Jimmy Butler on Capitol Breach: 'We See the Two Different Americas We Live In'
After dropping a team-high 26 points in the Miami Heat's loss to the Boston Celtics on Wednesday, Heat forward Jimmy Butler spoke about the decision to play the game amid the uncertainty that followed a pro-Donald Trump mob that breached security and stormed the U.S. Capitol earlier in the day.
"Everybody knows what's going on in the world," he told reporters. "Can't hide from that. We see the two different USAs that we live in. It's sad. But all in all, we came to the conclusion we were going to hoop. We know what it is. You're not fooling us."
The Heat and the Celtics released a joint statement before their game, noting their anger with Wednesday's riot and the aftermath of it as well as their disappointment in the decision by prosecutors in Wisconsin not to press charges against the police officer who shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, over the summer, paralyzing him from the waist down.
The joint statement called out the differences between police involvement at Black Lives Matter protests nationwide over the summer compared to the mob that erupted inside the Capitol on Wednesday.
"It's just sad," Butler said. "Everybody sees it. Everybody knows it now. You can't say you don't understand it."
Players on both teams expressed similar sentiments.
On Wednesday, players on both teams took a knee during the national anthem, and the Milwaukee Bucks and Detroit Pistons knelt after tipoff.
