The media talked to the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James today about the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Because every athlete’s opinion on every societal issue must be communicated and broadcast as widely as possible.
And when you think “social justice” the first thing that always comes to mind for most Americans has always been the National Basketball Association.
From ESPN:
“Quite frankly, it’s disgusting to have multiple cops around and not even thinking about [using] a Taser. And forget about the Taser, [not thinking about] just simple combat and taking a man down instead of trying to shoot him,” Kuzma said.
James said that fear exists in the Black community because of the seeming pattern of excessive force by the police.
“You have no idea how that cop that day left the house,” James said. “You don’t know if he woke up on the wrong side of the bed, you don’t know if he had an argument at home with his significant other, you don’t know if one of his kids said something to him and he left the house steaming. Or maybe he just left the house saying that, ‘Today is going to be the end for one of these Black people.’ That’s what it feels like. That’s what it feels like. It just hurts. It hurts.”
Blake is in critical condition. James and others on the Lakers wished him a full recovery. After the spate of violent incidents involving the police and Black citizens — Blake, Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others — Lakers players also wished for better police training and gun control.
“I think firearms are a huge issue in America,” James said. “I don’t know how you clean that up. I’m not saying that I’ve got all the answers, but guns are — they are a huge issue in America, and they’re not used for just hunting that a lot of people do for sport. Right now for Black people, right now when you’re hunting, we think you’re hunting us.”