Tag: jacob blake

Former Celtics coach Rivers cited by Biden in campaign speech

Former Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers was cited by Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden in a recent speech.

Former Boston Celtics head coach and recently-hired Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers was quoted by presidential hopeful Joe Biden in a speech on Tuesday, reports ESPN.

Speaking at a campaign event held at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Biden touched on the police killing of a Black man named Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin in late August of this year.

At that point of his speech, the former Vice President touched on Rivers’ words in a press conference on August 24th held after a Los Angeles Clippers practice — Rivers’ team at that time — where the former Boston coach was asked about the Blake incident.

So prompted, Rivers spoke at length on the state of race relations in the U.S. in light of Blake’s killing, which the Democratic presidential candidate in turn cited this week.

“Doc Rivers, the basketball coach, choking back tears … said, ‘We’re the ones getting killed. We’re the ones getting shot. We’ve been hung. It’s amazing how we keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back.'” said Biden. “I think about that. I think about what it takes for a Black person to love America.”

“That is a deep love for this country that has for far too long never been recognized,” he added.

While Rivers has never been known to dive into ethical or political concerns previously, the events surrounding Blake’s killing and the general state of race relations in general compelled the veteran head coach to speak out.

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Jamal Adams speaks out: ‘I’d be lying to you if I said I’m all right’

Seattle Seahawks safety Jamal Adams confessed that he feels afraid outside of the team’s headquarters given the state of race relations.

The recent shooting of Jacob Blake, one of multiple such incidents in 2020, has really shaken the nation. On Saturday, Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll spoke out about how Black Americans have done everything they can to make their voices heard and that action must be taken sooner rather than later.

The following day, safety Jamal Adams admitted to feeling vulnerable outside the team’s headquarters as he discussed his fears about racial violence potentially affecting him and those close to him.

“You know, I’d be lying to you if I said I’m all right,” Adams said during his press conference on Sunday. “This building is my escape place. When I take my sweatshirt off, my sweatpants off that say Seattle Seahawks, I’m back to normal life as a black man. We don’t know what’s going to happen. If it doesn’t affect you as a person outside of the race of being black, you won’t care, it doesn’t bother you, you live your everyday life.”

Adams is not the first Seahawk to publicly proclaim that he fears for his life simply because of his race, as his teammate and fellow safety Quandre Diggs spoke at length about his feelings concerning the situation as well. In fact, Adams stated that he confessed his fear to his new teammates in Seattle.

“I’m afraid,” he told them. “I fear for my life as a black man, and I shouldn’t fear for my life. It’s tough to continue to do what I do. When I take off my Seahawks gear, I’m just another black guy in the community, another black guy in the street. It’s a tough concept to swallow. I’m afraid every time I walk by a cop. I’m afraid every time a cop pulls me over. I’m afraid when I walk into a restaurant or a bar, and they tell me that I can’t have those pants on or I can’t have those shoes on. I’m afraid.”

Adams lamented that not enough caucasians are caring or even paying attention to the racial issues at hand, and stated he hopes that it will not take athletes getting shot for them to change their views.

“I fear for my niece’s life, I fear for my nephew’s life, I fear for my brother’s life, I fear for my parents’ life. I fear for my brothers, because I don’t know when my time is up, I don’t know if I’m next. I don’t know if—is enough enough? Will I be the one that has to be the guy for people to understand that they’re killing unarmed black people? Does a top athlete have to go down for people to really listen and understand why? There’s no justifying anything. There’s no justifying, ‘he had a knife,’ there’s no justifying, ‘Oh, he was on drugs,’ there’s no justifying. Murder is murder. Wrong is wrong and right is right, it’s as simple as that.”

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Sam Darnold on Jets’ social justice talks: ‘A great opportunity to educate ourselves’

Jets quarterback Sam Darnold discussed an eye-opening week of social injustice conversations on Saturday.

It has been an eye-opening week for Jets quarterback Sam Darnold.

