This year’s U.S. Open champion Naomi Osaka wore a different face mask for each of her Flushing Meadows matches.
They each bore the name of a Black American and sought to bring racial inequality to a broader audience in the United States:
ROUND ONE – BREONNA TAYLOR:
Police shot dead Taylor, 26, in her flat in Louisville, Kentucky on March 13. In June, the city police department fired one police officer involved. Two additional officers placed on administrative reassignment. No criminal proceedings against each of the three have filed.
ROUND TWO-MCCLAINE ELIJAH:
McClain, 23, died in August last year, after a violent encounter with police officers in Aurora, Colorado. His family filed a suit last month against the town and its police department, alleging murder and excessive routine use of force against Black people.
ROUND THREE-AHMAUD ARBERY:
Arbery, 25, was fatally shot in February after being chased by armed white men as he jogged through a Georgian suburban neighbourhood.
In a case that sparked a nationwide uproar after the shooting’s cell phone footage was leaked on the internet, three white men charged with the murder of Arbery.
ROUND FOUR-MARTIN TRAYVON:
Martin was a Black teenager whose murder in Florida in 2012 by civilian George Zimmerman helped start the Black Lives Matter movement.
QUARTER-FINALS – GEORGE FLOYD:
On May 25 Floyd died in hospital after police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on the neck of the 46-year-old during an arrest in Minneapolis for almost nine minutes.
His death sparked widespread demonstrations in the United States against racial discrimination and police violence, which have spread worldwide.
A day after a video of the incident appeared, Chauvin and three other Minneapolis police officers arrested.
Subsequently, Chauvin charged with second-degree shooting and the other three officers charged with supporting and promoting.
SEMI-FINALS-CASTILS PHILANDO:
A 32-year-old Castles Philando was a Black man who was shot and killed by Minnesota police during a 2016 traffic stop in a St. Paul suburb, Minnesota, sparking outrage.
The aftermath of the incident was live-streamed by his girlfriend on social media, garnering the case’s national attention.
A jury acquitted an officer on charges of felony manslaughter and reckless discharge of a firearm.
FINAL-RICE TAMIR:
Rice was an African-American boy who was 12-year-old fatally shot in Cleveland in the year 2014 by police officer Timothy Loehmann, Ohio while playing with a toy gun in a playground fired with plastic pellets.
Cleveland officials agreed in April 2016 to pay $6 million to settle a national civil lawsuit filed by the family of Rice Tamir.
In 2017 Loehmann was fired after an internal inquiry found that he had submitted false information about his application to join the police.
