Former U.S. women’s national soccer star Lauren Holiday revealed in an essay Monday the moment she witnessed her husband, New Orleans Pelicans point guard Jrue Holiday, become a victim of racial injustice.
In an essay titled “I’ve Stayed Silent for Way Too Long,” Lauren Holiday recalled the time she and her sister-in-law were pulled over by police.
“Over a loudspeaker, the officer instructed me to get out of the car. I got out. He asked for my license and registration. I didn’t have my license on me — neither of us did. Instinctively, my sister-in-law FaceTimed Jrue and told him our situation. (At the time, I was struck by how quickly Lauren sprang into action — how she recognized the full seriousness of what was happening long before I did. Looking back, now, I see my relative lack of urgency for what it was: white privilege.) Fortunately, Jrue was at home, only like five minutes away, and so he said he’d be right there with our licenses,” her essay, published in The Players’ Tribune, read.
Lauren Holiday went on to explain that her husband arrived a short time later with her driver’s license and much to her surprise was placed in handcuffs -- despite the officer knowing that Jrue Holiday was coming to the scene with the purpose of bringing her documentation.
“Jrue of course, being Jrue, stayed calm and composed as this was happening," she wrote. "I was livid, and the opposite of calm — demanding answers, insisting that my husband hadn’t done anything wrong, trying to figure out how this whole thing had snowballed so quickly.”
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Lauren Holiday went on to explain that she was eventually given a ticket for her tints being too dark but she struggled to understand why her husband was placed in handcuffs.
“I’m writing this because I know it’s not enough for me just to be self-aware. It’s not enough for me just to acknowledge my white privilege within the context of racism. I have to actively be leveraging it against racism.”
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She continued: “I’m writing this about my family’s experience with the police, not because it compares in any way to the appalling murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and so many others, or to the heartbreak their families have had to endure. I’m writing this because the point is: Any racism at all, on any level, is worth confronting, and worth exposing, and worth speaking up about.