Kyle Kuzma has wasted little time in becoming more politically active during his time in the NBA bubble. The Los Angeles Lakers forward recently took his thoughts to Twitter before talking with the media Monday about a bill he wants to see passed regarding police reform.
Kuzma wants to see Senate Bill 731 pass in the state of California. It would require all police officers in California to be certified by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, and it could rescind the certification for any violations of law.
“While we’re demanding change, right now in CA Dems are REFUSING to pass modest police reform that would keep abusive officers out of the state and end qualified immunity!” Kuzma tweeted Monday morning. “@AssemblyDems are you going to make real change or just pretend like you hear us?!? #PassSB731.”
Kim Kardashian West also wants to get that bill passed, which is why Kuzma retweeted her onto his timeline.
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“It basically prohibits police from having the ability from breaking the law and not getting into trouble,” Kuzma said during his video conference with reporters after practice. “Obviously, it’s hard to get passed right now, but we’re just trying to push it through and make real change. That’s one thing just to continue being an activist on, commenting on racism, but we got to get these bills passed. That’s the most important thing.”
Kuzma was also asked about the dialogue the players have had with security personnel in the bubble.
Kuzma said those officers working for the NBA are part of their “brotherhood.”
“They kind of stand for their own, a lot,” Kuzma said. “But the talks I’ve had with good policemen … it’s about the training aspect. That’s the biggest thing. They only have budgets from that standpoint to have the proper training and knowledge. You have cops that work in, let’s say a cop works in Los Angeles, works in Compton, but lives in Santa Clarita. He doesn’t know the area. He doesn’t know the people or the background.
“So, the biggest thing is not just defunding police, but actually giving them the proper resources and training to better themselves. For instance, [his hometown] Flint, Mich. Everyone wants to talk about defunding the police, but for a place like there, they actually need to hire more police. It’s a city of 100,000 people, and we have like 95 cops. So, one cop has to service 10,000 people. That doesn’t make sense.”
“It’s not like me telling them, ‘Cops are bad. What are you guys doing?’” Kuzma said. “It’s about having that honest dialogue to really figure out what they see from their perspective. Everybody wants to bash police, but you got to look at their lens too sometimes and figure out why things are happening.”
