Athletes react to George Floyd’s death
Tigers’ Thomas made to delete tweet
As reaction comes in from around the country and in Memphis to the death of George Floyd after he was pinned down by a white Minneapolis officer, several Memphis athletes took to social media expressing their concerns.
The strongest reaction came from Memphis forward Lance Thomas. In a since-deleted tweet posted Wednesday, Thomas said that he would not stand for the national anthem. He later said that he was made to take it down but didn’t say who told him to.
In another tweet, Thomas clarified his position by asking people to focus on the conditions surrounding Floyd’s death in an attempt to understand why he shared his opinion.
“To anyone who took any offense to my tweet that wasn’t the intention at all but let’s take a look at the injustice at hand smh,” Thomas tweeted with a facepalm emoji at the end.
Thomas’ initial tweet referred to protests by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick who sat during the national anthem before a preseason game in 2016. He then switched to kneeling as he said he could not “show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color” while also voicing disapproval of unarmed African Americans being shot by law enforcement.
Memphis athletic director Laird
Veatch addressed Thomas’ tweets Thursday on the “Geoff Calkins Show” on 92.9 ESPN.
“I have not had unfortunately the opportunity to effectively communicate with (Memphis coach) Penny (Hardaway) or Lance for that matter on this topic yet given that it just happened last night and there’s been a lot of reporting on it this morning,” Veatch said. “At this point, I would just say we’re going to support Lance’s right, and all of our student-athletes’ right of free speech.
“More importantly, right now, I’m looking forward to the opportunity just to support and listen to Lance and really everybody that’s impacted by racial injustice in this country. It’s a very difficult time and I recognize that and I know we all do. We’ll have an opportunity to communicate effectively on that in the future.”
According to the Minneapolis Police Department, officers responded to a report of a forgery in progress Monday and Floyd was the suspect. Video of Floyd’s death emerged Tuesday. On the video, an officer, who has been identified by the Associated Press as Derek Chauvin, holds his knee on Floyd’s neck while Floyd said he was struggling to breathe. Other officers stood between Chauvin and bystanders as Floyd became unresponsive.
Chauvin and three other officers have been fired over the incident.
Grizzlies guard Tyus Jones, who was born in Minnesota, tweeted Thursday #Prayforminneapolis as the city dealt with protests and looting following the aftermath of Floyd’s death. On Wednesday, he shared his frustrations over the situation.
“Enough has to be enough!!!,” Jones said on Twitter. “When will it stop ???? ”
Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr added his thoughts on Twitter: “As a human race, we need to improve”