LEXINGTON, Ky. _ Jacob Blake left paralyzed after being shot seven times in the back. Breonna Taylor dead in Louisville. George Floyd dead because a policeman knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes. Rayshard Brooks dead. Eric Garner dead. Twelve-year-old Tamir Rice dead. Michael Brown dead. Trayvon Martin dead.
The ever-lengthening list of Black people killed or gravely injured unnerves Kentucky basketball player Keion Brooks.
"It's scary," he said on a teleconference Friday. "Because I'm a Black male. And at times I feel like it's almost like we're being hunted."
This realization hit home for Brooks when he happened to catch his reflection on his cell phone. He noticed his haircut (the long twists are gone).
"I thought that, 'Wow, I kind of look like George Floyd right now,'" he said. "It scared me. Brought a couple tears in my eye. It really hit me and made me realize that could have been me. It could have been my brother or my teammate.
"Once I had that realization, it just made me want to do more to be able to do whatever I can to help."
Brooks, a sophomore from Fort Wayne, Ind., is in a position to act. He is serving on three panels: The National Association of Basketball Coaches' Player Development Coalition, the Southeastern Conference Council on Racial Equality and Social Justice and UK's chapter of the Student Athletic Advisory Committee.
These panels seek to alert players that they have a platform and should use it, said Brooks, adding that one overriding message is that athletics is merely one facet of a person.
"The biggest thing to get across to everybody is just because you play a sport and represent your university, you also represent yourself as a human being," he said.
Brooks applauded the UK football's team decision not to practice on Thursday to show support for efforts to fight social injustice and systemic racism.
When asked if the UK basketball team might take a similar stand, Brooks said, "We discussed some things that we want to do and we want to try to put forward to let people know we're not going to stand for these social injustices and to let people know that going through these things, they're not alone. We're with them."
Brooks characterized the stance taken by the UK football team as a starting point.
"I'm a believer that once you get their attention, you have to follow that up with something," he said. "You can't just, you know, take that stand and then not have ... plans of action to go forward to keep their attention."
Brooks acknowledged that there can be blowback from people who do not want players using their platforms to call for change.
A recent social media posting showing UK coach John Calipari following an NABC call to inform and encourage players to vote drew sharp rebukes as well as support.
"I think people have a difficult time separating the athlete from the sport that they play," Brooks said. "Just because I represent Kentucky basketball and go out there and play at Rupp Arena, that does not mean I'm not a person that has morals, values, opinions and views on certain things ... . We have strong views on topics just like the fans do."
Brooks, who called voting a sure way to wield power, said he would support changing the name of Rupp Arena while acknowledging that he needed to learn more about the founding father of UK basketball, Adolph Rupp.
Brooks put criticism of athletes' voicing opinions in the context of an effort to pigeonhole people as merely players of a sport. He suggested Black people can be marginalized as mere entertainers.
"We are just asked to go out there, entertain you for a couple hours," he said. "Go do a dunk, dribble between your legs, shoot a three and then go home and be quiet as we see our people shot and killed on TV every week.
"I don't get that. I don't see why they would think that way. That we're not going to get up and say something. But, I mean, I'm praying for them so that hopefully they can see change."
As of now, Brooks spoke of being wary.
"I'm not ignorant of the fact that ... If I was to leave outside this bubble and be somewhere where I'm recognized as the Keion Brooks that plays for Kentucky, like there might be an officer waiting to make an example of me just because he had a bad day or something."
Players can get lost in their sport and not think of societal issues, Brooks said. He said the ever-longer list of Black people killed or injured has changed his perspective on sports.
"Basketball is something I do," he said. "Not who I am. Once I leave the basketball court, I'm Keion Brooks Jr., a normal person just like anyone else ... .
"Basketball is a game. But I'm talking about people losing their lives to violence that I don't ever grasp how that makes sense ... . It really makes me realize this is bigger than basketball. This is a life issue. This is a social issue. And basketball can take a back seat to that."
