On Wednesday, Warriors coach Steve Kerr made an impassioned, emotional plea to lawmakers in response to the Texas shooting that claimed the lives of over 20 people.
His reaction went viral online and, in the hours that followed, his DMs were flooded with people who wanted to know how to help.
Ahead of Game 5 on Thursday, Kerr made a follow-up statement on his earlier message and explained what the average citizen can do to push for change.
“I’ve had a lot of people reach out to me, most asking what they can do,” Kerr said. “I think that’s a really good question. So many people want to help and want to know how they can make an impact… What I’m asking people to do is to get involved in their local communities. There’s a lot of amazing gun safety, gun prevention groups out there. Call your senators, call your representatives. It’s all very helpful. I’ve got lots of friends who are Democrats. I’ve got lots of friends who are Republicans. All I know is they all want gun violence to go away. So we just need to get our public servants to respond to what we all want. I don’t know how to do that, but we’re gonna try.”
Steve Kerr on the reaction he's gotten to his emotional pregame message on Tuesday following the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.pic.twitter.com/CqAhEBWkHq
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 26, 2022
The NBA has always tried to be on the right side of history. During the COVID-19 outbreak and the George Floyd protests, they took a stand and allowed players and coaches to express themselves.
In the case of Steve Kerr, he’s using his platform to encourage people to take action against a very cornering and damaging issue in the United States today. Kudos to him for speaking up and refusing to stay silent in the face of a very serious non-basketball issue.
