Curry says he’ll likely kneel for national anthem next season
Warriors guard Stephen Curry said this weekend he’ll likely kneel for the national anthem whenever the 2020-21 NBA regular season gets underway.
Appearing for a segment on “CBS Sunday Morning,” Curry, 32, said he’s be in solidarity with his fellow NBA players, who began the league’s restart in Orlando last month by taking a knee for the national anthem in an effort to raise awareness of police violence against Black people.
“I believe so,” Curry said of kneeling for the anthem in an interview that took place two weeks ago. “I think it’s become like a wildfire spreading. I applaud every single one of them for doing it, and for doing it in unity.”
Last Tuesday, just two days after Jacob Blake was shot by police in
Kenosha, Wisconsin, Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers gave an impassioned speech on racial inequality in America, saying in part, “It’s amazing, why we keep loving this country, and this country has not loved us back.”
Rivers’ widely shared interview seemed to spark a movement inside the NBA’s playoff bubble. On Wednesday, the Milwaukee Bucks refused to take the court for their scheduled playoff game against the Orlando Magic, setting off a wave of protests throughout North American professional sports.
The NBA resumed games Saturday after players and owners agreed to expanded off-court initiatives, including increasing voting awareness for this fall’s U.S. presidential election.
Curry tweeted, “Proud to know you @DocRivers. Sometimes we don’t know what to say every time this hurt happens. We Need Change! There is so much Truth in every Every word of this. Y’all wake up.”
Curry and his wife, Ayesha, and their two daughters Riley, 8, and Ryan, 5, recently appeared in a video during the Democratic National Convention to endorse Joe Biden for president.
“Every election is important,” Ayesha Curry said. “This upcoming election is especially important. One, because the social injustices right now, racial inequality, but also because we have children.” The couple also has a 2-year-old son, Canon.
On the television show, Curry also discussed his Underrated Book Club, which, for its first entry, is featuring the 2010 novel, “The Other Wes Moore.” The book is about two African American boys named Wes Moore who were born blocks apart in Baltimore.
One, the book’s author, became a Rhodes Scholar and the CEO of Robin Hood, an antipoverty nonprofit organization. The other is now in prison serving a life sentence for killing an off-duty police officer during an
armed robbery.
It is unknown when the NBA will be able to begin its next season. League officials discussed Dec. 1 as a start date, but commissioner Adam Silver told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski recently the NBA might wait until January or even February to begin to give it a better chance of having spectators in attendance.
KERR KEEPS UP PRESSURE >> The Warriors won’t play their next game until at least December, but head coach Steve Kerr is focusing on an earlier date: Nov. 3. Normally, Kerr would spend late August and early September gearing up for training camp, preseason games and eventually the Warriors’ regular season. With the coronavirus throwing the NBA season into a new rhythm, Kerr can spend that time on political endeavors, including calling out White House advisers on Twitter.
In interviews last week, President Donald Trump’s adviser/son-in-law Jared Kushner chided NBA players for refusing to play in response to the Kenosha, Wisconsin, police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man.
“NBA players are very fortunate that they have the financial position where they’re able to take a night off from work without having to have the consequences to themselves financially,” Kushner said on CNBC. He later advised NBA players to look for concrete solutions to police violence in a C-SPAN interview, and said he wanted to reach out to Lakers star LeBron James to advise him on how to proceed after the players’ protests.
Kerr responded by writing in a tweet that the NBA community is working to push the country forward against racism, while Kushner should be more concerned with the racist rhetoric his boss has used to describe protests.
“Jared, your father in law spreads hatred and division daily,” Kerr tweeted, sharing a video from The Daily Show criticizing Kushner’s response to the protests. “Spare us your confused lecture and try to teach the president to not be racist.”