Nobody in the NBA is happy with the news of Breonna Taylor’s case, including former player-turned-analyst Jalen Rose, who didn’t hesitate to use his platform to show his unhappiness with the decision made. Breonna Taylor was a 26-year-old hospital worker killed by police officers who stormed at her home on 13 March.
Plenty of people have been advocating for all the three officers who entered Taylor’s house to get arrested, which is exactly what Rose did on Wednesday night during the ESPN halftime show of the Boston Celtics-Miami Heat fourth game.
It was a brief moment, but it made a big impact. When talking about Tyler Herro’s spectacular first half, Rose reminded everybody that the people that killed a woman who was asleep when they shot her, were still free.
“It’d also be a great day to arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor,” Rose yelled before ESPN cut to commercial.
Before the game, he had already addressed the situation on NBA Countdown.
“I just want people to know that Blacks are hurting. As we relate it to sports, that sports that are predominantly Black — the WNBA, the NBA and the NFL — all of those players are performing with heavy hearts,” he said. “We’re still showing up to try and do our jobs.
“And I was in that position, I can’t lie to y’all. I was looking in my closet like, ‘I am going to wear something fresh today because if I say something to get me fired, then I was crisp.’”
"We’re starting the game, it’s 400 years of slavery to zero. We know we not gon’ win, but you still got to continue to move the ball forward and put people behind you in a position to be successful. That’s what the NBA players are doing today. … I applaud them." – @JalenRose pic.twitter.com/kNWQiMdYsf
— Andscape (@andscape) September 24, 2020
One of the officers involved in the killing of Taylor, Brett Hankison, was charged with “wanton endangerment” for firing into a neighbor’s apartment in Louisville, not for the murder of Ms. Taylor. The other two officers weren’t charged and they’ll continue to live a happy life.
Other figures like LeBron James, Magic Johnson and Stephen A. Smith had strong words about this case. People in America want justice; this only makes an already bad situation worse and these kinds of news don’t seem to be stopping anytime soon.