Last Sunday, Kenosha, Wisconsin resident Jacob Blake, a Black man, was shot seven times in the back by police with his children in the car. Protests against social and racial injustices in America soon followed across the country and in the sports world. On Thursday, New York canceled practice and spent more than four hours discussing the shooting and racial issues.

Darnold was an active participant in the conversations, using them as a chance to educate himself on a subject he admits he was unfamiliar with growing up in California.

“For me, especially growing up in Orange County in southern California, a predominantly white neighborhood, it was important for me to hear stories from my teammates about how they grew up,” Darnold said on Saturday. “I think for all of us it was a great opportunity to educate ourselves and understand where people are coming from.

“It was a great opportunity these last couple days for me to sit back, listen, educate myself and understand where my teammates are coming from on these issues and I’m right there with them and I feel their pain.”

Numerous Jets players have voiced their thoughts on the Blake shooting, with Marcus Maye being the first to address the story on Tuesday. Le’Veon Bell, Jamison Crowder, Jonotthan Harrison, Bradley McDougald, La’Mical Perine and assistant head coach/linebackers coach Frank Bush followed suit.

On Saturday night, New York released a video touching on social and racial issues in the United States. The video features numerous Jets players, as well as head coach Adam Gase, general manager Joe Douglas and CEO and acting owner Christopher Johnson. It ends with players and members of the organization on the practice field saying “enough is enough” in unison.

“It was a great opportunity for us as teammates to talk about the events that have been going on in this country,” Darnold said. “It was great for everyone to voice how they feel. It’s not an easy situation and it was a great opportunity for guys, like I said, to just say how they feel and then organizationally for us to ask, ‘how can we help?’

“When it comes to policy and different things like that, how we can help enact change or affect change. I think it was very important for us as players to let our organization understand how we feel and they were right there with us.”

Former Bears WR Brandon Marshall involved in police incident at new home

Former Bears WR Brandon Marshall was recently involved in an incident with local authorities as he was moving into his new Florida home.

Former NFL receiver Brandon Marshall, who spent three seasons with the Chicago Bears, was recently involved in an incident with security guards and local police as he was moving into his new Florida home. Marshall shared the video on his social media platforms as the country reaches a breaking point following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha last week.

Marshall, who played with the Bears from 2012-14, had the police called on him by local security as he began to move into a new home in Florida. Marshall claims his name wasn’t given to security and they decided to call the police. In the video, the former Bears receiver explains why he feels this is an issue given the current climate with police officers and African Americans.

“This is the problem!” Marshall says in the video to the security guard. “This is the problem. I come here, you feel uncomfortable. My first day moving into my new house. Because my name’s not on the list, you call the cops. Now you call the cops. No, you’re not trying to do your job. There was no threat for you to call the cops. This is what we’re seeing every single day. I got two kids in the car right now. We’re in Weston, Florida, one of the most affluent areas. Yes, I know there’s other black people in the area, I know that.”

Following the incident, former Bears linebacker Lance Briggs showed support for his former teammate on Twitter.

 

During his illustrious NFL career that began in 2006 with the Denver Broncos, Marshall has had a few run-ins with the law. He was arrested multiple times during the mid-2000s on suspicion of domestic violence and driving under the influence in separate incidents and again in 2009 for disorderly conduct. Marshall was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) in 2011. Since then, he’s worked to raise awareness to BPD and mental health by partnering with various organizations and celebrities over the last few years.

The incident involving Marshall also comes just a few days after his former teammate linebacker Brian Urlacher criticized the protests and offered support for Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year old who was arrested for opening fire on protesters in Kenosha, killing two individuals.

It is still unclear if there were any ramifications following Marshall’s situation, but it’s another reminder why many people in this country feel the need for change when it comes to the dynamic between the police and African Americans.

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Quandre Diggs says athletes must continue to make their voices heard

Seattle Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs said that athletes and ordinary people must continue to make their voices heard to bring about change.

