Michael Jordan has spoken in the death of George Floyd. On May 25, Floyd was killed in Minneapolis when the police officer Derek Chauvin he wrapped his knee Floyd in the neck for almost nine minutes as he said several times that he could not breathe. May 31, in the midst of protests across the country, Jordan released a statement on his official Instagram and Twitter, expressing their anger and support. “I am deeply sad, the truth hurts and the plain angry,” he wrote. “I see and feel all the pain, anger and frustration. I stand with those who are calling the deep-seated racism and violence toward people of color in our country. We’ve had enough.”
The former basketball player was to encourage their followers to show empathy toward the other at the same time actively denouncing out-of-place-by the violence of the police. “I don’t have the answers, but our collective voices to show the strength and the inability to be divided by the other. We must listen to others, to show compassion and empathy, and never turn your back to the senseless brutality,” Jordan said. He urged fans to “continue with peaceful expressions against the injustice,” “demand accountability” and “to put pressure on our leaders to change our laws.” He concluded his statement by offering his condolences to the Floyd family and the “countless people whose lives have been brutally and without regard taken through acts of racism and injustice.”
In the past, Jordan received the reaction of the fans rarely take a position on the policy Black-and-defence during his basketball career. He touched his tendency to remain neutral in issues of race in his recent docuseries The Last Dance. In 1990, Jordan decided not to publicly endorse Harvey Gantt, a Black Democrat who was running for senator of North Carolina against Jesse Helms, a white Republican with a racist reputation. Gantt wound up losing the race in Jordan’s home state. Reflecting on the matter after 30 years The Last DanceJordan said, “I never thought of myself as an activist. I thought of myself as a basketball player. I was not a politician. I was playing around with my sport. I was focused on my craft. It was selfish? Probably. But that was my power.”
Fast forward to the 2000s, and Jordan began using his platform to advocate for Black Americans. In 2012, he hosted a $20,000-per-person fundraiser in support of Barack Obama reeelction campaign. And in 2016, wrote a column on the Black Lives Matter movement for The Undefeated and announced $1 million in donations for the Legal Defense of the NAACP and the Educational Fund and the Institute for Community-Police Relations. “As a proud American, a father who lost his father in a senseless act of violence, and a black man, I have been deeply concerned by the deaths of african americans at the hands of law enforcement,” the former Chicago Bulls superstar wrote. “I know this country is better than that, and I can no longer remain silent.”
Image source: Getty / Franck Fife / AFP
