The shooting of Jacob Blake by Wisconsin police over the weekend has driven the sports world to respond, both in words like those of Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet and Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, and in actions like those of the Detroit Lions, who didn’t hold protest and instead addressed the media.
There was also what Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers said to the media after his team’s Game 5 victory over the Dallas Mavericks. He nearly came to tears as he spoke about what it feels like to be Black in America, and he reminded everyone that his father was a police officer:
.@DocRivers from the heart. pic.twitter.com/Qp7St7kZ1k
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) August 26, 2020
Proud to know you @DocRivers. Sometimes we don’t know what to say every time this hurt happens. We Need Change! There is so much Truth in every Every word of this. Y’all wake up. https://t.co/PsK4FSnqzh
— Stephen Curry (@StephenCurry30) August 26, 2020
“We’re the ones getting killed. We’re the ones getting shot. We’re the ones that were denied to live in certain communities. We’ve been hung. We’ve been shot. And all you do is keep hearing about fear.
“It’s amazing to me why we keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back. It’s really so sad. I should just be a coach. I’m so often reminded of my color. It’s just really sad. We’ve got to do better. But we got to demand better.
“It’s funny. We protest. They send riot guards. They send people in riot outfits. They go up to Michigan with guns. They’re spitting on cops, and nothing happens.
“The training has to change in the police force. The unions have to be taken down in the police force. My dad was a cop, I believe in good cops. We’re not trying to defund the police and take all their money away. We’re trying to get them to protect us, just like they protect everybody else.”
