LeBron James reacted strongly to Kenosha’s DA announcing that the police officer shooting Jacob Blake will not be charged.
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The Jacob Blake shooting was a major turning point in the Black Lives Matter movement. It brought the lackadaisical attitude of the police force towards black people right to the fore. Despite Blake being in sight of his children seated in his car, the policeman found it fit to fire at him.
Rusten Sheskey did not stop at one bullet, which would definitely have sent whatever message he was looking to send. Instead, he shot Jacob in the back all of 7 times in plain sight of his 3 kids in his car. It’s a miracle that Blake managed to even get out alive, though his lower body is paralyzed.
NBA players were as shocked as the rest of the nation at such blatantly uncalled for violence. The NBA stepped into a 3-day boycott right in the middle of the 2020 playoffs, led by the Milwaukee Bucks.
LeBron James reacts strongly to Kenosha police officer being acquitted
Despite there being a breach of protocol and a clear case of manslaughter, the Kenosha district court is not seeking to prosecute Sheskey. This means that nearly all that the NBPA stood for during the standoff between them and the NBA is being negated.
LeBron James isn’t one to take this kind of verdict lying down. While he’s only tweeting now, you can expect some movement from the NBPA in the near future.
Realistically, there is little to nothing that NBA players or team owners can do to influence this particular case. Blake is cited as having his own knife, and there’s video of police officers asking him to drop it. Thus, indiscriminate firing by police officers shall once again go unpunished.
