday night  on Twitter:
“Young Ty trying to get that street cred up lol.”’ 

Ty Lawson joined the Kings in 2016, management having full knowledge of his history of domestic abuse.

I ask you this: is this the type of culture we want to support as a community? Is this the kind of team Sacramento wants, or deserves? Three out of the 12 players on the current Kings roster have been charged for violence against women. That is one quarter of our team.

Sacramento: is this what we stand for?

This is absolutely unacceptable and I expect the Kings management and ownership to make the first step to remedy this situation by adopting a moral turpitude policy that empowers the ownership and management to fire a Kings member with domestic violence charges filed against him**.

What you currently represent is not what I stand for as an individual being part of this community and as a fan of the Sacramento Kings. I expect a team which represents me and my community to have standards, and show that there are consequences for physically assaulting women (or men). Professional sports players must be held accountable, just like anyone else in our community.

I call for the immediate firing of Matt Barnes, Darren Collison, and Ty Lawson.

Now who’s with me?
Want to make your voice heard?

• Call the Kings: 916 - 701 - 5400

• Email the Kings: kings@kings.com

• Tweet at the Kings: @SacramentoKings

• Write to the Kings: Golden One Center
                                  500 David J Stern Walk
                                  Sacramento, CA 95814

Don’t have the time/know what to write in your letter? Here’s our template letter. 
Print, sign, and send it!

• Do all of the above! Let’s hold the Sacramento Kings accountable.

Candice Riley
Fem Dems of Sacramento Board Member

**Being charged with domestic violence is a legal accusation. However, the instances of false accusations are so low, that the Kings ownership should have the authority, and are urged to, break contracts with charged players in instances like those illustrated above.

Vogue Magazine - Not So In Tune with the Women's March

To the Editor of Vogue,

From the very first sentence to the last, your article, “Of Course Rihanna Had the Coolest Protest Look at the Women’s March,”  flabbergasted me. So many times did I stop reading just to check that I hadn’t accidentally stumbled upon an Onion article.

As a large publication with a worldwide reach - Vogue, you should be ashamed. In one stroke of the pen, you demeaned the entire point of the Women’s March: We demand respect. This article managed to undermine the movement fighting for equal rights for all genders, races, and creeds by choosing to discuss what type of shoes Rihanna was wearing and whether it was a good choice for her to make considering the walk.

When reporting on such an important historical event such as the Women’s March, the words you use are important. Here, you are telling your readers they aren’t worth the effort of reporting on the events of the day, or the meaning of the march. This article is a reminder that we’re not out of the woods yet, and we have a great deal of work to do before women can be taken seriously. One day, we can only hope, that the words Sheryl Sandberg says will be more important than her shoes; Carrie Fisher’s fight for pay equity will be more important than whether or not she had botox done; and Rihanna can be celebrated as a feminist badass who fights for her community rather than being reduced to Dior t-shirt-wearer.

Thank you, Vogue, for reducing my worth as a woman to the clothes I wear. Thank you for reminding me what I am fighting for and against. Thank you for demeaning Rihanna to a lifeless model instead of celebrating her courage in standing up for our collective rights and supporting her community.

As an FYI, on Saturday, January 21st 2017, the day of the worldwide Women’s March, the largest demonstration in the history of the United States, I wore Target jeans, boots, a cotton purple sweatshirt, and a great big middle finger in the air to whomever may judge me solely on my appearance instead of my value as an individual.

In this climate of political and social upheaval, I ask that your articles be more understanding and in tune with your demographic.

Sincerely disappointed,

Candice Riley
Fem Dems of Sacramento Board Member