The Los Angeles Clippers seized control of their first-round playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks Tuesday night with a dominating 154-111 victory, pulling ahead 3-2.
The talk of the game quickly changed when reporters spoke with head coach Doc Rivers as he spent just over five minutes of his time at the podium parsing through the range of emotions elicited by police officers shooting Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis. Sunday.
“It’s just so sad. You know, what stands out to me is,” Rivers said, removing his mask, which read “Vote!,” as he spoke, “just watching the Republican (National) Convention, and they’re spewing this fear, right. Like, all you hear is Donald Trump and all of them talking about fear.
“We’re the ones getting killed. We’re the ones getting shot. We’re the ones who are denied to live in certain communities. We’ve been hung. We’ve been shot,” he continued, his voice cracking with emotion. “And all you do is keep hearing about fear. It’s amazing. Why do we keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back.”
“I should just be a coach. And it’s so often reminded of my color. You know, it’s just really sad. We gotta do better. But we gotta demand better. You know, it’s funny, we protest and they send riot guards, right. They send people in riot outfits,” Rivers said.
He also spoke in reference to armed protesters that cropped up to demonstrate against stay-at-home orders amid the COVID-19 pandemic back in May.
“They go to Michigan with guns and they’re spitting on cops and nothing happens. The training has to change in the police force. The unions have to be taken down in the police force. My dad was a cop. I believe in good cops. We’re not trying to defund the police and take all their money away, we’re trying to get them to protect us. Just like they protect everybody else.”
Rivers called for empathy — and justice — in response to Blake’s shooting.
“If you watch that (Jacob Blake) video, you don’t need to be Black to be outraged. You need to be American and outraged. And how dare the Republicans talk about fear? We’re the ones that need to be scared. We’re the ones having to talk to every Black child. What white father has to give his son a talk about being careful if you get pulled over? It’s just ridiculous,” Rivers said. “And it keeps going, there’s no charges. Breonna Taylor. No charges. Nothing. All we’re asking is you live up to the Constitution. That’s all we’re asking. For everybody. For everyone.”
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