Clippers coach Doc Rivers drew on his lifetime of experiences, positive and negative, with police to condemn what he termed the "murder" last week of George Floyd by a former Minneapolis officer and other acts of racial injustice by police.
In a statement posted Sunday on the team's Twitter account, Rivers spoke about his late father, who was a longtime officer in Chicago, saying he would be "outraged" by those acts of injustice. Rivers also noted how he himself has been a victim of police profiling and racist acts, including his house being burned.
A statement on behalf of @DocRivers and the LA Clippers. pic.twitter.com/OwbLEHFrCL
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) May 31, 2020
"Our society must start getting comfortable with the uncomfortable conversation and do the right thing," Rivers said.
NBA players, team owners and league officials all contributed Sunday to the conversation about Floyd's death and racism in America. Hornets owner Michael Jordan, through his manager, tweeted that he stands "with those who are calling out the ingrained racism and violence toward people of color in our country. We have had enough."
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A group of Lakers players led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis posted the same message on their Instagram stories: "If YOU ain't wit US, WE ain't wit Y'ALL."
NBA Adam Silver, in a memo leaked to media Sunday night, wrote to employees in the league office that "(r)acism, police brutality and racial injustice remain part of everyday life in America and cannot be ignored. At the same time, those who serve and protect our communities honorably and heroically are again left to answer for those who don't."
Silver encouraged the workers to "stay safe, stay engaged and keep looking out for one another."
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and players Dwight Powell, Maxi Kleber, Jalen Brunson and Justin Jackson participated in a peaceful demonstration in Dallas, which has been hit by rioting in the week since Floyd's death at the knee of fired officer Derek Chauvin.
"This is our community; our country," Cuban told The Dallas Morning News. "Both are hurting. I wanted to be here to listen. To understand better the pain the African-American community is going through. And to show that the Mavs organization will be here to help."
