LeBron, Anthony Davis, Lakers Players: 'If YOU Ain't Wit US, WE Ain't Wit Y'ALL'
Los Angeles Lakers guard/forward LeBron James, big man Anthony Davis and other members of the current Western Conference leaders spoke out in response to protests following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died in the custody of Minneapolis police Monday.
Others include forward Kyle Kuzma, guard Alex Caruso, center Dwight Howard and shooting guard Danny Green.
James has spoken out numerous times on social media in the days since Floyd's death:
Per Ray Sanchez, Joe Sutton and Artemis Moshtaghian of CNN.com, video captured a since-fired white Minneapolis officer, Derek Chauvin, putting his knee into Floyd's neck for almost nine minutes while Floyd was lying down and handcuffed in police custody. Floyd died later that day.
The protests that the Lakers and others athletes have responded to run deeper than Floyd's death in a period of recent history that includes the deaths of other unarmed black people, including Breonna Taylor, Botham Jean and Ahmaud Arbery.
Per Mapping Police Violence, over 100 unarmed black people died from police violence in 2015. Unarmed black people were also killed at five times the rate of unarmed white people.
