Hurricane Dorian struck the Bahamas earlier this month, leaving 70,000 homeless and thousands dead or unaccounted for. For those who survived with only their lives, their only option — to seek asylum in the United States — was thwarted by President Donald Trump’s decision to deny temporary protected status to Bahamians trying to enter the country.
The rhetoric Trump used to justify his decision — that Bahamians are “some very bad people and some very bad gang members and some very, very bad drug dealers” — did not sit well with Golden State Warriors star Klay Thompson, whose father is Bahamian and who considers Bahamas his “second home.”
At his Thompson Family Foundation Celebrity Golf Tournament, Thompson told USA TODAY Sports:
I didn’t appreciate the language he used with Bahamians. They’re gang members and criminals? I’ve known Bahamians my whole life. Yes, there are criminals in Nassau. But there are criminals worldwide. When you lose everything, your home, your loved ones and thousands are dead, and then you generalize a whole population, I thought it was very very ill-advised and bad timing. That language really (ticked) me off.
Trump’s rhetoric left Thompson disheartened. “[It] hurts my heart,” he said. But that isn’t stopping him from helping the Bahamian people who are in dire need. For starters, proceeds from his golf tournament will be donated to the island nation.
