An effort by the WNBA’s Dallas Wings to honor women pilots who helped the US military during World War II has been canceled as offensive, after critics noted black people hadn’t been allowed to join the female flying force.
The Dallas team’s new ‘Rebel Edition’ jersey, which Nike introduced earlier this month as part of a collection of new Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) uniforms, was meant to pay tribute to the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs). The WASPs helped the war effort amid a manpower shortage by testing and delivering planes for the Army Air Forces. However, Nike, the WNBA, and the Wings said on Friday that the jersey wouldn’t be worn by the team or marketed to their fans after all, because they had since learnt the WASP corps hadn’t accepted black pilots.
