Social movements are messy. They only look neat and orderly in our history books, through the boundaries of time and perspective.

This social justice movement is evolving in real time, led by professional athletes in their 20s and early 30s, many who don’t have college degrees or any political training, who spent their younger years concentrating on jump shots and fitness, not on how to change the world.

They have the pressure of short careers and massive amounts of money — both for themselves and their employers — hanging in the balance. They have all eyes on them. They are under vicious attack by many. What they are doing is organic. And it is powerful.

Underestimate them at your own peril.

The NBA went back to work on Saturday. The Milwaukee and Orlando players took a knee before their game, a do-over of the postponement that started a historic movement. They stayed there both for a collective moment of silence, for former player Cliff Robinson, college coach Lute Olson and actor Chadwick Boseman, and during the national anthem.

The players returned to their jobs, but only after tangible progress was made during their three-day interruption. The most important development: the league will make arenas available as polling places for the November election.

The Warriors are expected to announce plans next week for how their Chase Center will be used to aid in the Nov. 3 election. But arenas that are publicly owned may or may not be made available: There is certain to be considerable pressure exerted by the league and its players to also use the public buildings they play in for that purpose. The value of expansive, safe, well-staffed polling places in the middle of a pandemic and an era of voter suppression is not to be taken lightly.

These athletes are feeling the frustration that is sweeping America and are figuring out how to use their power. Will they solve everything? Of course not. Don’t belittle someone who is at least trying to make the world better.

“It’s not the NBA’s job to solve the world,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “It’s the NBA’s job to be part of the world.”

As so many of these players have said they’re tired. Tired of seeing Black people get murdered on the streets or in their homes.

Tired of being held to a different standard.

“The bottom line is, it is exhausting being Black,” said Charles Barkley, an analyst on Inside the NBA. “Especially when you are a celebrity. You know, I love Tom Brady, but nobody asks him about what is going on in white America.”

Tired of being diminished simply because they are professional athletes.

“We’re all tired of seeing the same thing over and over again and everybody just expects us to be OK just because we get paid great money,” said Chris Paul, president of the National Basketball Players Association. “You know, we’re human. We have real feelings.”

They face a long and confusing list of “don’ts” that they are expected to follow, according to the people who criticize them for having concerns about society.

Don’t kneel. Don’t talk. Don’t wear slogans on your backs. Don’t not play. Don’t use your voice.

And now that athletes did more than kneel or wear a league-approved slogan, they’ve faced even more backlash. The boycotts of games have created — oh, I know you’re shocked — direct personal attacks on the players involved.

But these men and women do their jobs in the most diverse workplaces in our society (which says something about our society, but that’s a different topic). Professional sports are one place where people of color, specifically Black Americans, in large numbers have power, money and access.

Athletes are understanding that they have real power. They have a voice. They have platforms. They have money. They have access to people with enormous wealth and influence. It’s time to use those tools.

Sports is not only a diverse workplace, but a job setting where the phrase “being a good teammate” is taken literally. It can be, and should be, a place where players listen to each other, hear each other’s concerns, try to learn from other’s experiences. Where white players can become allies and advocates.

“You learn so much about someone’s culture, heritage, who they are, why they think a certain way, why they become who they are,” Earthquakes’ captain Chris Wondolowski said, the day after his team chose to sit out a game against Portland. “To hear their stories is empowering and that’s why, across all sports, we have that pod of cultures and nationalities.”

Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh and others spoke of the value of working in sports.

“I really wish everybody could be part of a football team,” Harbaugh said. “A football team comes from a lot of different places and races and spaces and religions. Just many different perspectives.”

Of course, a lifetime in diverse sports does not always make one empathetic to the concerns of others, as witnessed by the words of former Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher on social media, when he degraded the NBA’s actions.

But the belittling and denouncing coming their way isn’t working. There’s too much at stake.

“These guys are so popular and secure in themselves, not only economically but as people, that they really don’t care what people are saying,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “They are tired of what’s going on.”

Don’t underestimate their efforts.

Ann Killion is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: akillion@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @annkillion