Wizards' John Wall Discusses Experiences with Racism, Fear of Police, More

In the wake of George Floyd's killing and with protests around the country calling for an end to racial injustice and police violence, Washington Wizards star John Wall discussed the threats he feels as a black man living in the United States. 

Wall offered his thoughts on the Hoops, Adjacent podcast (h/t The Athletic's David Aldridge):

"If I get pulled over right now, I'm terrified. To be realistic. If I'm in a dark area, or a back street, I'm not stopping. I'll go to a high-speed chase to get to a spot where it's a grocery store, or somewhere where's there's a lot of lights at, because that's how terrifying it is. You're telling me if I want to be a black kid to jog in a neighborhood, and I say, 'okay, I want to cut through this white neighborhood, this rich neighborhood,' and then all of a sudden, I'm targeted to get killed? Because I don't belong there? Those are the kind of things I grew up with, like you wouldn't go to this side of town where you wasn't allowed. Why? We breathe the same air."

Wall added that Floyd's killing was "devastating" and that the larger issue at hand is "kind of frustrating" because police brutality has been a problem for so long.

On May 25, Minneapolis police officers removed Floyd from his vehicle while investigating an alleged forgery in progress. One officer, Derek Chauvin, was shown on video kneeling on Floyd's neck for almost nine minutes. Floyd told the officers he couldn't breathe and later died at a local hospital.

The four officers involved were fired from their jobs, and prosecutors charged Chauvin with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison amended the murder charge to a second-degree offense and charged the other three officers with aiding and abetting second-degree murder on Wednesday.

The Washington Wizards released a statement from their players saying they "will no longer tolerate the assassination of people of color in this country":

The hypothetical Wall floated about running in an affluent neighborhood roughly matched the circumstances surrounding the killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia.

Arbery was jogging in February when he was approached by a father and son who said they thought he might have been the suspect in the area's recent break-ins.

Gregory McMichael and son, Travis, began following Arbery in their truck as he was jogging. Upon catching up with Arbery, Travis McMichael exited the truck with a shotgun. During a confrontation, Arbery was shot and killed. Gregory and Travis McMichael were taken into custody and charged with murder in May.