Clippers' Doc Rivers speaks out on Jacob Blake shooting: 'We’re the ones getting killed. We’re the ones getting shot.'
He made his comments after the team's playoff win over the Mavericks
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Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers was the latest professional sports figure to speak out on Jacob Blake, who was shot in Wisconsin by police over the weekend.
Rivers talked about Blake and racism in the U.S. after the Clippers defeated the Dallas Mavericks in their playoff game Tuesday night.
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“It’s just so sad. What stands out to me is just watching the Republican convention, viewing this fear. All you hear is Donald Trump and all of them talking about fear,” Rivers said, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“We’re the ones getting killed. We’re the ones getting shot. We’re the ones that we’re denied to live in certain communities. We’ve been hung. We’ve been shot. All you do is keep hearing about fear. It’s amazing why we keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back. It’s really so sad. Like, I should just be a coach. I’m so often reminded of my color. It’s just really sad. We got to do better. But we got to demand better.”
Rivers said policing tactics have to change.
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“It’s funny, we protest. They send riot guards. They send people in riot outfits. They go up to Michigan with guns. They’re spitting on cops. Nothing happens. The training has to change in the police force. The unions have to be taken down in the police force. My dad was a cop. I believe in good cops. We’re not trying to defund the police and take all their money away. We’re trying to get them to protect us, just like they protect everybody else. I didn’t want to talk about it before the game because it’s so hard, like, to just keep watching it.”
He added: “That video, if you watch that video, you don’t need to be Black to be outraged. You need to be American and outraged. How dare the Republicans talk about fear. We’re the ones that need to be scared. We’re the ones having to talk to every Black child. What white father has to give his son a talk about being careful if you get pulled over? It’s just ridiculous. It just keeps going. There’s no charges. Breonna Taylor, no charges, nothing. All we’re asking is you live up to the Constitution. That’s all we’re asking for everybody, for everyone. Thank you.”
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Blake was shot and wounded by a Kenosha police officer Sunday. Cellphone video of Blake being shot multiple times in the back has elicited outrage and made the city the latest flashpoint in a summer filled with ongoing demonstrations against police brutality that have at times turned violent.