LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA – AUGUST 23: Lou Williams #23 and head coach Doc Rivers of the LA Clippers look on during the national anthem before the start of a game against the Dallas Mavericks in Game Four of the Western Conference First Round during the 2020 NBA Playoffs at AdventHealth Arena at ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on August 23, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Clippers head coach Doc Rivers spoke about the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, calling out the Republican Party and racial injustice.
Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers spoke candidly about racial injustice and police brutality in the midst of public outrage over the shooting of Jacob Blake, an unarmed black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin, by police.
Blake was shot seven times in the back after police responded to an unrelated call, and although he survived the shooting, is now paralyzed from the waist down, per USA Today.
With players and coaches in the NBA bubble often sharing social justice messages, Rivers offered some powerful thoughts on the situation, pointing out the Republican National Convention as counterproductive of a national mission to achieve racial equality and end police brutality against the black community.
The veteran coach’s statements are a powerful reminder of the nationwide moment of reckoning that the United States finds itself in after the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Rivers decried the fact that Republican leaders have publicly expressed fear of the Black Lives Matter movement, while the black community is actually in danger of prejudice and racially-motivated violence. He also pointed out the double standard that exists regarding the treatment of white people by police in relation to the racial injustice against the black community which permeates American society.
Rivers compared the treatment of far-right protestors bringing guns to the Michigan statehouse to protest the COVID-19 economic shutdown to frequent police killings of unarmed black men and the violent responses that those protesting the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor killings were met with.
The NBA has always been America’s most progressive sports league, and the league has done a fantastic job of giving players and coaches in the bubble a voice. However, with the Jacob Blake shooting sparking outrage, teams are clearly fed up with unchecked racial injustice.
