Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac found himself involved in controversy in recent hours after he chose not to kneel or wear a ‘Black Lives Matter’ shirt during the Magic first game at the Orlando bubble against the Brooklyn Nets. That decision raised a lot of eyebrows around the league but Isaac was confident that he was doing the right team.
Via Taylor Brooks of Bleacher Report:
“I believe that Black Lives Matter. A lot went into my decision, and part of it is, I thought that kneeling or wearing the Black Lives Matter t-shirt doesn’t go hand-in-hand with supporting Black lives. So I felt like, just me personally, what is that I believe is taking on a stance that, I do believe that Black lives matter, but I just felt like it was a decision that I had to make, and I didn’t feel like putting that shirt on and kneeling went hand in hand with supporting Black lives. I believe that for myself, my life has been supported by gospel, Jesus Christ, and everyone is made in the image of God and that we all forge through God’s glory.
Each and every one of us do things that we shouldn’t do and say things that we shouldn’t say. We hate and dislike things that we shouldn’t hate and dislike, and sometimes it gets to a point where we point fingers, whose evil is worse, and sometimes it comes down to whose evil is most visible. So I felt like I wanted to take a stand on, we all make mistakes, but I think that the gospel of Jesus Christ is that there’s grace for us, and that Jesus came and died for our sins and that if we all come to an understanding of that and that God wants to have a relationship with us, that we can get kept all of the things in our world that our messed up, jacked up.
I think when you look around, racism isn’t the only thing that plagues our society, that plagues our nation, that plagues our world, and I think coming together on that message that we want to get past not only racism but everything that plagues as us as a society, I feel like the answer to that is gospel.”
Isaac found some support in other NBA players, including the Clippers forward Paul George, who defended Isaac’s decision, explaining that everybody should have a voice in all of this.
“I applaud Jonathan Isaac for his stance & his beliefs, he’s not wrong. Nobody’s wrong, I think what’s so great about it is that everyone has a voice in this situation”
As PG says, it’s good that everybody can express their opinion in whatever way they want. Isaac did it and there is nothing to be mad about. America is a free country and he still can do whatever he wants as long as he doesn’t hurt other people.
The Black Lives Matter movement has been gaining more and more support in recent months, but Isaac isn’t convinced that’s the way things should be done to create a change in society.
