Source: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images / Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
Former NBA player Stephen Jackson has had a rough few weeks.
On May 25, George Floyd, his very close friend who he lovingly called his twin as the two grew up in Texas, was killed by former police officer Derek Chauvin. Floyd passed away after Chauvin has his knee shoved into his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds–which would ignite consecutive nights of unrest throughout the country with protests and looting.
Racial injustices are at the forefront of America right now, and even companies are trying to get things right, and as much as the NBA would provide a lighter form of entertainment, Jackson doesn’t think that now is the time.
“I love the NBA man, that’s my family,” Jackson began in the Instagram video. “But now ain’t the time to be playing basketball y’all. Now ain’t the time. Playing basketball is gonna do one thing, take all the attention off the task at hand right now and what we fighting for.”
It’s been thought that because the unemployment rate is so high at 13.3% and people have been stuck in their homes for three months, all that pent up energy has released in the form of standing up for Black rights. Adding sports would force people to stop looking at reality.
“Everybody gonna be worried about the playoffs, they gonna have that blasting all over the TV, and nobody’s gonna be talking about getting justice for all these senseless murders by these police, and nobody’s gonna be focused on the task at hand,” Jackson continued. “None of these white owners have spoken up, none of ’em are taking a stand. Yeah, they might post a video when the season start of saying what we should do, but they ain’t doing nothing.”
Jackson shares similar sentiments with Kyrie Irving, who hopped on a call earlier this week with about 80 players to protest the NBA’s proposed idea of finishing up the 2019-20 season with a 22-team format.
Stephen Jackson Doesn’t Think The NBA Should Return: “Nobody’s Gonna Be Talking About Getting Justice For All These Senseless Murders” was originally published on cassiuslife.com
