Source: Michael Reaves / Getty
former Minneapolis police officer
Derek Chauvin.
Chauvin has since been found guilty and will spend years behind bars as the world has strived to make up for its rampant racism, but it’s important to remember that a man’s life was still lost. The murder launched a summer full of protests, companies trying to save face, racially insensitive products being renamed, and Black people pleading for equality.
Among those people included the famous who used their star power to shed light on injustice and police brutality. Hollywood elite — like Michael B. Jordan, Idris Elba, and Kerry Washington– even signed an
open letter in support.
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“Hollywood has a privilege as a creative industry to imagine and create. We have significant influence over culture and politics,” the letter opened up. “We have the ability to use our influence to imagine and create a better world. Yet, historically and currently, Hollywood encourages the epidemic of police violence and culture of anti-Blackness.”
Hollywood aside, the sports world also showed up for the mistreatment of Black Americans and didn’t hesitate to speak their mind.
LeBron James took to Instagram to post a side-by-side photo of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck and
Colin Kaepernick kneeling on the NFL sidelines with a caption that read, “
Do you understand NOW!!??!!?? Or is it still blurred to you?? 🤦🏾♂️ #StayWoke”
The connection goes even deeper since Floyd was considered a brother of former NBA player Stephen Jackson, who told
ABC, “When I was in Houston, he looked out for me. So … it was a relationship that grew over just being in the streets, growing up together. And we just became tight over the years, and the fact that we look alike made us grow even tighter.”
On Tuesday night, ahead of the three scheduled NBA playoff games, several players are expected to wear shirts calling for the passage of the Floyd bill –to push for the immediate reform of police departments– while others like Donovan Mitchell, CJ McCollum, Harrison Barnes will use social media platforms tell fans to call their senators.
See how the sports world is reacting to one year since George Floyd’s death below.
