ys.WILSONS TIME: The injury to Duncan means Shaun Wilson will be the unquestioned top tailback for Duke. Wilson, who rushe

Protest is the act of telling the truth in public.Some have chosen to tell the truth with their bodies -- by standing in and shutting down streets, by participating in or leading rallies and marches, or in other forms of direct action -- with the express function of disrupting the normalcy of everyday life that allows some to ignore inequity, racism and injustice.On?July 5, Alton Sterling was killed by two white Baton Rouge?police officers. The very next day, Minnesota officers killed?Philando Castile, which?was livestreamed on Facebook by his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds. Both deaths led to sustained protests across the country.?Sterling and Castile were killed two years after the Black Lives Matter movement began in Ferguson, Missouri, leading to sustained unrest nationwide.It is in this context that the Minnesota Lynx chose to tell the truth in public.On July 10, the Minnesota Lynx wore black warm-up shirts that read, Change starts with us -- Justice & Accountability?on the front?and had the names of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling on the back, along with the statement Black Lives Matter.The truth is that Castile and Sterling should be alive today. They should be with their families, preparing for the holiday. But they are not. They were victims of a system of police violence that continues to plague this nation, victims of systemic inequity and racism that black people and other people of color have confronted for centuries in this America.In wearing the T-shirts, the Minnesota Lynx joined a long tradition of athletes willing to risk the comfort of their position to push public consciousness to confront uncomfortable truths. On the night they wore these shirts, four off-duty officers left their posts?working security at the game in response to the Lynxs stance. The police seemed more upset by a display of grief than they were by the injustice of the murder of two men.The Lynxs move led to three other WNBA teams joining in protest: the Indiana Fever, New York Liberty and Phoenix Mercury. Afterward, the teams were fined $5,000, along with each player being fined $500, as the WNBA noted that the T-shirts violated the uniform policy.The WNBA issued a statement noting that it was proud of WNBA players engagement and passionate advocacy for non-violent solutions to difficult social issues, but this didnt deter the players. They staged media blackouts and asked fans to join them by wearing black in solidarity. Carmelo Anthony became one of the most prominent athletes to support the WNBA players, calling the fines into question.The pursuit of change follows many paths, but it begins with awareness; it begins with a willingness to discuss our most uncomfortable truths in public, to use the public space to build momentum, allowing us to enact the change that our lives deserve. In their act of protest, they inspired athletes across the league and continued to demonstrate what we know to be true: that how we think about the world impacts how we live in it.I think about all the days in the street that I spent in protest alongside so many others in Ferguson, Baltimore, Minneapolis and Baton Rouge. In these cities, the common thread was that there was a willingness to challenge the status quo, to disrupt the complacency and timidity that allows injustice to continue to fester. We were willing to endure the consequences of refusing to be silent because we knew that the seductiveness of silence had dire consequences.In the end, the WNBA lifted the fines for the teams.When we tell the truth in public, we force those who depend on the status quo to respond, we force systems and structures to demonstrate in real-time their commitment to our struggles, to our lives, and to a future that is one of equity and justice. In all, when we tell the truth in public we expose the values of the very institutions that claim that they exist for our well-being. In this case, the WNBA fell on the right side of justice.The Minnesota Lynx made an impact in taking a stand, and their act invited others to the work of social justice. I am proud to stand alongside them in the struggle.More on Minnesota Lynx? Minnesota Lynx wear shirts raising awareness of recent shootings Story ?? Minneapolis cops leave security posts at Lynx game over shirts?Story ?? Carmelo Anthony supports WNBA players upset by T-shirt fines?Story ?The IMPACT25 is espnWs annual list of the 25 athletes and influencers who have made the greatest difference for women in sports. Explore the 2016 list and more content at espnW.com/IMPACT25. Indiana Pacers Pro Shop . The Redskins announced Monday that the quarterback who led the team to the Super Bowl championship in the 1987 season will serve as a personnel executive. 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DURHAM, N.C. -- Virginia Tech needs to do a better job of handling success this time.After reeling off a pair of league wins and taking control of the ACCs Coastal Division, the 23rd-ranked Hokies on Saturday face a Duke team that, on paper, they should have little trouble beating.Except that the last time they were in this situation, the Hokies essentially fell on their faces .Everybody was patting us on the back telling us how good of a job we were doing, we went up to Syracuse and got smacked around, coach Justin Fuente said. I think thats a pretty clear reference point for our guys in terms of the preparation and the intensity with which well have to play. The margin for error is very small.So is the gap between the Hokies (6-2, 4-1, No. 19 CFP) and No. 18 North Carolina, the Coastals co-leaders. The only thing separating them is the 34-3 thumping Virginia Tech laid on the Tar Heels last month, which means the Hokies are one slip-up away from ceding control to UNC .Fuente referenced us like the little kid touching the stove. Is he going to go back and touch it again or is he going to learn his lesson the first time? receiver Isaiah Ford said. And we want to be the ones that learned our lesson the first time.The Blue Devils (3-5, 0-4) -- the only ACC team without a win in league play -- are in desperate need of a turnaround.Their upset of since-struggling Notre Dame looks less impressive with each passing week, and Duke dropped three of four during October with the lone win coming against Army. They followed an encouraging loss to No. 5 Louisville with a defeat at Georgia Tech in which they gave up the go-ahead touchdown in the final minutes.The biggest thing is to continue to build this 2016 Duke team, coach David Cutcliffe said. We arent running from anything. Were working and were focused.---Some other things to know about the Virginia Tech-Duke game:AIR HOKIES: Virginia Tech has gained at least 500 total yards in each of their last two games and doing it against Duke would give the Hokiees the first such three-game streak in program history.dddddddddddd Ford (23 touchdowns, a school record) and Bucky Hodges (18) are first and third among active ACC players in career TD catches, with Hodges coming off a career-best 145-yard performance at Pittsburgh . Those two are enough to keep you up all night, Cutcliffe said.CAPTAINS CURSE: Duke selected four captains before the season and three are out for the year with injuries , leaving DT A.J. Wolf as the only healthy captain on the team. Leading rusher Jela Duncan was the latest to go down, rupturing an Achilles tendon in the loss to Georgia Tech. Hopefully, Ill be OK, Wolf said, dismissing a suggestion that the position is cursed. Bad luck for those guys.WILSONS TIME: The injury to Duncan means Shaun Wilson will be the unquestioned top tailback for Duke. Wilson, who rushed for a program-record 245 yards two years ago against Kansas, has 373 yards rushing and two touchdowns this season.BIG PLAYS: Virginia Tech will look to take advantage of Dukes knack for giving up big plays. Of the five touchdowns allowed by the Blue Devils against Georgia Tech, three covered at least 20 yards -- including an 82-yard TD run by Justin Thomas and a 21-yard scoring pass in the final minutes. I think our guys are conscious of trying to get north and south with the ball after they do catch it, Fuente said.UNI WATCH: Duke is breaking out Battleship Grey helmets to commemorate 75 years since the Rose Bowl was held at Wallace Wade Stadium because of World War II. The helmet logo is a nod to the 88th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army that was nicknamed the Blue Devils.---AP Sports Writer Hank Kurz Jr. in Blacksburg, Virginia, contributed to this report.---Follow Joedy McCreary at http://twitter.com/joedyap. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/joedy-mccreary---More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org ' ' '