North American sports events were racked with player protests on Wednesday in the aftermath of the shooting of Jacob Blake. Some, like the NBA playoffs, even had some games postponed. Seattle Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs stated Friday that in the wake of the numerous incidents of racial discrimination and violence against Black people by police officers in the United States, he constantly fears for his family and makes sure he contacts his mother every day as a result.

“We’re more than entertainers, we’re more than athletes,” Diggs said. “We have families outside of this. My whole family’s black, so at the end of the day, I’m scared for them every day. I call my mom every day. No matter if I’m a multi-millionaire or not, she worries about me each and every day.”

Diggs heaped praise on the athletes across various sports leagues protesting the current state of affairs and stressed that they should continue to make their voices heard as much as possible.

“I applaud those guys. I applaud the NBA players, the WNBA players, MLB, all those guys that were able to take a stand and just shut the world down,” Diggs said. “Even if it was that day, that made a statement. It’s crazy times in the world, and at some point as athletes, as entertainers, it’s our job to let people know . . . I have respect for those guys, and I think as a league, as the NFL we’ve got to come together, we’ve got to figure out what our message is going to be, and just continue to keep the voices going and keep the movement going – don’t let our voice not be heard.”

Diggs emphasized that in addition to athletes, other notable figures with sizable platforms like high-profile celebrities must join in and publicly advocate for change and that all people should try to do the same, even if the impact is initially minimal.

“Anywhere, wherever you’re working at, whatever you’re doing in your life, you can always make an impact on somebody,” Diggs stated. “Of course we’ve got the bigger platform, and we’ve got to continue to use our platform, but people in my little town of Angleton, Texas, they can use their platform any way they have it. You can have impact on somebody, and all you have to do is leave an impact on one person every day, and you can help change the world. We all need to do better, and that’s including myself. The only way this world is going to get better is if we all do better and we all collectively do it better.”

If these incidents between police and Black civilians continue to occur with such frequency, the protests from athletes and postponements of sports games will likely follow suit.

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Panthers 2020 training camp: Saturday morning scrimmage canceled

Panthers 2020 training camp: Saturday morning scrimmage canceled

Today was supposed to be the third scrimmage of the Panthers’ 2020 training camp schedule. Coach Matt Rhule told reporters that it would essentially be the third preseason game for many of the players currently on the roster.

Instead, practice was delayed and then eventually called off.

While no official explanation has been given, it’s reasonable to think this could be related to protesting the police-shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha earlier this week. Teams across the major sports leagues have canceled games and practices in recent days in order to draw attention to the cause.

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Bears, former teammates respond to Brian Urlacher’s comments on Jacob Blake shooting

Brian Urlacher came under intense scrutiny following comments he posted on Instagram following Jacob Blake shooting.

Chicago Bears Hall of Fame linebacker Brian Urlacher came under severe scrutiny on Thursday for his recent activity on Instagram following the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha. Many fans and media members had immediate thoughts on the activity and now his former teammates, as well as his former team, are speaking their minds on the matter.

Urlacher posted an image criticizing the NBA players for not participating in the playoffs, comparing the walkout to former Green Bay Packers QB Brett Favre playing through the grief of losing his father back in 2003. The 2018 Hall of Fame inductee then “liked” a photo showing support for Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year old who is accused of multiple homicide charges after three people were shot during the protests in Kenosha, two of whom were killed.

Following the activity, the Chicago Bears and Urlacher’s former teammates responded. First, the Bears released the following statement on Thursday evening:

The social media posts in no way reflect the values or opinions of the Chicago Bears organization.

Later on, Urlacher’s former teammate running back Matt Forte, who played with the linebacker for five seasons, shared the following in a series of tweets.

The comment @BUrlacher54 (Brian Urlacher) posted is void of empathy, compassion, wisdom and coherence. But full of pride and ignorance! I pray for those who have been blinded by their wealth, privilege and earthly fame that breeds arrogance in their hearts. And those who refuse to acknowledge racism and injustice but instead choose to place their energy into justifying it by quickly judging the victims life as if they themselves are more valuable because their sins are different or weren’t caught by man… but God sees all. End Racism and injustice #byanymeansnecessary.

