LA Clippers: Team and Doc Rivers put out statement on racial injustice

The LA Clippers and Doc Rivers put out a joint statement surrounding the death of George Floyd.

In the midst of an emotional and violent week arising from the death of African-American George Floyd due to the conduct of Minneapolis police officers, LA Clippers’ coach Doc Rivers has spoken out to share his own experiences and plead that we all become part of the solution to racial injustice.

As the world knows, on May 25, 2020, a white Minnesota police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeled on the neck of George Floyd for nearly nine minutes while Floyd was handcuffed, lying face down on a city street near Minneapolis. Before he became unresponsive, Floyd begged for his life, telling the officers that he couldn’t breathe. Bystanders, also begging for Floyd, recorded the horrific incident. Tragically, George Floyd died.

In an immediate response, protests and vigils have arisen across the United States. And to add to the tragedy, some of those protests have turned violent, with businesses being set on fire and looted, police cars burned and property destroyed.

Last night, areas of Los Angeles started in peaceful protest, which became violent and frightening as the night wore on; businesses were vandalized, burned, and looted in West Hollywood and Beverly Hills, just a few miles from the Clippers’ Staples Center home. A nation has responded passionately and emotionally, searching for answers to yet another senseless death of an African American.

Words can hardly describe the horror of watching a man begging unsuccessfully for his life and the callous indifference of the officers on the scene.

But Doc Rivers and the team have released a statement, using his powerful words to call for change.

Rivers joins Clippers’ owner Steve Ballmer in calling for change, Earlier this week, Ballmer tweeted:

"“We must hold one another accountable. We (non-black) people must get to work. We must educate ourselves on the history of oppression and discrimination and how it continues today so we can be better allies and advocate for a better future. We can and must do better.”"

Those words are powerful.

“This is a human issue.”

“We can and must do better.”

As a community, we must not tolerate any more tragedies. We can all be leaders here.