The death of George Floyd at the hands of ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chavin last Monday and the many protests that have happened across the United States over the weekend had many athletes and ESPN personalities voicing their opinion on the tragic event and what needs to change in this country.
As I was watching SportsCenter on Saturday night, I came across anchor Michael Eaves talking about the impact this situation had on him. It was leading into a piece done by Jeremy Schaap about the impact athletes are having during these tough times.
Eaves has not been the only personality who has spoken out over the weekend. On Friday’s Get Up, Jalen Rose talked about how we as a society need to come together, not just when it is convenient.
Marcus Spears, who contributes to Get Up and College Football Live among other shows on ESPN and the SEC Network, tweeted on Sunday a statement saying this is the best he could explain the situation and then spoke on Monday’s Get Up about the impact it had on his 11-year-old son:
On ESPN Radio’s Sunday Morning show hosted by Matt Schick and Myron Medcalf, Schick mentioned how he had a discussion with his kids about everything going on in the world and he told them about what happened to Emmett Till. I will leave that clip here along with the interview Schick and Medcalf did with North Carolina Central men’s basketball coach, LeVelle Moton:
Another segment I was able to catch Sunday was when Chris Carlin and Alyssa Lang had Bart Scott, the former Jets linebacker and co-host of Bart and Hahn on ESPN Radio New York, on their show and Lang asked what white people can do to help the situation.
“Just make abundantly clear that silence is compliance,” Scott answered. “If you fail to say nothing, you are saying it is ok and injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Eventually, if you don’t attack injustice, eventually it is going to be on your doorsteps.”
On Monday’s The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, Le Batard spoke on the subject and you can hear the emotion he was using (credit to @gifdsports for the audio).
“It’s heartbreaking. I’m just an observer. Latin or not, minority or not, I come from privilege. I hope we can just laugh today that there can be some medicine somewhere in this,” Le Batard said. “I’ve been alive for 51 years. I have not had as heartbreaking a weekend for something that didn’t really directly impact me as I did this weekend where my fear kept me in a place. This bone-weariness, this feeling that you have in your heart, in your stomach, it feels like a disease.”
Kudos to ESPN for recognizing that this is an issue that should speak to all of us. And kudos to the talent that listened, and asked questions and especially to those that opened up and spoke so emotionally about the issue and the moment. We as a country need to do better. So, the one thing I would want everyone to take from this article and these people is please, take a minute, and listen.
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