Forte then followed up those posts with this series of tweets on Friday afternoon, expanding on his thoughts on the situation:

Now my agent is getting media requests for me to comment on 54. Nah, I’m not talkin to you so you can use it to further the division btw humanity. Just read these tweets and nothing will be twisted to create headlines. The reason I’m continuing to pray for 54 and those who share his perspective is because he can ignore my accountability towards him but he’s defenseless against these prayers. [People] have to realize that we all have something in common with someone who’s a criminal, thug, a racist or someone who’s made bad choices etc… and that is YES my character may be better, my morals and values may be better but as a human being created in the image of God. We are all sinful and have the same value and deserve dignity, love and respect for our lives. No matter what you’ve done. So wether you’re HOFer, practice sq, homeless, addict, sex predator etc. I’m no better and my value is NOT more because of my earthly accomplishments. #truth. 

The reason I kept referring to Brian as 54 is because it’d be a shame for him, as well as me, to only be remembered for our tackles and touchdowns. Right now he and the number 54 are synonymous as 22 with me. But when our days end if that’s all people think of us then we’ve failed to be a public success and a private failure is no life to live. I still have love and respect for 54, as well as all people, and we can lovingly disagree but not when it comes to the oppression of people and racism. It’s evident that you can spend the majority of your life with and around black ppl and still not understand the struggle. Even while playing on the same field and being in the same locker room because true understanding doesn’t come from reading a book about it, watching a documentary or an episode of Black-ish. It comes from the actual experience of racism and injustice or self honesty in saying you know what I’ll probably never understand but I’m willing to listen and humbly with compassion put my feet in the oppressed shoes and walk through it with them, as I try to understand the inequality and mistreatments of black and brown people since the first slaves touched U.S. soil. But battles are surly not won on Twitter. The seeds that birthed America were sown in slavery and watered with oppression and racism and it’s roots run deep. So they MUST be rooted out and extinguished. So don’t justify, rather think Just-if-i would fight against racism how much better this world would be for our children! #EndRacism. M. Forté Out ✌🏿.

Forte’s posts resonated with another former teammate and someone who played with Urlacher more than most; linebacker Lance Briggs. Briggs, who played next to Urlacher for a decade, simply shared Forte’s comments on his Twitter.

Finally, another former teammate receiver Rashied Davis, spoke out on the matter as well. Davis, who was a member of the Bears from 2005-2010, joined Dan Bernstein on 670 The Score to talk about the protests as well as Urlacher’s comments. The former wide receiver has been on the front lines, protesting in Kenosha over the last week and has had personal experience dealing with police brutality in the past. When asked about Urlacher, Davis said the following:

“When I did find out about his statement yesterday, I did reach out to him and he agreed to sit down and have a conversation with me and hopefully we can do that. But his statement, it was tone deaf. It lacked any empathy, lacked all wisdom. There was no equivalent between Brett Favre’s dad dying – which I sympathize with him, I lost my father when I was 8 years old. And I understand that. But that’s not the same courage it takes to stand up and protest against racism and racial inequality and police brutality.

“I personally have family members who have been brutalized by police. One who almost died, had to have emergency surgery. He had no idea that it had happened until he was allowed to make a phone call and call my mom and say what was happening.

“To hear it, it hurts. It hurt me deeply to hear someone that I cared about, or care about, someone I call a friend, someone I went to work with everyday for six-seven years here, playing football. To read those words and have conversations with people, it was painful.”

The comments and social media activity from Urlacher hurt many Bears fans and sports fans across the nation, but they also deeply affected some of the people who knew him best during his playing days.

As of now, Urlacher has not responded following the criticism.

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Playoffs to restart with new agreement; Celtics-Raps starts 1pm Sunday

With a renewed commitment to racial justice, the 2020 NBA Playoffs will resume Saturday, with Celtics-Raptors to start 1pm Sunday.

