Thursday’s matchup between the Sacramento Kings and Atlanta Hawks wasn’t really about a basketball game.
Prior to tip-off, peaceful protestors had gathered in front of the Golden 1 Center, home of the Kings. The Black Lives Matter rally, which started at City Hall and covered parts of Sacramento during rush hour, was in response to the police shooting of Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old-old unarmed black man who was shot and killed in his grandparents’ backyard.
Entrances to the arena were shut down in an effort to keep everyone safe and respect the protest, and the game was delayed by about 20 minutes as many fans weren’t able to get in.
The Kings not only listened to the activists’ message, they amplified it. Immediately following the game, team owner Vivek Ranadivé took the microphone to centre court and added his voice to the important conversation with a post-game speech.
Here’s the transcript of Ranadivé’s powerful address:
[blockquote]“On Sunday we had a horrific, horrific tragedy in our community. And on behalf of the players, the executives, ownership, and the entire Kings family, I first of all wanted to express our deepest sympathies to the family. What happened was absolutely horrific and we are so very sorry for your loss.
I also wanted to say that we at the Kings recognize your ability to protest peacefully and we respect that. We here at the Kings recognize that we have a big platform. It’s a privilege but its also a responsibility. It’s a responsibility that we take very seriously. And we stand here before you, old young, black, white, brown and we are all united in our commitment. We recognize that it’s not just business as usual and we are going to work really hard to bring everybody together to make the world a better place — starting with our own community. We’re going to work really hard to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening again.”[cite]- Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé[/cite][/blockquote]
According to USA Today, Ranadivé consulted some of his veteran players about how to approach the evening’s events. Players also showed their individual support when speaking with reporters after the game.
“I 100 per cent agree with the protest outside,” said Garrett Temple, who is very active in the community and the Black Lives Matter movement. “If I didn’t have a job to do I’d probably be out there with them peacefully protesting because what’s going on has to stop. It has to stop.”
Vince Carter said players “had conversations throughout the game about it.”
“And when I say we, I mean both teams, with each other. We have a game to play. We have a job to do, but (the protest) didn’t go unnoticed,” Carter said.
“That’s what it’s all about, is raising awareness, because we know it was going to be talked about and we know the game’s played but the conversation for both teams, it wasn’t just before the game,” he continued. “It was throughout the game. It was pretty neat.”
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