As US President Donald Trump vowed to return order to America’s streets using the military if widespread violence isn’t quelled, one NBA Hall of Fame player says that the rioting that is taking place all across the country is “the voices of people who have no voice.”
“These are people that have no other voice now,” Kareem Abdul-Jabbar told CNN.
“They don’t get the political power or the financial power to change the circumstances, so what are they going to do? The rioting is the voices of people who have no voice. That’s how they have made their presence known.
“I just remember seeing a sign that someone held up in Minneapolis that said, ‘Can you hear us now?’ I think that’s a very poignant statement.”
Demonstrators filled streets across the country to protest police brutality and the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis.
The former Milwaukee Buck and LA Laker’s interview with CNN followed an op-ed he wrote for the Los Angeles Times on May 30 explaining that “even though we do all the conventional things to raise public and political awareness … the needle hardly budges.”
Although Abdul-Jabbar says that the majority of the police force are not a problem, “something has to change” with how African Americans are treated by a minority of law enforcement officers.
“There’s always been some white Americans who understand that what they’re seeing is criminal and wrong and people can’t live with it, but there’s been no change.
“There is no way really to get rid of bad cops. We don’t want to get rid of the awesome men and women out there that police our streets. We don’t want to get rid of them, but there are some bad cops among them, and we need to find an effective means to get rid of them that doesn’t threaten the rest of the cops, the 99% of them that do such a wonderful job day in and day out, and many times not being thanked for it.”
READ: Lewis Hamilton and Michael Jordan speak out after George Floyd’s death
‘Necessary but frustrating’
Meanwhile San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich – a vocal and long-time critic of US President Trump – says the lack of leadership from US President is “unbelievable.”
As well as critiquing President Trump, Popovich has never been shy about speaking about racism or police brutality.
While Popovich called the protests “necessary,” their organization has frustrated the 71-year-old coach.
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“When Dr. King did a protest, you knew when to show, when to come back the next day,” the five-time NBA champion said in an interview with ‘The Nation.’
“But if you’re just organizing protests and everyone is coming and going in every direction, it doesn’t work that way.
“If it was non-violent, they knew to be non-violent, but this is muddled. More leadership would be very welcome so these incredible mass demonstrations can’t be used by people for other means. We can limit the bad, but only if things are organized better.”
