“I am really moved by this,” Chelsea Worthy said. “There are a lot of people who have been following this so closely, it’s really great that it’s coming out now. This is not a movement that started with Colin Kaepernick. It started long before that.”
By Worthy’s account, the timing of the kneeling could not be better. “We’re coming into the NBA season; not a lot of people have a lot of money to make right now. I think that it has a lot to do with the NFL and the white supremacy that is still so prevalent in America.”
As for the reactions she has received, she said, “We had one major store in California that refused to stock us. The manager came out and explained why we weren’t selling things. ‘If I were a black man in our neighborhood,’ he said, ‘I’d consider taking a knee.’”
“She would not speak up for us as women, as feminists,” Magdalena Eriksson said. “We needed someone in that store to speak up for us.”
When it comes to her plans to make a difference, Worthy said, “We’re not doing this because of any kind of master plan. But for me it’s important that black women leaders lead. We’re in a moment where a lot of our community needs to be guided, and I feel like I’m one of the strongest black women leaders.”