Despite sports continuing on Wednesday night, including Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics, a Kentucky grand jury’s decision surrounding the death of Breonna Taylor was very much on the minds of athletes and commentators.
Many people in the sports world took to social media, in disbelief that just one officer was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment and that two other officers weren’t charged at all.
ESPN’s Jalen Rose was on the air during halftime of Game 4, and as their broadcast was going to commercial, he shouted, “it’d also be a great day to arrest the cops that murdered Breonna Taylor.”
Jalen Rose yelling “it would be a great day TO ARREST THE COP THAT KILLED Breonna Taylor” before ESPN cuts to a commercial break during halftime pic.twitter.com/i0Pnmak2xO
— help how do i change this (@colbydroscher) September 24, 2020
✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽 https://t.co/2vlcOq0ERT
— Jalen Rose (@JalenRose) September 24, 2020
✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽 https://t.co/1lWy9yZRaD
— Jalen Rose (@JalenRose) September 24, 2020
Rose also spoke honestly before the game about his feelings and about how athletes might be feeling before playing in their sports with this on their minds:
"While [NBA players] are out there … trying to win a championship, I understand that this is really painful to show up to work and still try to entertain."
—@JalenRose pic.twitter.com/CzBAjyeRAj
— ESPN (@espn) September 24, 2020
“When Kyle Rittenhouse in Milwaukee, as a 17-year-old, kills two people and yet three cops aren’t directly charged for killing Breonna Taylor, it shows you how they feel about Black lives in America. So what I want to encourage people to do out there … my favorite sport actually is football. The important thing in that game is field position. So we are starting a game … it’s 400 years of slavery to 0. We know we’re not going to win, but we still got to continue to move the ball forward and put people behind you in a position to be successful.”