Whether we call it a ‘boycott,’ ‘strike’ or ‘protest,’ the work stoppage that gripped the NBA on Wednesday after the Milwaukee Bucks refused to play after the Sunday shooting of Jacob Blake appears to be officially resolved according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.

What began as an unplanned response to the police shooting of Blake, a resident of Kenosha, Wisconsin — just 45 minutes from Milwaukee — quickly ballooned into a multi-sport protest.

NBA teams scheduled to play that day and teams in the WNBA, MLB, MLS and even pro tennis had games or matches were also canceled or rescheduled.

For their part, the Bucks did not intend to spark such a movement according to Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes.

But, the games would end up going unplayed just the same, with the NBA deciding to postpone them officially until a course of action acceptable for players, teams and the league was reached.

And today, that agreement was hammered out.

The NBA and National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) released a statement on the matter, which began:

“We had a candid, impassioned and productive conversation yesterday between NBA players, coaches and team governors regarding next steps to further our collective efforts and actions in support of social justice and racial equality. Among others, the attendees included player and team representatives of all 13 teams in Orlando.”

The statement continued by noting the playoffs would resume on saturday, August 29th with the NBA agreeing to three basic principles to move forward.

The first was a commitment to start a social justice coalition “with representatives from players, coaches and governors” that will be focused on a broad range of issues” that include voting access, civic engagement, and supporting police and criminal justice reform.

It is followed with a plan to have team Governors convert arenas owned by teams into safe locations for voting in the midst of a pandemic.

It concludes with an agreement to place more advertising “dedicated to promoting greater civic engagement in national and local elections and raising awareness around voter access and opportunity.”

“These commitments follow months of close collaboration around designing a safe and healthy environment to restart the NBA season,” continued the statement, “providing a platform to promote social justice, as well as creating an NBA Foundation focused on economic empowerment in the Black community.”

The Celtics are slated to resume Game 1 of their series with the Raptors on Sunday at 1pm Eastern Time, according to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.

A timetable for the rest of the series remains to be established, but will likely be released later today or tomorrow.

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WATCH: Former Spartan and Kenosha native Trae Waynes discusses Jacob Blake shooting

Waynes has been critical of the police shooting the unarmed Blake in the back seven times.

Former Michigan State star defensive back Trae Waynes has been very outspoken in the aftermath of a police officer shooting Jacob Blake, an unarmed black man, seven times in the back in Kenosha, Wisoconsin. Waynes hails from Kenosha and has been tweeting about the incident over the past few days.

On Friday Waynes made an appearance on Big Ten Network to discuss the shooting and ensuing protests with BTN’s Rick Pizzo.

Waynes is currently with the Cincinnati Bengals but is projected to be out for much of the season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle.

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Russell Wilson said Seahawks would not have played a game this week

Seattle’s QB Russell Wilson said Seahawks would not have played a game this week to show support for Jacob Blake and protest systemic racism.

Following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin, sports leagues around the country, including the NBA, NHL, WNBA, MLB and MLS, have postponed or canceled games to show their solidarity in protesting systemic racism.

While the NFL’s season has yet to start, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson believes the team would not have played this week had a game been scheduled.

“Yeah, for sure,” Wilson told 710 ESPN Seattle’s Danny and Gallant show Friday morning. “I think just witnessing what happened to Jacob and everything else and all the things that have added up to this, it’s devastating, truly devastating just to watch that and it’s not like this hasn’t been going on for years. That’s the scary part and sad part. The difference now is we get to see it every day because of social media and phones and everything else.”

The Seahawks were not slated to practice on Thursday, but many NFL teams that were, took the day off to show their support as well.

“I think what’s really disappointing is just knowing that we, as athletes, try to (make) a difference and sometimes people don’t want to listen and don’t want to recognize that that could have been us and that could be us,” Wilson said.

The Seahawks are set to practice at 2:00 p.m. PT on Friday afternoon.

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