Michele Roberts, executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, expressed outrage at the crowd that stormed the Capitol in Washington on Wednesday and how the event reflected the racial double standards in America.
Roberts told ESPN that her conversations with multiple NBA players throughout the afternoon kept returning to the contrast between the scene of President Donald Trump’s supporters storming the Capitol Building with Tuesday’s announcement that police officers in Kenosha, Wisconsin, would not be charged with it. shooting down Jacob Blake, who is black.
In the aftermath of the Blake shooting in August, the Milwaukee Bucks decided not to play a playoff game against the Orlando Magic in the bubble of the competition at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. More teams joined the Bucks and the league stopped in protest for three days before restarting.
“Today started yesterday when the shooting of Jacob Blake was justified, although I’m not sure if any human was surprised by that finding,” Roberts told ESPN on Wednesday. “Every player who contacted me – or who I contacted – saw the same connection to the Blake shooting as justified. We looked at these people who were essentially betraying in the Capitol and I have yet to hear that there was one shot. fired.
“We saw a black police officer being chased and players said to me, ‘So this is what they can do?’ And people don’t get this privilege stuff I know how they feel I’m so angry and hurt – and I don’t want to cry It reminded me of something James Baldwin said when asked what it was like to be a Nigger in the United States of America He said that if you are aware of what is happening in the country and you are a Negro, you are in a constant state of anger.
“On a day like this, it’s the first thing that comes to mind. And I can only say that I’m grateful to know hopefully no one who looks like me is going to Capitol Hill to comment on this, because if they do “You’ll see a different answer from law enforcement. You know – and I know.”
Roberts told ESPN there had been no discussions with the NBA about postponing any of the 11 NBA games scheduled for Wednesday night. The Washington Wizards played against the Philadelphia 76ers in Philadelphia.